West End Sellers show planned

A play about the tragic final days of Peter Sellers’ life could be coming to the West End stage – with Robert Downey Jnr tipped to take the lead role.

Veteran comedy writer John Antrobus, who knew Sellers from the days of The Goon Show, is working on the script.

‘I was with Peter from the early days and we were kindred spirits,’ he told the Daily Express. ‘The play tells the story of the end of Peter's life, when he knew he would have to find a new heart or die. It's sad but it's also funny’

Downey Jnr is reportedly being lined up to play Sellers after Robin Williams and Steve Coogan declined the role.

The 42-year-old has previous experience of playing English comics, having starred as Charlie Chaplain in a 1992 biopic.

Sellers was 54 when he died of a heart attack in 1980. Geoffrey Rush played him in a 2005 HBO movie about his life.

Published: 12 Jun 2007