​Damian Williams – Tommy Cooper Damian's acting career encompasses both stage and screen. His television appearances include roles in BBC's Billy Webb and Alfonzo Bonzo, Spatz, Exam Conditions, The Bill, Birds of a Feather, and Britain's Got More Talent. He also presented Damian's Are You Smarter Than Your 10-Year-Old? for Sky One. Most recently, he has played Whiff in Andy and the Band series 1-3 and is set to film series 4. In film, he has appeared in Exam Conditions and Come Together. Damian's Musical Theatre credits include playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray at the Leicester Curve, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, and lead roles in Underneath the Arches and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. His first love is comedy. He has had the opportunity to play Ollie in Tom McGrath’s Laurel & Hardy, a role inspired by his heroes Laurel and Hardy. He also portrayed Tommy Cooper in both the tour of the play Being Tommy Cooper, and in Paul Hendy's short film The Last Laugh, for which he won the Best Actor award at the Southampton International Film Festival. Damian is also a well-known farceur, having appeared in productions such as Run for Your Wife, Cash on Delivery, Funny Money, Tom Dick and Harry, It Runs in the Family, Not Now Darling, There Goes the Bride, Out of Order, Caught in the Net, Dry Rot, See How They Run, and Don't Dress for Dinner. In addition, Damian has performed in the UK tour of Ladykillers and many other theatre productions, including the one-man play My Dog's Got No Nose, Bouncers, April in Paris, Lucky Sods, and Educating Rita. With 37 years of experience as a seasoned pantomime performer, Damian started as a villain in pantomimes for eight years before transitioning to the role of Pantomime Dame for the past 29 years. He has been the resident Dame at the Sheffield Lyceum for the last 17 years and was awarded Best Pantomime Dame at The Great British Pantomime Awards.   

Simon Cartwright – Bob Monkhouse

Simon studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and graduated with BA (Hons) in Music from Surrey University.

Simon pursued a performing career as both actor and impressionist. In the late 1980’s, he made a number of appearances at THE COMEDY STORE with Alistair McGowan. Simon worked as a reporter/presenter on BBC Local Radio between 2003 and 2007.

Following many TV appearances and live performances, he realised his life-long ambition of performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015 in THE MAN CALLED MONKHOUSE receiving critical acclaim for his solo performance. Simon also filmed a principal guest role in series 3 of award-winning Ch4 sit-com TOAST OF LONDON.

In 2016, he played Bob Monkhouse in THE LAST LAUGH, a film written and directed by Paul Hendy, which won Best Comedy Drama at Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Simon won Best Supporting Actor at Sydney Independent Film Festival and Best Actor at the Discovery Film Festival 2017. Other films include MOTHER’S DAY and CLOSURE.

Since 2020, Simon has been touring the UK in Mark Farrelly’s stage play, HOWERD’S END, in which he portrays the legendary British comedian, Frankie Howerd.

Paul Hendy is a writer, director and producer.

On television, Paul hosted shows such as 'The Disney Club', 'Don’t Try This At Home' with Davina McCall and 'Wheel of Fortune' (which had been running for twenty-three years until Paul hosted one series and they cancelled it!) He also hosted the BAFTA-nominated 'Dear Mr Barker' and the cult classic 'Stash the Cash'.

His novels, 'Diary Of A C-List Celeb' and 'Who Killed Simon Peters?' were published by Transworld in 2004 and 2009. They received wonderful reviews and can be currently found in the bargain bins of most reputable bookshops.

Paul wrote, directed and produced the short film, THE LAST LAUGH which sees comedy icons, Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse, sitting in a dressing room discussing the secret of comedy and what it means to be ‘funny’. The film won several awards including Best Film at the Manchester Film Festival, the ‘Special Audience Award’ at Oxford Film Festival and ‘Best Comedy Drama’ at Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.

Since then, Paul has directed HELP MY TEACHERS ARE ALIENS (short) and MR SUNSHINE (short) as well as several commercials. In 2023, he directed and produced the short film, THE CHOICE, written by BAFTA and Olivier-award winning writer, Tim Whitnall and starring Rita Simons (EastEnders, The Krays) and Alex Macqueen (The Inbetweeners, In the Loop).

Alongside a career in writing and television, Paul has always been passionate about theatre. In 2005, he formed Evolution Productions with his wife, Emily. Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength and Paul is extremely proud of their reputation for producing some of the best and most successful pantomimes in the country.

Paul has also directed and produced a UK Tour of MORECAMBE (an Award-winning one-man play about the life of Eric Morecambe) and in 2023, he directed the critically-acclaimed play, LENA at the Edinburgh Fringe.