Spike's life is turned into a play

Spike Milligan's battle with depression as he struggled with a punishing schedule of writing Goon Show scripts is to be made into a stage show.

Ying Tong will continue the tradition of reviving comic icons for the theatre, on the back of recent West End hits about Morecambe and Wise and Tommy Cooper.

Producers are now casting for Milligan, as well as fellow Goons Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers before the play opens at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds this October.

The show has been written by comic-turned-playwright Roy Smiles, who appeared in the BBC2 sitcom Operation Good Guys.

He told The Independent: "I've been writing fringe plays for about a decade and was a playwright in search of an audience so I was trying to think of something a bit more commercial.”

The show recreates the anarchic spirit of the Fifties radio show, including appearances from characters such as Eccles Seagoon and Bluebottle, but does not use any of the original dialogue.

"It was more of a writing challenge to capture the style of comedy," Smiles added. "It is a proper play rather than excerpts."

At its heart lies the intense struggles inside the mind of Spike Milligan, who found the relentless cycle of producing scripts for each 26-episode series affected his mental balance and happiness.

Published: 5 Aug 2004