Pair cast in stage satire The Government Inspector

Ghosts stars Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Martha Howe-Douglas are to reunite on the London stage.

Howe-Douglas, who played Lady Button in the hit BBC One sitcom, has joined the cast of a new adaptation of the classic satirical play The Government Inspector, which opens next month.

She takes the role of Mrs Swashprattle, replacing the previously announced Vicki Pepperdine, who is stepping away from the show for personal reasons.

The actress – also one of the co-writers of Ghosts –  said: ‘I am delighted to be joining the company of The Government Inspector - my first theatre role since 2003.’

Howe-Douglas will also be reunited with  Dan Skinner – the comedian behind  Angelos Epithemiou  – who plays her husband, Governor Swashprattle. They also played a married couple in all three series of the Sky fantasy comedy Yonderland, a show she also co-wrote.

Smith-Bynoe will be playing Percy Fopdoodle in the play, which runs at the Marylebone Theatre from  May 3 to June 15. 

The new version of Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 work is set in a small parochial town in late 19th Century Britain, where the corrupt local officials mistake an over-privileged, vainglorious liar, who just happens to be passing through the town, for a high-ranking government inspector. 

Desperate to cover up their crimes and escape censure, the town’s governor and his cronies pull out all the stops to try and bribe this dishonest buffoon with money, wine and women.

It was apparently inspired by a real encounter when the writer Alexander Pushkin was mistaken for a government official in a provincial town and then told his friend Gogol all about it.

This version has been adapted and directed by Patrick Myles.

Published: 24 Apr 2024