Lenny Henry To Star In RUDY'S RARE RECORDS: LAST SHOP STANDING At Hackney Empire

A three-week season of Rudy's Rare Records: Last Record Shop Standing stage version is planned at Hackney Empire starring Lenny Henry in September 2014 prior to a UK tour.

Award winning writer Danny Robins has written four series of the popular Radio 4 sitcom Rudy's Rare Records with Lenny Henry.

Rudy's Rare Records is a tiny down-at-heel old reggae record shop in Birmingham. It's one of a dying breed; a place with real soul, stacked with piles of vinyl, where the slogan is "if we don't have it - them don't mek it". It's owned by the charismatic, irrepressible, cantankerous Rudy Sharpe, reluctantly helped out by his long-suffering son Adam (Lenny Henry), but when the threat of developers looms, father and son must put their differences aside as they face a battle to keep the music alive. Featuring a live band onstage playing reggae, ska, funk and hip hop classics, Rudy's Rare Records is a feel good funny night out about how desperate times draw families together, even when you can't stand the sight of each other.

Lenny Henry has risen from being a cult star on children's television to being one of Britain's best known and loved personalities. His popular characters include Brixton's favourite wideboy Delbert Wilkins to the one-man 'sex machine' Theophilus P. Wildebeeste and the Guinness supping Grandpa Deakus.

Lenny Henry won the Evening Standard Best Newcomer Award for his portrayal of Othello for Northern Broadsides. This toured the UK and played a sell out season at the Trafalgar Studios in 2011. He has just completed an acclaimed tour and West End season as Troy Maxson in August Wilson's Award winning drama 'Fences' at the Duchess Theatre.

Danny Robins has written widely for TV and Radio. He created the award-winning CBBC series Young Dracula and co-created and wrote the cult BBC 2 series 'We Are History'. He has written for Armando Iannucci, Joan Rivers, Ronnie Barker and even Basil Brush. For radio he has been responsible for the Sony Award-nominated 'The Museum of Everything', 'Paperback Hell' and of course Rudy's Rare Records as well as working on such hits as 'Dead Ringers' and Parsons and Naylor. His new Radio 4 sitcom 'The Cold Swedish Winter' will be broadcast in summer 2014.