Twenty-five years after its TV finale, the beloved characters of newsroom satire Drop the Dead Donkey are making a comeback in a new stage version of the sitcom.
The play is set to tour the UK, and will feature seven of the Bafta-winning Channel 4 show’s original cast members, including Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Victoria Wicks, and Jeff Rawle.
The stage production is also written by the pair behind the Nineties show, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, who said that the script finds the characters in “the cut-throat world of modern 24-hour news gathering” and “the daily chaos of social media, fake news, and interim prime ministers”.
Hamilton also revealed that one of the themes the play will tackle is artificial intelligence. “It’s the same collection of characters, all played by the same actors, being parachuted into the world of AI and the world of rolling news, it’s really exciting,” he said, speaking to James Gill on the Always Be Comedy podcast.
Set in the offices of fictional TV news company GlobeLink News, Drop the Dead Donkey first aired on Channel 4 in 1990. With episodes recorded close to the date they aired, the show was noted for its humour based on contemporary news events.
For eight years, the antics of GlobeLink’s dysfunctional reporters were a much-loved staple of British television, with the show winning Best Comedy at the 1994 Baftas.
“What excites me the most is being back with the cast — we’ve known each other for 30-odd years and this is a whole new adventure,” said Stephen Tompkinson who plays Damien Day, GlobeLink’s star field reporter.
Earlier this month, Tompkinson was found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm after punching a drunken man who was making noise outside his home.
Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! will tour the UK from January 2024, directed by Lindsay Posner in a production for Hat Trick and Simon Friend Entertainment.
After opening at Richmond Theatre on January 31, 2024, the show will visit Sheffield, Salford, Cardiff, Cambridge, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Leicester, Bath, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bromley, Norwich, Liverpool, Newcastle, Woking, and Cheltenham.
