Entertainment Swindon

From the drama of The Devil’s Arse rescue to UK-wide tour dates, John Shuttleworth is back to entertain!

Comedy icon and Radio 4 favourite John Shuttleworth returns to celebrate 40 years in showbiz with his new ‘Raise the Oof’ tour starting at Norwich Playhouse on the 6 February 2025 and ending in April 2025.

The tour includes the Cheltenham Town Hall on Friday 21st February.

Full list of tour dates: Click HERE.

Known for his quirky wit, charmingly mundane songs, and beloved Yamaha keyboard (complete with auto-accompaniment!), Shuttleworth—brought to life by actor and creator Graham Fellows—promises audiences a tour filled with laughter, nostalgia, and all-new stories.

“Always a delight. Fellows inhabits the character completely, and wrings comedy from his every grimace, shuffle or sigh” The Guardian

This year’s tour kicks off with the echoes of a dramatic finale from 2022. At one of his final shows at Peak Cavern (familiarly known as “The Devil’s Arse”), the concert took a dramatic turn when a lost hiker, trying to find his way to the venue, accidentally ended up dangling 100 feet above the audience! The gig had to be called off as Edale Mountain Rescue swooped in, rescuing the hiker from a precarious cliff ledge just inches from a steep drop. Ever the good sport, John promised the disappointed fans a make-up performance and pledged to “write a song about the incident,” which he’ll debut on the upcoming tour.

Now back and better than ever, ‘Raise the Oof’ brings Shuttleworth’s comedy genius to venues across the UK, offering original hits and hilarious tales from his four decades in entertainment. Audiences will be treated to tales of his early days with neighbour and clarinettist Ken Worthington (last place contestant on New Faces), the humorous realities of married life with miserable wife Mary, and his relentless mission to make it big in music. Shuttleworth remains determined to mail off his cassette demos (with Dolby noise reduction!) to today’s top acts, hoping for a late-career breakthrough.

With his unique comic voice, Shuttleworth has won critical acclaim from his debut radio series The Shuttleworths (BBC Radio 4), the longest-running sitcom on radio made exclusively by the same creator, to his show-stopping performance in ‘500 Bus Stops’ (BBC Two). Critics call him “the Cole Porter of the antimacassar set” (The Times) and praise his “ludicrously compelling” performances (Evening Standard). As The Guardian raves, “His stand-up is second to none… you can practically warm your hands on his good nature.”

Alongside his milestone tour, Shuttleworth will release a new book in March 2025, published by Omnibus Press, John Shuttleworth Takes the Biscuit. It will be  filled with original, hilarious stories from his life in and around Sheffield, brought to life with vibrant cartoons by Fellows’ longtime friend and collaborator, Kevin Baldwin. Additionally, he’s launching a new CD, The Pumice Stone and Other Rock Songs, featuring his latest hit, The Ballad of Dangly Man, inspired by the real-life rescue drama at his 2022 show in The Devil’s Arse.

For ‘Raise the Oof’ tour dates and tickets visit:   http://www.shuttleworths.co.uk/pages/tour.html

About Graham Fellows

Graham Fellows is best known for his comic creation, John Shuttleworth, who has starred in the hit series 500 Bus Stops (BBC 2) as well as Celebrity Antiques Roadshow, Celebrity Pointless, Count Arthur Strong, and most recently Rocky and Ralf’s Very Northern Road Trip all on BBC1.

Graham was already well known as an actor and creator of the hit single, Jilted John which reached number 4 in the UK charts in 1978, while Graham was still at drama college (Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre). As John Shuttleworth Graham continued his pop association when he supported the likes of Robert Plant at the Marquee Club and Blur at the Mile End Stadium.

Graham has starred in five series of The Shuttleworths plus several Specials (all for BBC Radio 4) from 1992 to 2010 and the show has been nominated for a Sony Award and Writer’s Guild Award. A spinoff series featuring live guests, Radio Shuttleworth (also BBC Radio 4) ran for two series in ‘98 and 2000 and was also nominated for a Sony Award. A new series in 2006, co-created by Dean Wilkinson, John Shuttleworth’s Open Mind, was nominated for Best Radio Comedy at the North-West Comedy Awards and is repeated regularly on BBC 4Extra, as are many of the other radio shows. A one off 6-part series Guide To Stardom was aired in 1994 on BBC Radio 1.

Other TV credits as John Shuttleworth, include a Eurovision Special, Europigeon, (BBC 2) Vic and Bob’s Xmas Special (BBC 2), Packin Em In, Saturday Zoo, and Later With Jools Holland (all Channel 4).

In 1992 Graham was nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his live show, John Shuttleworth’s Guide To Stardom. Many live tours have followed, including 2000 & John for which Graham won the Manchester Evening News Comedy Award. Other successful national tours include One Foot In The Gravy, Pillock of the Community, Out Of Our Sheds, and The Minor Tour and Other Mythological Creatures.

At the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe, Graham introduced a new character – failed rocker and multi-media lecturer, Brian Appleton in Brian Appleton’s History of Rock n Roll. (“An inspired creation. Spinal Tap, watch your back!” The Irish Times.)  A radio series based on the show was later broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Graham has also toured as Brian with the pop band Belle & Sebastian and presented a short series for Channel 4 – Elvis Lives. In 2002 a new Brian Appleton show – Let’s Look at Sound, was nominated for the Manchester Evening News Comedy Award. On Christmas Day 2003 he presented Brian Appleton’s Christmas Single and in 2005 a new 6 part series, Brian Appleton’s Unofficial Multimedia Lecture (both for BBC Radio 4) Another of Graham’s comedy characters, Goole concreter (laserscreening a specialty”), and aspiring after-dinner speaker, Dave Tordoff (“His ignorance is comical bliss”, Evening Standard) has made guest appearances in several Shuttleworth and Appleton tours and made his Edinburgh debut in Neighbours From Hull.

As an actor, Graham has featured as Les Charlton in Coronation Street (ITV), Comics (Channel 4) Coogan’s Run (BBC 2), Time Gentlemen Please (Sky), Heartbeat (ITV) and Ideal (BBC 2). He provided all the voices for Aardman’s Bafta Award winning short film Stage Fright. He has recorded two children’s drama series for television – Dangerville for ITV and Bad Penny for BBC. Theatre parts include Paul McCartney in Bob Eaton’s musical Lennon (Liverpool Everyman) Geoffrey in A Taste Of Honey (Manchester Royal Exchange), and all the male roles in Jim Cartwright’s play TWO at the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster. Graham’s film work includes appearances in Morons From Outer Space, and Cheeky, starring and directed by David Thewlis. More recently, Graham portrayed Eric Sykes in Hattie – the acclaimed biopic drama (BBC 2)

Graham wrote and directed (and starred in as Shuttleworth) two feature films Southern Softies on location in the Channel Islands, the sequel to the hit film It’s Nice Up North, filmed and co-directed with the legendary photographer, Martin Parr. Both movies enjoyed theatrical releases (through the Picturehouse chain) and were broadcast several times on Sky Arts.

Graham (with agent Richard Bucknall) now runs a production company, Chic Ken, who co-produced the feature films and an ad campaign for Yorkshire Tea with Willy Smax in collaboration with the award winning BMB Agency.

Chic Ken’s first radio production was recently aired on BBC radio 4 – the critically acclaimed John Shuttleworth’s Lounge Music, featuring guest stars such as, Heaven 17, Chas and Dave, Toyah Wilcox and Lee John, not to mention Anita Harris!  Last summer John headlined at No 6 and Port Elliot Festivals and has recently completed his biggest UK tour to date. He recently appeared at The London Palladium in a night to raise money for MS and hosted a night with amongst others Toyah Wilcox, Chas (Chas and Dave),Sooty and Sweep and Imagination.

He completed the second series of John Shuttleworth’s Lounge Music on BBC Radio 4 shortly before heading out on tour with My Last Will and Tasty Mint in 2017.  To celebrate the 40th birthday of one of his best-known creations, Jilted John, Graham headed out on tour with John Otway. Then in early 2018, Graham, in an unprecedented move from the godfather of character comedy,  decided to go out on tour as himself with his latest offering, Completely Out Of Character in early 2018.

His last tour finished in 2022 having been delayed by lockdown. Since then he has released a documentary Father Earth, which was released theatrically in 2022 and earned much critical praise .

In 2023 Graham played the lead role in upcoming feature Chicken Town and has just played a guest lead in the second season of BBC 1 hit comedy, The Power of Parker.

In March 25, John’s third book (and second with Omnibus Press) will be published. John Shuttleworth Takes the Biscuit has already earned celebrity plaudits such as this from Steve Pemberton: “Heart-warming yet always laugh-out-loud hilarious, Graham Fellows’ genius creation is the balm we need in these troubled times.”

For ‘Raise the Oof’ tour dates and tickets visit   http://www.shuttleworths.co.uk/pages/tour.html