One of the best kept secrets in showbusiness is that Patricia Routledge – known for TV comedy roles like Hyacinth Bucket – trained not only as an actress but also as a singer. She enjoyed huge success in musical theatre on both sides of the Atlantic, winning a Tony for her Broadway performance in Darling of the Day and a Laurence Olivier Award for her West End role in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. In this fascinating encounter with the writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson, Dame Patricia recalls this very special part of her career with access to some rare and treasured recordings.

An Audience with John Sergeant, presented in association with Clive Conway Productions. 

Join John Sergeant for an evening of humorous and thought-provoking conversations filled with anecdotes and recollections about his experiences throughout his career. 

John is the former Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC from 1992 to 2000 and ITN's Political Editor from 2000 until 2002. 

Many people will remember John as one of Britain's most popular and respected broadcasters and authors. His award-winning career as a political journalist has been as lengthy as it has been successful and has seen him interview big political hitters like Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Tony Blair.

In recent years though John has returned to his first love of light entertainment and can be seen regularly on programmes like The One Show, Have I Got News For You, QI, Room 101, and the News Quiz, and of course, there were those appearances on Strictly. 

Indeed Sergeant’s two left feet approach to the arts of the ballroom consistently found him at the bottom of the judge's scoreboard but the public loved him and he retrained week after week. He finally left the show in Week 10 saying: "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me, that would be a joke too far.”

More recently there have been well-received documentaries as well including John Sergeant's Tourist Trail, Tracks of Empire - about the Indian Railways, and Britain's First Photo Album about the pioneering photography of Francis Frith.

Dame Maureen Lipman DBE is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included many many appearances with the National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company and has continued to work in the theatre for over thirty years all over the UK.  She was made a dame in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to charity, entertainment, and the arts.

Her career is one of the greats in theatre, television, film, and books. Her most recent theatre work In 2018, she starred with Martin Shaw in The Best Man at the Playhouse Theatre, as well as returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the first time in fifty years with a one-woman show of jokes and storytelling called Up For It and she has just completed her one-woman show 'Rose' which has been muchly acclaimed.

Her television work is equally as plentiful, on Just a Minute, The News Quiz, That Reminds Me, This Week, and Have I Got News for You. In 2007, she appeared as a celebrity contestant on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. she has appeared in Casualty and Holby City and currently starring in Coronation Street as Evelyn, the long-lost grandmother of Tyrone Dobbs.

Enjoy an evening in the company of a British great.

Matthew Stadlen is an English radio and television presenter, commentator, producer, writer, and author in his own right. His previous interviews include Sir Michael Caine, John Cleese, Eddie Jones, Sir Alastair Cook, Nicola Benedetti, David Suchet, Jo Brand, Anish Kapoor, Ian McEwan, Rick Stein, Sir Simon Schama; the list is endless and it matters not if they are live events, TV or radio, and more recently podcasts. He has also regularly written for all the national papers.

Bob is one of the few gardening authors to make the front page of the New York Times, is known as one of Britain's leading organic gardeners, and is the son of a farmer. His family have been working the land in East Anglia since before the time of the Tudors. He has three dozen books published in a dozen languages and has been a panelist on BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time for more than two and a half decades.

Join us for a fantastic evening of Bob's characteristically idiosyncratic and iconoclastic chat, anecdote, verse and song. Warning may contain some wry humour. Sometimes witty, seldom PC!

Alan Johnson was General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union before entering Parliament as a Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle in 1997. He served as Home Secretary Health Secretary and Education Secretary, in the Blair/Brown government. Until 20 January 2011, he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

He has written several biographies including his childhood memoirs ‘This Boy’, ‘Please Mr Postman’, ‘The Long and winding Road’ and ‘In my Life – A music memoir’ as well as moving into writing novels‘The Late Train to Gipsy Hill’ in September 2021 and ‘One of Our Ministers is Missing’, is due for publication on September 1st, 2022, A thriller. His memoirs have won many accolades, Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and the Orwell Prize, National Book Club award for Best Biography. Parliamentary Book Award for Best Memoir.

Alan retired as an MP before the 2017 general election after 20 years as an MP. Alan has spent eight years on the BBC’s ‘This Week’ with Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo, Alan now appears regularly with Steph McGovern on Channel 4’s ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’ and is the agony uncle for saga Magazine. He lives in East Yorkshire with his wife Carolyn.

Matthew Stadlen is an English radio and television presenter, commentator, producer, writer, and author in his own right. His previous interviews include Sir Michael Caine, John Cleese, Eddie Jones, Sir Alastair Cook, Nicola Benedetti, David Suchet, Jo Brand, Anish Kapoor, Ian McEwan, Rick Stein, Sir Simon Schama; the list is endless and it matters not if they are live events, TV or radio, and more recently podcasts. He has also regularly written for all the national papers.

An Audience with John Sergeant, presented in association with Clive Conway Productions. 

Join John Sergeant for an evening of humorous and thought-provoking conversations filled with anecdotes and recollections about his experiences throughout his career. 

John is the former Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC from 1992 to 2000 and ITN's Political Editor from 2000 until 2002. 

Many people will remember John as one of Britain's most popular and respected broadcasters and authors. His award-winning career as a political journalist has been as lengthy as it has been successful and has seen him interview big political hitters like Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Tony Blair.

In recent years though John has returned to his first love of light entertainment and can be seen regularly on programmes like The One Show, Have I Got News For You, QI, Room 101, and the News Quiz, and of course, there were those appearances on Strictly. 

Indeed Sergeant’s two left feet approach to the arts of the ballroom consistently found him at the bottom of the judge's scoreboard but the public loved him and he retrained week after week. He finally left the show in Week 10 saying: "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me, that would be a joke too far.”

More recently there have been well-received documentaries as well including John Sergeant's Tourist Trail, Tracks of Empire - about the Indian Railways, and Britain's First Photo Album about the pioneering photography of Francis Frith.

An Audience with John Sergeant, presented in association with Clive Conway Productions. 

Join John Sergeant for an evening of humorous and thought-provoking conversations filled with anecdotes and recollections about his experiences throughout his career. 

John is the former Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC from 1992 to 2000 and ITN's Political Editor from 2000 until 2002. 

Many people will remember John as one of Britain's most popular and respected broadcasters and authors. His award-winning career as a political journalist has been as lengthy as it has been successful and has seen him interview big political hitters like Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Tony Blair.

In recent years though John has returned to his first love of light entertainment and can be seen regularly on programmes like The One Show, Have I Got News For You, QI, Room 101, and the News Quiz, and of course, there were those appearances on Strictly. 

Indeed Sergeant’s two left feet approach to the arts of the ballroom consistently found him at the bottom of the judge's scoreboard but the public loved him and he retrained week after week. He finally left the show in Week 10 saying: "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me, that would be a joke too far.”

More recently there have been well-received documentaries as well including John Sergeant's Tourist Trail, Tracks of Empire - about the Indian Railways, and Britain's First Photo Album about the pioneering photography of Francis Frith.

Widely respected as the voice of Test Match Special ‘Blowers’, Henry Blofeld brings his wit and wisdom to the stage once again.

Henry’s keen to stress though that it’s not all cricket, in fact, most of it isn’t and that every show is different. So, even if you’ve been before you can be sure that it’ll never be the same twice. “If you think you’re going to learn how to play a forward defensive, you’ll be sadly disappointed.”

Instead, the talk is based, in the loosest sense, on Henry’s life story, although there’s time for as many after-dinner anecdotes and meandering digressions as there is in a Test Match Special rain break.

The show itself is very tongue-in-cheek and Henry spends a lot of time poking fun at himself and subjects veer from intergalactic travel to horticulture to mountaineering. Audiences are always sure of an evening of great tales from this quintessential Englishman.

Production Company: Clive Conway Productions Ltd.

Robert Powell and actress Liza Goddard (who gave the definitive performance of Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice on BBC TV) bring you Jane Austen’s world…

‘For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn.’ (Pride and Prejudice)

No writer, with the exception of Shakespeare, stands higher in public esteem and affection than Jane Austen. This celebration is for those who have always loved her, and for those who would like to know more about the enigmatic and shadowy figure behind the popular image of bonnets, tea and gentility.

Jane Austen continues to fascinate us because she reveals human nature with all its delicious quirks and foibles.   From the rumbustious delights of her juvenile works to the extraordinary explosion of vitality in her last and uncompleted novel, Sanditon, we take you on a colourful and revealing journey through the life and works of this most paradoxical and bewitching author.

With flautist Clive Conway and pianist Christine Croshaw

Widely respected as the voice of Test Match Special ‘Blowers’, Henry Blofeld brings his wit and wisdom to the stage once again.

Henry’s keen to stress though that it’s not all cricket, in fact, most of it isn’t and that every show is different. So, even if you’ve been before you can be sure that it’ll never be the same twice. “If you think you’re going to learn how to play a forward defensive, you’ll be sadly disappointed.”

Instead, the talk is based, in the loosest sense, on Henry’s life story, although there’s time for as many after-dinner anecdotes and meandering digressions as there is in a Test Match Special rain break.

The show itself is very tongue-in-cheek and Henry spends a lot of time poking fun at himself and subjects veer from intergalactic travel to horticulture to mountaineering. Audiences are always sure of an evening of great tales from this quintessential Englishman.

Production Company: Clive Conway Productions Ltd.

An Audience with John Sergeant, presented in association with Clive Conway Productions. 

Join John Sergeant for an evening of humorous and thought-provoking conversations filled with anecdotes and recollections about his experiences throughout his career. 

John is the former Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC from 1992 to 2000 and ITN's Political Editor from 2000 until 2002. 

Many people will remember John as one of Britain's most popular and respected broadcasters and authors. His award-winning career as a political journalist has been as lengthy as it has been successful and has seen him interview big political hitters like Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Tony Blair.

In recent years though John has returned to his first love of light entertainment and can be seen regularly on programmes like The One Show, Have I Got News For You, QI, Room 101, and the News Quiz, and of course, there were those appearances on Strictly. 

Indeed Sergeant’s two left feet approach to the arts of the ballroom consistently found him at the bottom of the judge's scoreboard but the public loved him and he retrained week after week. He finally left the show in Week 10 saying: "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me, that would be a joke too far.”

More recently there have been well-received documentaries as well including John Sergeant's Tourist Trail, Tracks of Empire - about the Indian Railways, and Britain's First Photo Album about the pioneering photography of Francis Frith.

Often described as the compère beyond compare, but before becoming a fully-fledged playwright, panellist, performer and stalwart of the Edinburgh Festival, Arthur worked as a road sweeper, dustman, market researcher, teacher and advertised chicken burgers in supermarkets dressed as a fox.

A career in comedy was the only one that could follow a build up like that. He was one of many stand-up performers on the alternative comedy scene in the Eighties.

Twenty years on he still performs in much the same manner, perhaps ironically, he now describes himself as a "semi-professional" comedian.

To BBC radio and TV audiences, his career has been split between appearing on top quiz shows and fronting the funny section in Loose Ends. On TV, he's been a regular Grumpy Old Man and Countdown wordsmith.

His plays include the award-winning An Evening with Gary Lineker, My Summer with Des and The Bed Show. He has presented Radio 4’s Excess Baggage and Radio 2’s The Smith Lectures and is a regular guest on Loose Ends. He describes himself as Radio 4’s “bit of rough”.

Join Britain’s most popular soprano for a delightful evening of song, reminiscences and chat. Accompanied by, and in conversation with, Anna Tilbrook, Lesley's behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes will give audiences a unique insight into her life on the stage.

As well as performing on the opera and concert stage both in the UK and internationally, Lesley has recently returned to English National Opera for the world premiere production of Nico Muhly’s Marnie.

Last spring she appeared with WNO in another world premiere creating the role of Emcee in Rhonda Rips It Up!, based on the life of suffragette Margaret Haig Thomas (Lady Rhondda) and the autumn saw Lesley make her acting debut in a revised version of Patrick Barlow’s play, The Messiah for the National Theatre of Brent, on tour and in the West End. This spring she is creating another new role in ENO’s world premiere of Iain Bell’s opera, Jack the Ripper at the Coliseum…

As well as performing on the opera and concert stage, both in the UK and internationally, Lesley has recently starred in Carousel and The Sound of Music and appeared on television shows including Strictly Come Dancing and Loose Women.She has also performed with artists as diverse as Michael Ball, Renee Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel and Lily Savage.

Anna Tilbrook is one of Britain’s most exciting pianists, with a considerable reputation in song recitals and chamber music. She made her debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1999 and has since become a regular performer at Europe’s major concert halls and festivals, as well as coaching regularly for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

‍

Widely respected as the voice of Test Match Special ‘Blowers’, Henry Blofeld brings his wit and wisdom to the stage once again.

Henry’s keen to stress though that it’s not all cricket, in fact, most of it isn’t and that every show is different. So, even if you’ve been before you can be sure that it’ll never be the same twice. “If you think you’re going to learn how to play a forward defensive, you’ll be sadly disappointed.”

Instead, the talk is based, in the loosest sense, on Henry’s life story, although there’s time for as many after-dinner anecdotes and meandering digressions as there is in a Test Match Special rain break.

The show itself is very tongue-in-cheek and Henry spends a lot of time poking fun at himself and subjects veer from intergalactic travel to horticulture to mountaineering. Audiences are always sure of an evening of great tales from this quintessential Englishman.

Production Company: Clive Conway Productions Ltd.