News: JASON COOK RETURNS TO THE CUSTOMS HOUSE TO REVEAL THE STORY BEHIND BBC SITCOM HEBBURN

JASON COOK RETURNS TO THE CUSTOMS HOUSE TO REVEAL THE STORY BEHIND BBC SITCOM HEBBURN

Comedian, writer and producer Jason Cook lifts the lid on the making of his hit BBC sitcom in a special one-night-only event this Christmas.

How do you get a sitcom about South Tyneside on national television? Find out as Jason Cook returns to The Customs House to share the hilarious, and sometimes tumultuous, story behind Hebburn.

In How I Made a Telly Show: The History of Hebburn, Jason takes audiences behind the scenes with rare footage, personal stories about the cast and crew, and an open Q&A offering fans the chance to ask whatever they've always wanted to know.

Jason explains: “Making Hebburn was one of the most incredible and stressful experiences of my life, and I've been saving the best stories for a hometown crowd! If you want to know what actually happens when you try to convince television executives to make a sitcom about the North East, this is the show for you.”

First broadcast on BBC Two in 2012, Hebburn starred Vic Reeves (Jim Moir), Gina McKee, Chris Ramsey, Steffen Peddie, Kimberley Nixon and Lisa McGrillis, alongside Jason himself.

Jason has since established himself as a major name in UK comedy and television. As well as creating Hebburn, he wrote the Gold-rated comedy-drama Murder on the Blackpool Express and its subsequent sequels. He's also the founder and host of Laffs4Kids, the hugely successful Christmas charity event collecting thousands of gifts for local children living in poverty, and co-hosts the popular Things We Didn't Know podcast with fellow comedian Carl Hutchinson.

A familiar face at The Customs House, Jason's Comedy Club has been entertaining audiences at the South Shields venue for a decade, selling more than 100,000 tickets.

Tickets:

Tickets for the show go on sale to Friends of The Customs House on Wednesday, November 4 and general sale on Friday, November 6 at 10am and will be available from The Customs House Box Office on 0191 454 1234 or online at www.customshouse.co.uk.

Interview: "A Bucket-List Role" - Olivier Award Nominee Peter Polycarpou Brings Poirot to Newcastle Theatre Royal

"A Bucket-List Role" 

Olivier Award Nominee Peter Polycarpou Brings Poirot to Newcastle Theatre Royal

Agatha Christie's The Hollow

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 10 - Saturday 14 November 2026

Taking on one of literature's most famous detectives in Agatha Christie's The Hollow, when the production visits Newcastle Theatre Royal, two-time Olivier Award nominee Peter Polycarpou admits the role has been years in the making. "Getting to play Hercule Poirot is a real bucket-list moment for me" he says "He's been on my wish list for a long time. Poirot is so iconic, this wonderfully logical man who has such a moral responsibility to him and who has a huge psychological insight into people."

Best known for acclaimed stage performances in Oslo, The Band's Visit, Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, alongside screen credits including House of the Dragon and The Brutalist, Polycarpou now joins a celebrated list of actors who have portrayed Christie's legendary Belgian sleuth.

In The Hollow, Poirot arrives in the English countryside hoping for a quiet retreat, only to find himself drawn into a murder investigation when a gathering at an elegant country house ends in tragedy What appears to be a straightforward crime soon reveals itself to be far more complex.

Photo: Johan Persson

Polycarpou says stepping into Poirot's polished shoes comes with a unique challenge. "There is a weight of expectation in playing him. It's like playing Hamlet in a sense. To make it my own, I've researched as much as I can about him, delving into his traits, his idiosyncrasies and his backstory."

Directed by Lucy Bailey, whose previous Christie productions include Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, this new adaptation shines a spotlight on one of the Queen of Crime's most psychologically rich stories. "It's not a puzzle mystery where Poirot's task is to work out how the crime has happened" Bailey explains. "Here Christie is more interested in the psychological dynamics within a family. Its Christie meets Chekhov."

Originally published in 1946, The Hollow stands apart from many of Christie's better-known works, focusing as much on the motivations and emotions of its characters as it does on solving the crime itself. For Bailey, that depth is part of the reason the story continues to resonate with audiences. "Having studied her writing so intensively, I've really come to appreciate her humour, sharp observation and her understanding of human nature in all its craziness."

Blending suspense, wit and psychological intrigue, The Hollow offers theatre audiences a fresh encounter with Poirot and a chance to experience one of Agatha Christie's most fascinating mysteries brought vividly to life on stage.

Tickets

Agatha Christie's The Hollow plays Newcastle Theatre Royal next week from Tuesday 10 – Saturday 14 November 2026. 

Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.

Preview: Dracula by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm at Pier Pavillion, South Shields

 Dracula adaptation with stories of the women at the heart comes to South Shields

Dracula by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Pier Pavillion, South Shields

Wednesday 4th - Saturday 7th November 2026

The Westovian Theatre Society are bringing the horror to South Shields this Halloween with their latest production of Dracula. 

Nicola Richardson as Lucy

Far from a simple retelling of the incredible Bram Stoker story, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s 2025 adaptation sets the women at the heart of the gothic tale, as Mina Harker tells her own version of Dracula’s infamous journey from Transylvania. Lloyd Malcolm has carefully crafted the story into an exciting new, powerful and terrifying psychological thriller, dripping with atmosphere and tension.

In a departure from the epistolary novel, this adaptation takes on the uniquely theatrical form of a play within a play, with Mina’s assembled band of players leading the audience through the story. The sense of dread builds throughout the piece, with the question of whether the retelling of Dracula’s story may in fact resurrect the Count himself hanging over the audience throughout. 

Michael Caygill as Jonathan Harker

The show had its world premiere just last year, with a successful run at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London, with critics describing the ‘dark and menacing show’ (London Standard) as a ‘revolutionary take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a twist that redefines the original’ (Broadway World) and ‘delivering bucketloads of scalp-crawling shocks’ (London Standard). 

The show runs at the Pier Pavillion in South Shields from Wednesday 4th until Saturday 7th November, the second show of another exciting season for the Westovians. 

Fresh from directing his first show at the Westovians, the dark comedy Home I’m Darling, Mike Harrison discussed what it was like to take on a completely different challenge of a dark thriller. 

“In a complete departure from the idyllic 50s stylised lifestyle of Home I’m Darling, this play has been an exciting challenge to direct. The technical elements of the play have presented many challenges to a small amateur theatre such as ours, but it has been great to work out how to stage the show, with its many special effects and hundreds of lighting cues. It has been a joy to work out how to maintain the suspense and mystery throughout the piece, and how to surprise and unnerve the audience without necessarily needing to lean on gory horror. The fantastic cast and crew have worked incredibly hard to bring this tale to life in the manner Morgan Lloyd Malcolm intended, and I can’t wait for audiences to see what we have created.”

Rachel Craig as Mina Harker

The Westovians have built a reputation for producing a diverse programme of new writing and classic plays in South Tyneside. Last season, the society won 7 NODA North District awards, including Best Villain in a Pantomime for Rachel Craig, who leads the Dracula cast as Mina Harker.

Craig said: “I have absolutely loved being involved in this production. It has been quite a challenge, with lots of tech and sound building the tension, but it has been a brilliant experience, and lots of fun. This isn't a Dracula you have seen before, it's a re-telling of the old classic, but beware the teller as much as the tale!”

Show: Dracula by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Location: Pier Pavillion, South Shields

Dates: Wednesday 4th - Saturday 7th November. Evening shows 7.30pm, Saturday matinee 2pm

Tickets: £15. Available online: https://www.ticketsource.com/westovians/dracula/e-zpjgov

Tickets can be purchased in person at Sanddancer Clothing, The Word and at the Box Office (open one hour before show & subject to availability)

Suitable for: 14+
Content Warnings: Contains scenes of blood, gore, horror, themes of infant mortality, themes of psychological distress.

Running time: 2 hours 15 (including interval)

Access: Theatre is fully wheelchair accessible, with an accessible toilet and designated wheelchair spaces in the auditorium.