It’s an inevitable truth in today’s entertainment industry. The greatest stars of the big and small screens, will all, ultimately, without exception, decide they need to strut their stuff on the live stage. They can’t help it. It’s an irresistible actorish urge.Think Jude Law, David Tennant, Rachel Weiss, Daniel Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom, Dustin Hofmann, Kevin Spacey. And now add yet another famous name to that massively illustrious roster: Churchill. Oh yes.
It’s been confirmed that after a 13 year advertising-only career, this icon of the insurance industry is about to make a dramatic, dynamic, live theatre debut in 22 Christmas productions, right round the UK, in front of an estimated audience of (wait for it) 1.5 million.
This is possibly the UK’s most unique marketing partnership and unites together two great British institutions. It’s also probably the biggest screen to stage shift ever undertaken by a major star, and it doesn’t take much to work out why it’s a creative match made in heaven. Oh yes (it does). Oh no (it doesn’t).
Pantomime producers Qdos Entertainment finally sealed the deal after six months’ negotiation with Marty Hoffmann (Churchill’s rights manager and effectively his agent). Neither will reveal what the famous brown and white British bulldog is being paid.
He’s appearing alongside top stars Stefan Dennis and The Krankies, as well as more famous faces at pantos around the country including John Barrowman, Shane Richie, Ray Quinn and Roxanne Pallet.
Neither Qdos Entertainment nor Churchill will reveal the exact role he’ll be playing, but it’s likely that the star will be giving good advice to goodies and bad counsel to baddies. Usually of a fairly basic kind: oh yes, or oh no.
