'Oh people! I think it will be fabulous'

Joanna Lumley is to embark on her first ever live tour.

It’s All About Me will comprise 30 dates in Ireland and the UK in autumn next year.

In the shows, the Ab Fab star will share stories from a career that has spanned more than four decades. She will also be joined on stage by her friend and producer, Clive Tulloh, who will pose questions asked by the audience.

Lumley said: ‘The thought of this tour next year, travelling across the British Isles and Ireland, has completely taken over my waking hours. It’s utterly thrilling to start planning the stories I can tell, and the rapture (and gratitude, to be fair) with which I shall greet the audiences.

‘Nothing like this has come my way before, and I may have to be dragged off with a hook at the end of each show. Oh people! This is especially for you from me, with masses of love. I think it will be fabulous.’

Lumley’s career started in London in the swinging 60’s. Beginning as Jean Muir’s house model and muse, she became a full-blown photographic model, featuring in knitting patterns, mini-skirts, toothpaste commercials and the occasional front cover.

Her acting career that includes Coronation Street, On the Buses, Dracula and as a brainwashed Bond Girl in Blofeld’s lair in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before landing her breakthrough as Purdey in the New Avengers in 1976, a part for which over 800 girls auditioned.

She has also become a TV adventurer and activist.    Tulloh first met Joanna on the set of the Full Wax in 1991 and producerd her survival show Girl Friday in 1994. Since then they have made more than 20 hours of documentary television together, including the recent adventures to India, Japan and the Trans-Siberian Railroad

Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow.

Here is the schedule:

Saturday 06 October: Belfast Waterfront Hall
Sunday 07 October: Dublin Bord Gais Theatre
Tuesday 09 October: Birmingham Symphony Hall
Wednesday 10 October: Newcastle Gateshead Theatre
Thursday 11 October: Glasgow SEC Armadillo
Friday 12 October: Edinburgh EICC
Saturday 13 October: Blackpool Opera House
Sunday 14 October: Salford The Lowry
Wednesday 17 October: Oxford New Theatre
Thursday 18 October: Bristol Hippodrome
Friday 19 October: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
Saturday 20 October: Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre
Sunday 21 October: Cambridge Corn Exchange
Monday 22 October: Ipswich Regent Theatre
Wednesday 24 October: Sheffield City Hall
Thursday 25 October: Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Friday 26 October: Leeds First Direct Arena
Saturday 27 October: Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Sunday 28 October: York Barbican
Monday 29 October: London Palladium
Wednesday 31 October: Plymouth Pavilions
Thursday 01 November: Coventry Warwick Arts Centre
Friday 02 November: Southampton 02 Guild Hall
Saturday 03 November: Bournemouth BIC
Sunday 04 November: Portsmouth Guild Hall
Tuesday 06 November: Leicester De Montfort Hall
Wednesday 07 November: Blackburn King Georges Hall
Thursday 08 November: Brighton Dome
Friday 09 November: Northampton Derngate Theatre
Saturday 10 November: Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Published: 30 Nov 2017