Salford graduate designs set for theatre adaptation of iconic BBC sitcom

Charlotte Thomas, who graduated from our BA Film, TV and Stage Design programme this summer, designed the entire set for Ideal, a stage adaptation of the BBC sitcom that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Premiering at The Lowry earlier this month, the production featured the return of comedian Johnny Vegas as Moz the Manchester-based weed dealer, as Graham Duff’s classic sitcom kicked off its nationwide tour.

As she was preparing to graduate this July, Charlotte secured the opportunity to design the highly-anticipated stage show, which required weeks of hard work right up until the point that the show premiered.

She said: “My initial thoughts on getting the opportunity were ‘wow, this is crazy!’

“I was, and still am, incredibly excited about my involvement in this production.

“I heard about its scale, and I felt like I was being chucked into the deep end straight out of graduation (in the best way). I approached it step by step, with support from my lecturers who answered any questions I had.

“I would say that the set pays homage to the original TV series from 20 years ago, with modern twists. It's dingy, run down and well lived-in.”

To inform her design, Charlotte approached it from the perspective of Moz and the other characters, interpreting how they would interact with the space around them, how they would be able to move from one scene to the next and how lighting would affect the use of the space.

She worked closely with Graham Duff, the show’s writer and director, to gain a mutual understanding of how the set would look and function, and how it could be catered to the 15 venues on the tour.

Charlotte tried to get in as many of her peer graduates as possible in the project, tasking them with creating the props needed on the set. She was supported by Robert Hampsey, Charlotte Mitchel, Moss McLennan and Loui Tulloch.

On her next steps, she said: “I am excited to continue my career in production design for television, films and theatre. Although I would say my ambitions are to explore stage design for concerts as well.”

The opportunity to design the set for Ideal came from ongoing partnerships that the programme has been able to secure over the years.

Course leader Emma Dibb said: “The University was approached by Graham to ask if one of our graduating students could design the set for the production.

“We set it as a competition for the third year students with Graham to pick his preferred design and oversaw the whole process to make sure that Charlotte was supported.

“She had a great team and the whole team around her was really supportive. It really is a big deal for Charlotte, to get an opportunity like this early on in her career. It will set her up really well for the future given most graduates don’t jump straight into designing projects on this scale.”

Emma has decades worth of experience as a production designer and recently redesigned the Blue Peter set ahead of its move to Versa Manchester Studios as the long running BBC children’s television show moved to a pre-recorded setup this summer.

Two 2025 course graduates were also involved in the project. Alyssa Holliday-Smith, who now works for Take One Scenic, helped construct the set off Emma’s designs and Athina Bentley, who was taken on by the BBC as an art assistant on the new series.

It is the first of two BBC shows that Emma worked on this summer as she also designed the set for the programme Dodge’s Pup School, which stars a number of puppets and is targeted at a preschool audience. Eleanor Hatton, a 2024 course graduate worked as an art assistant on both series of the show.