“Business is business. We always aim to please.”

As the 1980s came to a close theatre impresario Mark Furness was enjoying success with his stage version of BBC sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo! which had recently transferred to London’s West End after a national tour. Retaining almost all of the television series’ then cast, it was an enormous hit, and Furness began looking around for other properties on which he could collaborate with BBC Enterprises, the corporation’s then commercial and licensing arm.

In June 1988 ‘Allo ‘Allo! briefly shared BBC Elstree with Doctor Who when the production of The Greatest Show In The Galaxy was shifted there from BBC Television Centre following the discovery of dangerous levels of asbestos in the building. While this event wasn’t what prompted Furness to contact the Doctor Who office with a view to optioning and producing a stage version of their series as well, it did allow Sylvester McCoy the opportunity to hang out with ‘Allo ‘Allo!’s Gavin Richards, with whom he’d been a member of The Ken Campbell Roadshow a decade or so earlier. (Such are the deep bonds forged between actors who have shoved ferrets down each others’ trousers.)