Celebrated local comedy star, George Fouracres, made a special appearance at the University of Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre recently to record a BBC Radio 4 one man show/comedy pilot. George is an actor and comedian from the Black Country.

He is the third member of sketch group Daphne and a regular performer on BBC Radio 4 and 4extra, (The Lenny Henry Show, The Now Show, Newsjack, Ross Noble’s Britain in Bits).

He performed in and co-created Daphne Sounds Expensive, which ran for two series on BBC Radio 4 from 2016-17. 

On TV he is the voice of Prince Harry and others on Spitting Image (Britbox), and has played Charlie in Raised by Wolves (Channel 4), Henry Bloyd Smith in Pls Like (BBC Three), and made his US TV debut in 2019 as the villainous Hugh Cabot in Whiskey Cavalier (ABC). The new Sunday night stand-up special, a BBC Studios Production, was recorded at the Arena Theatre with George telling his story of growing up living with his Grandad and brothers in Wolverhampton, his love for the Black Country and how his eccentric upbringing has made him a true Black Country ‘Gentlemon’. 

A National Portfolio Organisation, the Arena Theatre is funded by both Arts Council England and the University of Wolverhampton, with the venue having a long-standing reputation within the local community for providing accessible and inclusive theatre to all. In 2020 the theatre was awarded £50,000 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Neil Reading, Artistic Director at the Arena Theatre, said: “During the pandemic the grant from the Culture Recovery Fund enabled us to install equipment to bring a sustainable programme of online and streamed theatre to its audiences in Wolverhampton - alongside continuing to deliver its vital community engagement and development work.   

“The Arena Theatre hosts over 200 events every year comprising of professional theatrical performances and hired events and our equipment now includes state-of-the-art livestreaming and an AV cinema infrastructure with 7.1 digital surround sound which allows us to accommodate broadcasting companies like the BBC for this type of recording. It was a real pleasure to host BBC Radio 4 and George recently at the Theatre and we’re really looking forward to hearing the show.” 

The show will be broadcast on Sunday 20 March at 7.15 pm as part of the Radio 4 Stand Up Specials.