Classic Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill Mob hits the stage in Brighton

Instead Justin is promising 90 minutes of delight – a fun adaptation of the classic Ealing comedy. It plays Theatre Royal Brighton from Monday-Saturday November 21-26; Chichester Festival Theatre from January 10-14 and Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre from January 24-28. Based on the screenplay by T E B Clarke, it has been adapted for the stage by Phil Porter. The film was released in 1951, directed by Charles Crichton, and starring Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway and Sid James, as well as Audrey Hepburn in one of her earliest screen appearances. It was ranked by the BFI as one of the greatest British films of all time and was restored and re-released in UK cinemas in 2011 for its 60th anniversary. Now it hits the stage, not long after its 70th. It tells the tale of Henry Holland (Miles Jupp), an unassuming bank clerk who dreams of stealing the van full of gold bullion he drives across London each day. When Henry learns that his new lodger makes Eiffel Tower paperweights out of lead, he devises a plan to make his dream a reality.

Playing the lodger is Justin: “Myself and Miles became involved about eight or nine months ago and it is just great to be back on stage. Plus this is just very good fun. It is a lovely cast and it's great to be back on tour again. As a film it feels overshadowed by The Lady Killers and I think The Lady Killers is possibly the better film but the Lavender Hill Mob is lovely. It's quite gentle. It's not knockabout. It's just a very nice escapist show. There's nothing modern about it. It has to be played absolutely when it was set and it is great fun.

“I am playing Pendlebury who was played by Stanley Holloway in the film, but we're not trying to get close to impressions. You just play the scripts that you have got. I am the new neighbour that arrives when Henry Holland is masterminding his bank heist. Pendlebury is a sculptor. He’s an artist manque. He always wanted to be a high artist but is making these Eiffel Towers and so he becomes a partner in the crime. Both are quite law-abiding people but it's just after the war and this guy gets the chance to steal a million. They're both men of a certain age and generation and they see this as their last chance for riches and glory and fortune.

“I haven't been on stage for a while. The last long theatre job that I did was 2018. I did a West End run and Broadway and came back and was going to do the RSC and we rehearsed for weeks but the day before we were supposed to start technical then everything locked down. I think theatre really suffered. Television and film bounced back quite quickly but with the theatre it has taken a while. I don't think people book in advance in the same way that they used to anymore. People are coming on the day and we're doing well but I do think theatre is struggling a bit.”