Covid: Jason Manford 'nervous' over lockdown anniversary play

Entertainer Jason Manford says he feels "privileged" but nervous to be performing a one-person play - unrehearsed - as part of events marking a year since the coronavirus pandemic shut down many theatres.

With a script waiting in a sealed envelope, theatres across the world will be staging White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour this weekend.

Manford, who will be performing in aid of Salford's Lowry Theatre, said the livelihoods of many behind-the-scenes workers had been affected, adding: "It's a multi-billion pound business, which is probably going to be the last one to come back."

Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, he also joked that his recent role in Death in Paradise was "an absolute doss for two weeks but, at the end of a long summer of no holidays, it was an absolute treat".