Lancashire lad John Thomson joining the cast of Hairspray at Blackpool's Winter Gardens for Christmas season

John Thomson, known for his roles in Cold Feet an The Fast Show, will join the hit UK tour as Wilbur Turnblad for three weeks at the theatre from December 13 to January 2.

In his first ever musical theatre stage role, John, who attended All Hallows Catholic High School near Preston and later Runshaw College, will be joining musician, actress and television presenter Brenda Edwards (Chicago, We Will Rock You, The X Factor, Loose Women and Songs of Praise) who has starred as Motormouth Maybelle since the tour opened in Jun 2021 as well as previous runs of the tour.

West End leading man Alex Bourne (Annie, Mamma Mia!, We Will Rock You) will continue in the role of Edna Turnblad.

Katie Brace makes her professional stage debut as Tracy Turnblad with Akeem Ellis-Hyman as Seaweed, Rebecca Thornhill as Velma, Richard Meek as Corny Collins, Ross Clifton as Link Larkin, Jessica Croll as Amber Von Tussle, Rebecca Jane Davies as Penny Pingleton and Charlotte St. Croix as Little Inez.

The full cast includes: Elizabeth Armstrong, Bernadette Bangura, Natalia Brown, Shaquille Brush, Liam Dean, Andrew Dillion, Amandla Elynah, Zoe Heighton, Ceris Hine, Paul Hutton, Jamie Jonathan, Hayley Johnston, Joshua Nkemdilim, Rosie O’Hare, Alexanda O’Reilly, Joshua Pearson, Joseph Poulton and Elliotte Williams-N’Dure.

Hairspray had been due to begin performances in August 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Performances finally began at Theatre Royal Plymouth in June 2021 under socially distanced requirements and the hugely popular production has now opened up to full capacity audiences as it makes its way across the country and is booking up to April 2021.

Hairspray is directed by Paul Kerryson with choreography by Olivier Award-winning Drew McOnie, designs by Takis, lighting design by Philip Gladwell and sound design by Ben Harrison.