Little Britain Live is a stage show based on the TV sketch series Little Britain, performed by its stars, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, and directed by Jeremy Sams. Supporting characters are played by Paul Putner and Samantha Power (with Anthony Head and Ruth Jones in certain performances). As in the TV show, Tom Baker is the narrator, although his lines are pre-recorded. The show toured the United Kingdom and Ireland from October 2005 until December 2006, and Australia from January–March 2007. Development In an interview in the show's program, Lucas and Walliams state that they had always wanted Little Britain to be a radio programme, a television series and live stage show. After production of the third series of the television show, the duo settled down to write and plan the show. In rehearsals, the sketches were tweaked, re-ordered and re-written in order to accommodate the rapid costume and make-up changes required by the principal performers. To remove the need for stagehands to make set and prop changes, an elaborate stage floor was designed with track lines for the props. Sets were projected onto the background of the stage, with computer animated transitions designed by video and lighting designer Willie Williams. Certain sketches required elaborate technical mechanisms, such as the vomit machine for the Judy and Maggie "Village Fete" sketch, and oversized props for the Dennis Waterman sketch. During the show's UK run, several sketches were rewritten to improve the pacing, or removed in cases where the sketch was the same as the TV series. Performances The show's run began at the Portsmouth Guildhall in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 23 October 2005. The show toured for 49 performances in 18 cities: Bournemouth, Southend, Plymouth, Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool, Oxford, Bristol, Ipswich, Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton and ending in Manchester on 20 December. Lucas and Walliams took a month off, before resuming the UK tour and returning to the previously-toured cities. A month-long residency at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in October and November 2006 followed, with two shows at the Brixton Academy. There were 3 live shows in Ireland during the summer of 2006, shown at the Point Theatre in Dublin. The show was eventually seen by nearly one million people on its UK tour from November 2005 to December 2006. Little Britain Live toured Australia in early 2007. Initial bookings were made in Sydney, with other cities