Comedian Dave Spikey Will Return to Parr Hall Next Year

Phoenix Night's Dave Spikey is returning to Parr Hall's stage next year to look back on his fascinating life.

During his Warrington stand-up show on 13 March, 2025, the 72-year-old will reflect on his extraordinary decision to swap from senior medical professional to nationally recognised comedian – pretty much overnight.

Dave grew up in a working class family in Bolton with a dream of becoming a doctor and, by the age of 16, he'd bagged a job in the pathology department of Bolton General Hospital.

He ended up building a career there for 32 years, working his way up to Chief Biomedical Scientist in haematology.

But it was actually at the hospital where Dave found his funny bone and love of performing when he created a review society with a group of like-minded doctors and technicians.

Dave then took on the comedy circuit in his spare time where he got his big break supporting Jack Dee, Max Boyce, Cannon and Ball and Eddie Izzard – all in the space of a week.

After that, Dave's first collaboration with Peter Kay was on the award-winning That Peter Kay Thing which was, of course, followed by the beloved sitcom, Phoenix Nights, where he played cabaret singer Jerry St Clair.

Dave will tell how he hung up his lab coat for the final time in October 2000 and two weeks later found himself on a car park only half a mile down the road singing Walking on Sunshine in the pouring rain dressed as a giant berry.

He wondered at that moment if he'd made the right decision. As it turns out, he had…