A Celebration of Early Doors with Phil Mealey

Phil Mealey is bringing Early Doors - Behind the Bar and Beyond to the Quays Theatre on Monday 29 March 2027. It's a live show that takes you back into The Grapes, the pub at the heart of the sitcom Early Doors, which Mealey co-created and starred in. If you've spent any time in the pub, you'll know the one: the slow pace, the regulars, the sort of place where nothing much happens and that's exactly the point.

On the night, Mealey mixes a few things together. There are favourite clips from the series, unseen material that never made it to screen, and behind-the-scenes stories from when the show was being made. He'll also be performing live music, including songs from Early Doors sung by himself. It's a bit of a retrospective on the show, with the clips and the stories working their way through the years it ran.

For context, Mealey is a BAFTA award-winning writer and performer. He's best known as the co-creator and star of Early Doors, but he also wrote on The Royle Family, so he's spent a good chunk of his career writing the kind of low-key, character-led comedy that these two shows are built on. This show is his own take on that world, bringing the pub back to the stage.

The Manchester dates are part of a wider tour across 2027, with stops in Liverpool, Masham and Scarborough. The Quays Theatre date is on Monday 29 March, starting at 19:30.