Steel Magnolias set to blossom on stage

The film starred Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts and the cast for the theatre show — opening in Sheffield Lyceum on January 31 — is packed with plenty of familiar names from TV.

Harriet Thorpe, formerly of The Brittas Empire and Absolutely Fabulous, will perform  alongside Laura Main — best known as Shelagh Turner in Call the Midwife, X Factor star and music theatre veteran and Diana Vickers and ex-EastEnder Lucy Speed.

A Touch of Frost alumnus  Caroline Harker and Elizabeth Ayodele, previously seen in Playboy of the West Indies, complete the main cast.

Steel Magnolias, which was first performed off-Broadway in 1987, is the story of six women who come together once a week in a small-town beauty salon in the American South, and prove that female friendship conquers all.

Faced with the highs and lows of love and life, and amongst the chaos of work, marriage and children, they unite to gossip, unwind and set the world to rights.

Visit sheffieldtheatre.co.uk for tickets.