Everybody's Talking About Jamie national tour to recommence from September 2021

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the award-winning feel good musical sensation, is thrilled that the UK tour will recommence in September 2021.

West End star Layton Williams reprises the role of Jamie New. Straight from the West End, Shane Richie (I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here, EastEnders) will play Hugo/Loco Chanelle from 1 September until 20 November with Roy Haylock, also known as his drag alter ego Bianca Del Rio, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, playing the role from 23 November until 8 January. Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street, Dinnerladies) also re-joins the cast to play Ray. 

The tour will open at The Lowry, Salford Quays, on 1 September before visiting Birmingham, Leicester, Wolverhampton, Canterbury, Bristol, Newcastle, Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, Hull, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Belfast, Woking, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Milton Keynes and includes a four-week Christmas season in Brighton. Further tour venues are to be announced. 

Nica Burns, Producer of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie said: “We are back! The company of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is absolutely delighted to be sharing our fun, funny, and fabulous musical with audiences around the UK.  So dust off your glad rags, put on your heels and enjoy a fantastic night out.  You’ve waited long enough.!”

The UK tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie stars Layton Williams as Jamie New, Amy Ellen Richardson as his Mum, Margaret, Shane Richie as Hugo/Loco Chanelle 1 September until 20 November 2021, Roy Haylock as Hugo/Loco Chanelle 23 November 2021 until 8 January 2022, Shobna Gulati as Ray, Lara Denning as Miss Hedge, George Sampson  as Dean and Sharan Phull as Pritti Pasha. The cast also includes Richard Appiah-Sarpong (Cy), Simeon Beckett (Levi), Kazmin Borrer (Vicki), Alex Hetherington (Swing), Cameron Johnson (Jamie’s Dad), Jodie Knight (Fatimah), Ellie Leah (Understudy), John Paul McCue (Laika Virgin), Jessica Meegan (Bex),  Talia Palamathanan (Becca), Rhys Taylor (Tray Sophisticay) and Emma Robotham-Hunt (Swing). 

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has been made into a major film by New Regency, Film4 and Sheffield based production company Warp Films starring Max Harwood, Sarah Lancashire, Lauren Patel, Shobna Gulati, Ralph Ineson, Adeel Akhtar, Samuel Bottomley, with Sharon Horgan and Richard E. Grant. The stage production’s director, Jonathan Butterell, makes his feature-film debut as director. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will be distributed by 20th Century Studios. 

Out of the darkness…into the spotlight…back to the place where we belong.

Inspired by a true story, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is the award-winning hit musical for today - bang up to date, more relevant than ever and specially updated for the times we live in today.

Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn’t quite fit in.

Jamie is terrified about the future. He is going to be a sensation.
Music by Dan Gillespie Sells 
Book and Lyrics by Tom MacRae
From an idea by Jonathan Butterell 
Directed by Matt Ryan from original direction by Jonathan Butterell
Design by Anna Fleischle
Choreography by Kate Prince
Lighting design by Lucy Carter
Sound design by Paul Groothuis
Casting by Will Burton 
Musical Supervisor Theo Jamieson
Musical Director Ben Holder 
Video Design Luke Halls

Layton Williams plays Jamie New. Layton is one of the most exciting talents in UK theatre. He has been playing Jamie New in the West End production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie since January 2019. Layton recently performed as Angel in the UK Tour of much-loved musical Rent, for which he received great reviews and in the Sheffield Crucible production of Kiss Me, Kate. 

On screen Layton is known for playing the character Kylie in the BBC’s Beautiful People, and for playing the lead alongside Jack Whitehall in the critically acclaimed BBC comedy Bad Education and follow up film. 

Layton began his career as one of the boys who played the title role in the West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical. He then went on to star as the original Young Michael Jackson in Thriller. Further theatre credits include the role of Seaweed in Hairspray and the touring production of Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man. 

Layton is an anti-bullying and LGBTQ+ activist.

Shane Richie plays Hugo/Loco Chanelle from 1 September to 20 November He has had a hugely successful career in theatre, film and television spanning four decades and is a regular fixture on primetime television. He returns to role of Hugo / Loco Chanelle in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie after a West End run in 2019 and the UK tour earlier this year.  He was in this year’s series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and is best known for his role as Alfie Moon in the BBC’s EastEnders which he first started playing in 2002 and for which he has won several industry awards and accolades including Best Actor at the Rose d’Or Television Festival.

His extensive television drama credits include Oliver Twist (BBC), New Tricks (BBC), We’re Doomed: The Dad’s Army Story (BBC), What We Did on Our Holidays (ITV), The Good Samaritan (ITV), As Good As It Gets (ITV), Skins (CH4), Moving On (BBC), Minder (CH5), Redwater (BBC), Benidorm (ITV) and Claude (Disney). He has also hosted television shows including Lucky Numbers (ITV), The Shane Richie Experience (ITV), Win, Lose or Draw (ITV), Don’t Forget the Lyrics! (SKY1), Reflex (BBC) and Win Your Wish List (BBC). 

On stage Shane has starred in Grease (West End), One Flew over The Cuckoo’s Nest (UK Tour), Scrooge: The Musical (UK Tour), Lone Star and Private Wars (Kings Head Theatre). He also played the leads in Peter James’ The Perfect Murder and Not Dead Enough. Shane co-wrote and co-produced the UK tour of Boogie Nights which went on to a sell-out season at the Savoy Theatre in the West End. Film roles include Macbeth (CH4), The Reverend (Burn Hand Film), Prisoners of the Sun (Miromar Entertainment) and Flushed Away (Dreamworks Animation).

In 2003 Shane wrote the No.1 autobiography and The Sunday Times best seller Rags to Richie.  In the same year he released the No.1 record I’m Your Man for BBC Children In Need. In 2017 Shane’s album A Country Soul made it to No.1, securing his position as the UK’s biggest selling country artist. 

Roy Haylock plays Hugo/Loco Chanelle from 23 November to 8 January.  Bianca Del Rio was the season six winner of the hit TV series RuPaul’s Drag Race. A self-proclaimed "clown in a gown,"  received the Best New Television Personality Award from NewNowNext in 2014 and made Variety magazine's list of Top 10 Comics To Watch for 2015. The New York Times called Haylock the "Joan Rivers of the Drag World”, and Joan Rivers herself referred to him as "So funny! So sharp!"

Since winning RuPaul's Drag Race, Haylock has completed four solo stand-up tours to sold-out audiences around the world, starred in two feature films (Hurricane Bianca and Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate) which are now available on Netflix, and wrote his first book: Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert on Nothing With an Opinion on Everything. 

As Bianca, he made guest appearances on MTV's Mardi Gras with Britney Spears and Carson Daly and In Bed With Joan starring Joan Rivers, as well as starred in the LogoTV Christmas special Not Today Bianca. On stage Haylock has had theatrical starring roles that include Angel in Rent, the Emcee in Cabaret, Miss Industrial Northeast in Pageant, and Miss Mazeppa in Gypsy.  

Shobna Gulati plays Ray. Shobna became a household name for her role as Anita in Victoria Wood's dinnerladies and as Sunita, in Coronation Street.  She trained at Manchester University, Trinity Laban, Goldsmith’s College, London, Darpana Academy for Performing Arts, India and has a post graduate in teaching dance from Middlesex University. 

Theatre credits include Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Richard II (The Globe); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (The Apollo Theatre); Daisy Pulls It Off (The Park); Anita & Me (Birmingham Rep/Touring Consortium); Grease (Leicester Curv); Mamma Mia International Tour 2015- 2016, Jon Godber’s April in Paris (Derby Playhouse/ National Tour); B!rth, Hunger for Trade, Come Closer Pretend You Have Big Buildings, Cafe Vesuvio (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Jungle Book, (West Yorkshire Playhouse); dinnerladies, Girl’s Night (National Tour), The Vagina Monologues (Mark Gucher Ltd); Romeo and Juliet (Leicester Haymarket); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tara Arts/National Tour) and How High is Up (West Yorkshire Playhouse). 

Film credits include Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (New Regency/Film4/Warp Films); Finding Fatimah (British Muslim TV); Junkhearts (Coded Pictures), Satinder (BFI/Film) and BAFTA award winning short film, Shadowscan (BFI). She has also written and directed the critically acclaimed comedy show for young women The Masala Girls. Television credits include 4Stories – On the Edge (Blacklight Productions); Doctor Who (BBC); Moving On (LA Productions); River City (BBC Scotland); Treasure Champs (CBeebies); Edith (BBC); Casualty (BBC); Doctors (BBC); Coronation Street (ITV), Hold The Sunset (BBC), In the Club (BBC), Eastenders (BBC),  New Street Law (BBC), Magnolia (BBC), Paranoid (ITV1/Red/Netflix), You, Me and Them (UKTV Gold), The Slammer (CBBC), Jackanory (CBBC), Bedtime Stories (Cbeebies), Coming Up (Channel 4), Where The Heart Is (ITV1) and dinnerladies (BBC). As a panellist she was seen on Call My Bluff, Have I Got News For You, Countdown and was a regular on ITV's Loose Women until 2014. She was a semi- finalist in Celebrity Masterchef for the BBC had appeared in Soapstar Superstar and Stars in their Eyes for ITV.