For this new stage version directed by Roger Smith (Duet for One, Steaming), comedy writer Ray Galton – who with Alan Simpson wrote the original television series – has teamed up with John Antrobus. The original television series gave rise to two of British comedy’s best-loved characters, Albert Steptoe and his son Harold.

In the play, which has the tag line "Murder at Oil Drum Lane," Harry Dickman and Jake Nightingale play the father and son ‘totter’ team — traders in unwanted artifacts who traditionally collect their goods by horse and cart.

The core of the show features a relationship in which emotional blackmail keeps the 40-something son from leaving his manipulative father. Galton and Antrobus' new plot sees Harold return to the ramshackle West London house having fled the country after killing his father in a fit of pique. Harold enters his old home – preserved as an example of a "totter’s" yard – only to be greeted by the ghost of his father Albert.

Steptoe and Son, which is booking until April 22, replaces a canceled revival of Peter Whelan’s School for Night, which was to star Christopher Eccleston. No reason was given by the producers for the cancellation.

For more information on Steptoe and Son call (0)870 060 6637.