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The special 20th anniversary stage adaptation of multi-award winning BBC TV sitcom rather aptly kicked off it’s tour of England at The Lowry in Salford on Monday night

It’s not exactly the TV comedy-to-stage show revival anyone was partially begging for. Still, IDEAL – the stage show based on the award-winning sitcom starring Johnny Vegas – easily eclipses its peers, dining out on nostalgia with a touring production.

I’ve never wanted to see how Only Fools and Horses fares as a musical or John Cleese milk his Fawlty Towers success with a lucrative stint on the West End. Still, on Tuesday night, I jumped at the chance to see Vegas reprise his role as Moz, Manchester’s longest-serving weed dealer.

The special 20th anniversary stage adaptation of the multi-award-winning BBC TV sitcom aptly kicked off its tour of England at The Lowry in Salford on Monday night.

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IDEAL, created by Graham Duff, ran for six years and produced a whopping 53 episodes before its abrupt cancellation in 2011. Duff was disappointed to be denied the chance to pen an eighth series and wrap things up, and Vegas admitted in July this year that the stage adaptation was a way to give fans the ‘final’ episode they never had a chance to film.

But, set in the present day – with plenty of current comedic references to let the audience know Moz and the gang are very much in 2025, not 2011 – IDEAL on stage is less of a swansong that neatly ties up loose ends and works more as a nice bonus episode.

Nothing has really changed; Moz is still a low-level drug dealer in his bleak flat, joking that the council is considering putting a blue plaque outside to honour his local legacy.

Brain is still dishing out double entendres. Pyscho Paul hasn’t ditched a life of crime and found respectable employment. Colin is no longer on prohibition but fresh out of prison – dying to go back inside – and Cartoon Head’s identity remains under wraps.

The stage adaptation certainly isn’t a flawless production, with crackling mics and the odd blunder reminding those watching that it’s very much a live show, but it weirdly adds to IDEAL’s charm.

Thanks to Vegas’ quick reactions to missteps and ad-libs getting huge laughs from the audience, you’d be forgiven for suspecting some of the gaffes were scripted; they work that well.

IDEAL is undoubtedly one for the fans—it’s not a guarantee that someone who has never seen the TV show would love the stage revival—but that’s not a bad thing. Not everything has to be for everyone; some things can just be for the misfits who appreciate a cult classic.

If you fancy catching IDEAL in Salford this week, you’re out of luck—it’s unsurprisingly sold out. However, from next week, it will tour theatres nationwide until the 11th of October, when it will conclude in London.

The new stage adaptation is produced by Edge Street Live & Woolyback Productions. It will run from 8th September 2025 at Lowry until the 11th October at Bloomsbury Theatre.

It’s the biggest night in the TV calendar, the National Television Awards come around once a year, seeing some of the biggest names recognised, but the afterparty was not what Daniel Bird expected

It’s one of the most exclusive parties in the business, but I managed to get into the National Television Awards afterparty. Shortly after the ceremony came to an end, I found myself walking backstage at the O2 Arena, going past dressing rooms and memorabilia signed by artists including One Direction and Celine Dion as I made my way to the afterparty.

I was able to rub shoulders with some of my favourite TV stars, mainly EastEnders and Casualty, but I also bumped into all sorts of “famous” people and the odd social media “influencer.” I was instantly greeted by a free bar, albeit prosecco, wine and lager – not the typical afterparty I am used to.

When I asked if the bar had any spirits or shots, I was told no. It was only a few options on the bar. This shocked me, to be honest, as normally, the bar is completely open, and you only pay for the more expensive options if you’re after spirits.

There were some exciting aspects throughout, including live musicians playing in the middle of the packed-out room as various celebs moved about in the finest going-out clothes, no doubt feeling relaxed after the stress of the red carpet (in the rain, might I add) and waiting to find out if they had won an NTA.

Throughout the party, Love Islanders, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Strictly Come Dancing, and Casualty stars mixed with one another—as, let’s face it, most celebrities know one another—it’s a very small circle to be part of. Two people who were noticeably absent, though, were Elizabeth Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus.

It’s no secret that they were perhaps the most famous names on the guest list at the O2 Arena last night. They have definitely earned their stripes and don’t need to mingle at an afterparty, but I’d have liked to have seen them both. Of course, I wanted a selfie with Billy Ray.

Now don’t get me wrong, it was a great party, but I expected more. Awards shows are known for the glitz and glam, but the afterparties are synonymous with drama.

Just look at this year’s BRIT Awards with Danny Jones and Maura Higgins (they both attended last night and sat just four seats apart, although they didn’t publicly speak to one another).

I went to the NTAs afterparty alongside my friends and was bracing myself for drama. Who would kiss who? Would soap stars clash? Would Love Islanders clash? I was ready for it, but unfortunately, it didn’t deliver half of what I was expecting.

In fact, the only drama I witnessed was my friends not being allowed back in after nipping to the toilet, which was crazy. Perhaps everybody was on their best behaviour this year and wanted to avoid any scandals. Another shocking aspect, the bar closed shortly after 12.30… Not something I expected, and let me tell you, a few soap stars were far from impressed by this after being told they could have a water…

But despite the lack of drama, I was just happy to be there, mingling with some of my favourite TV stars, including the cast of Casualty, Thomas Law, Laura Doddington and Charlie Suff from EastEnders and of course, Shayne Ward, who I’ve met a few times and can honestly say that he is such a genuine person.

Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has said he’s scared to be a newspaper columnist after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah yesterday

Jeremy Clarkson has said he is “genuinely frightened” to be a newspaper columnist after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah yesterday (10 September).

While speaking to a group of students in Utah about his far right politics, Kirk was shot. After his death was confirmed, Clarkson wrote on X: “For the first time in my life, I’m genuinely frightened about being a newspaper columnist.”

Clarkson, who writes regularly for The Sunday Times News Review, was told by one user that he should stick to writing about cars. He responded by suggesting that too could be a risk.

“But what if someone disagrees with my view that, say, the new M5 is a bit dull. Everyone is so angry all the time these days,” he said.

Many users also highlighted that Clarkson is not innocent of using violent imagery in his writing and interviews. In fact, Clarkson himself has expressed regret for using violent language and has previously apologised for some incidents, including one in 2011 when he said he would have public sector workers on strike executed “in front of their families”.

Clarkson is not the only British broadcaster to speak about Kirk’s death. Piers Morgan said the attack was an “appalling assault on free speech and democracy” and that it was “disgusting and heartbreaking”.

Kirk made a name for himself by travelling to different universities in the United States to talk about right-wing politics and Prove Me Wrong events where he would debate students. A close ally of Donald Trump, Kirk’s politics centred on topics such as a pro-life attitude to women’s reproductive health, anti-trans rhetoric and the right of American citizens to carry guns freely.

A few months ago, he said: “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.” Trump announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social and said he was “loved and admired by all”.

The shooting is currently being treated as an assassination, though the shooter and their motivations are as of yet unknown.

This event has followed several other incidents of political violence in the US. In June, a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband were assassinated in Minnesota and there have been two attempted assassinations targeting Trump in 2024.

The Mirror catches up with the comedian Paul Coulter as he continues with his hit 5 Mistakes That Changed History tour, a wild blend of history, comedy and storytelling which delves into the sort of blunders that may well make you feel a little better about your own

From the moon landings to the invention of penicillin, humankind’s story has been written through moments of great triumph and accomplishment. But are there lessons to be learned from history’s less distinguished moments?

Comedian Paul Coulter certainly thinks so. The former legal professional, who studied history at University College London (UCL), has taken his latest show, ‘5 Mistakes That Changed History’, on a tour of the UK following a stellar run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And he couldn’t be more excited to share his enthusiasm for some of the biggest historical clangers of all time.

A blend of storytelling, history and comedy, Coulter’s passion shines through as he shares some of his favourite gaffes with the Mirror. Recalling one little-known fact that popped up over the course of his research, Coulter grinned: “Humans made the mistake for 300 years in Europe of thinking the tomato was poisonous. I just thought it was so funny and so ridiculous that, actually, the tomato didn’t end up in world cooking until 1870, which is when it got added to pizza and pasta.

“Before then, it wasn’t in any of our food. It was in Central and South American food, but in Europe, we thought it was poisonous!”

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A “history obsessive” since childhood, 5 Mistakes That Made History marked the moment Coulter managed to combine his two lifelong hobbies of comedy and history into a sparkling career. Starting off in a small shipping container, the show catapulted to acclaim, having sold out at both the Edinburgh and Adelaide fringes three years in a row.

Explaining the premise of the rib-tickling yet informative show, Coulter, who is based in Australia, told us, “I’ll tell five stories. So some of these stories will be quite emotional. Some of them, maybe there aren’t so many jokes, you’re really going into the moment. Like the Titanic would be a good one. You’re not really going to be making gags about the Titanic, and then some of them might have a lot more jokes in them.”

The Titanic error, one of Coulter’s personal favourites to tell, always elicits a horrified reaction from the audience, making for a poignant moment amid the usual laughs. As explained by Coulter: “When the Titanic sank, there was another ship eight miles from that ship, called The Californian. Despite everything the Titanic did, they radioed, they Morse-lighted, they sent a rowboat out to the mystery ship – it was eight miles away – that ship did nothing to save the Titanic because the captain was asleep.

“And he got woken up twice in the night, being told about rockets, and he doesn’t go on deck, he doesn’t investigate, he stays in his cabin, and he never checked it out.”

Every year, Coulter writes a new show centred around another five mistakes, and this summer even released a book, similarly titled 10 Mistakes That Made History. Keeping it varied with a mix of modern and ancient history, Coulter himself has regularly been surprised by the topics that have piqued his interest the most, with his work proving to be an ongoing learning process.

For example, although he initially wasn’t particularly interested in ancient history, Coulter now always kicks off his show with a story from the ancient world, and iconic Egyptian queen Cleopatra is now one of his favourite historical figures to discuss.

Humourously delving into Cleo’s second big love story, with Mark Antony, Coulter joked: “He’s a bit of a dropkick. He prefers drinking, partying, and boozing. Even as he’s about to die, he creates a drinking club that Cleopatra didn’t want to join. He reminds me of every single deadbeat ex that my friends have had.”

Coulter’s show feels particularly important at a time when humanities subjects, including history, are being devalued and cut back, to the dismay of historians who know all too well the dangers of ignoring or misunderstanding the lessons of the past.

Coulter reflected: “I think a lot of people get bored by history. The reason I wrote this show really was that I had so many friends who just went to me, ‘Oh, history’s boring. History’s dull. It’s not important. We don’t need to know about it’.

“The more and more you understand about history, the more you realise that these characters from history, they might be a statue in the British Museum, or you might think it’s some boring plaque on a wall, but these are humans like us, and you might not know people, as I’ve said in the introduction [of the book], who’ve led an army, but you know people with these human characteristics. People who are jealous, or people who are greedy.”

Whether performing his show or writing his book, Coulter focuses on the “human characteristics” of these seemingly far-off figures, knowing that it’s this slice of everyday humanity that brings history to life, not the clinical dates and figures. One amusing example of this is his bro-ish portrayal of Alexander the Great, depicted in Coulter’s book as the leader of a group of laddish, gym-buffed mates, embroiled in antics not all that dissimilar to the testosterone-fuelled arguments you might witness on a “stag night”.

Known as an unstoppable military leader and builder of empires, under Coulter’s witty pen, the revered King of Macedon becomes an “arrogant 32-year-old gym bro”, and all the more interesting with it. Alexander the Great is just one of the extremely successful individuals whose failures Coulter gleefully highlights, with audience members often left surprised that such storied leaders ever so much as set a foot wrong.

In one anecdote, Coulter tells the story of a mistake made by Winston Churchill when he was just 18 years old and had yet to set foot in the world of politics. It was this error, Coulter argues, that ended up changing the course of the future Prime Minister’s life, and there’s plenty of wisdom to take from this.

For Coulter, confronting history’s failures is just as important as celebrating its successes, even if we’re not all that comfortable with this topic. As he noted, “We’re allergic to failure.”

Sometimes, the stories are so wild that audience members point-blank refuse to believe them. One example is the tale of the battle between Alexander the Great’s “two best mates,” Ptolemy and Perdiccas, which involved Perdiccas invading Egypt to snatch back Alexander’s body.

In a series of catastrophically unfortunate events, Perdiccas had his men cross back over the river, believing Ptolemy was coming towards them. During this ultimately pointless retreat, the water levels rose, and some 2,000 troops either drowned or were devoured by hungry crocodiles. As it turned out, Ptolemy hadn’t even been coming for them anyway, and, in Coulter’s words, “Ptolemy just made his goats run in circles in the desert”.

This is one of the factual stories that prompt disbelieving audience members to approach Coulter after the show to insist that it couldn’t possibly be true. However, a true student of history at heart, Coulter does the diligent research required to ensure accuracy through every jaw-dropping twist and turn, knowing full well that “fact can be crazier than fiction.”

In an age of social media, AI, and widespread misinformation, many experts argue that a sound knowledge of history has never been so important. Coulter agrees that this subject, above all, encourages critical thinking. He reflected, “It teaches you to look at lots of different sources, and to look around, and to second-guess, and to understand human nature and how we got here.”

For Coulter, comedy is a great medium for telling the stories of history in a relatable way that actually connects people with the past in a meaningful, memorable way. He’s even managed to convert plenty of non-history lovers along the way.

The combination of jokes and storytelling means that returning audience members rarely need to brush up on their revision notes. Often, loyal fans will be able to recount stories from previous shows, with the vivid details staying with them long after they’ve left their seats. As noted by Coulter, “We’ve been telling stories for 40,000 years. Before Netflix, we were telling stories!”

Coulter said: “My whole goal is to make people realise that history is not boring, that history can come alive. And also, the fact that very little things, that come from human traits, can dramatically change the course of history. It’s not planned out. It’s not some regal king sitting in some beautiful chamber, and it all goes perfectly. These people are humans, too. They stuff up, and so do we. We all make mistakes, they just don’t change history.”

Tickets are on sale for Paul Coulter’s UK tour and are available now from www.historymistakes.com.

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com

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