NEXT week, Vicki Michelle and Jeffrey Holland come to Dorset in a hilarious new production of the hit BBC comedy series Allo Allo, which has been specially penned for the stage by original writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.
Vicki will appear as saucy waitress Yvette, the role that won her an army of fans in the TV series, while Hi de Hi star Jeffrey will be taking the part of lecherous, exasperated café owner Rene Artois.
The tour follows last year’s special one-off episode marking the 25th anniversary of the show.
All our favourite characters will return, from the verbally inept policeman to the ineffectual Germans, and the plot remains much the same.
Set in occupied France during the Second World War, the plot follows the hapless René, as he and his wife Edith struggle to hide a priceless portrait - The Fallen Madonna ‘with ze big boobies’ – stolen by the Nazis and hidden in a sausage in their cellar. Adding to René’s woes, the French Resistance force him to aid their persistent attempts to return two bumbling British airmen to England while he is trying to keep his long-running affairs with his two waitresses – Yvette and Mimi – from his wife.
The situations and characters made Allo Allo, which ran for 10 years, one of the favourite British sitcoms of all time.
Vicki said: “It is fabulous to be doing the show again and we get such a wonderful response. Before we go on stage we can hear people out in the theatre talking about the show and wanting to enjoy it.
“People love the characters and they love the writing because it is pure comic brilliance. You don’t have to think about it to laugh – in fact if you did have to think, then it is probably not funny. With this, you laugh instinctively.
“It is a family show with a lot of laughter. People bring their children, grandparents bring their grandchildren, it is lovely to see.”
She added that Allo Allo fans are not at all backwards in coming forwards when they see her on the street.
“We were in Blackpool doing the show and I was out shopping when a woman came running up to me, gave me a cuddle and ran off!” she said. “And in Darlington someone else came up, looked at me and said ‘ah, it is you’, had a cuddle and walked off.
“People feel they really know the characters and can quote their catch-phrases, like my ‘Oohhh Rene’, Rene’s ‘You stupid woman’, the policeman’s ‘Good moaning’. Then there is the Fallen Madonna and Gruber’s ‘little tank’ – people know them and love them.”
Despite the success of the stage show, Vicki was initially reluctant to join the cast.
“I wondered whether to do it or not, but then I did the Allo Allo reunion with the BBC and it was so well received that I could tell people still love it,” she said.
“But then the producer asked me and Jeffrey Holland asked me and I thought ‘yes’. I went to see the stage show of Dad’s Army, which was a huge success, an thought that if Allo Allo was like that, then I would do it.
n Allo Allo is at Lighthouse Poole from Monday, April 27 to Saturday, May 2 at 7.30pm. with 2.30 matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.
Tickets from 0844 406 8666 and lighthousepoole.co.uk
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