Stewart’s award-winning one-man show will replace the 16 ducks that are featured in the highly anticipated but poorly received Ducktastic, which is due to waddle off the Albery’s stage after a truncated run on Nov. 19. Stewart’s version of the Dickens classic — which the actor adapted for the stage himself — was first seen in New York after which it transferred to London’s Old Vic in 1993.

The show — in which Stewart portrays every character in the novel from Tiny Tim to Ebenezer Scrooge — won an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and a Drama Desk Award for Best Actor.

Stewart became an international star playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the "Star Trek" film and television series. In cinema he has continued his sci-fi roles playing Professor X in the “X-Men” movies.

Before he became familiar to television and film audiences, Stewart was, and still is, a highly rated stage actor with many Broadway and West End performances to his name. His Royal Shakespeare Company roles include Shylock, and more recently he appeared in West End revivals of David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre and Ibsen’s The Master Builder.

Ducktastic was originally booking until July 15, 2006. Like the hugely successful The Play What I Wrote, Ducktastic was created by Right Size duo Hamish McColl and Sean Foley and directed by Kenneth Branagh. It leaves the West End after only one month.

For more information on A Christmas Carol, call (0)870 950 0920.