Full casting announced for UK tour of Ian Hislop & Nick Newman’s SPIKE

Photo credit: Ryan Howard

Full casting has been announced for the UK tour of Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s comedy Spike, which opens in September.

Robert Wilfort (Gavin and Stacey, Bridgerton) will take over the role of Spike Milligan, with Patrick Warner (The Crown, One Man, Two Guvnors) joining the production as Peter Sellers, and Jeremy Lloyd (The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Trial by Laughter) will return to his critically acclaimed role as Harry Secombe.

TV comedienne and podcaster Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Motherland, Miranda) will reprise her role as Janet, as will James Mack (The Watermill’s The Hound of the Baskervilles) as Denis Main-Wilson/Peter Eton,  Ellie Morris (The Play That Goes Wrong, Mischief Movie Night) as June, and Robert Mountford (The Habit of Art, The Haunting of Alice Bowles for Original Theatre Company) as BBC Executive.  Peter Dukes will join the company as BBC Announcer, along with Tesni Kujore as Myra, and Sam Ducane as Doctor.

Spike is directed by Watermill Artistic Director Paul Hart, with design by Katie Lias, lighting by Rory Beaton, composition by Tayo Akinbode, sound by Tom Marshall, and movement by Anjali Mehra.

It’s 1950s austerity Britain, and out of the gloom comes Goon mania as men, women and children across the country scramble to get their ear to a wireless for another instalment of The Goon Show. While Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers get down to the serious business of becoming overnight celebrities, fellow Goon and chief writer Spike finds himself pushing the boundaries of comedy, and testing the patience of the BBC. 

Flanked by his fellow Goons and bolstered by the efforts of irrepressible sound assistant Janet, Spike takes a flourishing nosedive off the cliffs of respectability, and mashes up his haunted past to create the comedy of the future. His war with Hitler may be over, but his war with Auntie Beeb -  and ultimately himself -  has just begun. 

Will Spike’s dogged obsession with finding the funny elevate The Goons to soaring new heights, or will the whole thing come crashing down with the stroke of a potato peeler?

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman said: “It’s a privilege to take Spike on tour, exploring the genius of Britain’s most inspirational and ground-breaking comedian. And of course, it’s another chance to steal all his jokes and pass them off as our own. Spike Milligan may be Goon, but he’s not forgotten.”

For more information and to book tickets for select touring venues, please click here.