Jason Manford hosts a glittering musical celebration with spectacular performances

He once said: “You’ve got to be honest with yourself, and be able to go on your social media and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this new show, and I think you should watch it, because I’d watch it’ and that’s what I’d always try and do. The same with my kids – I think, ‘Would my family sit down and watch this show if somebody else was doing it?’ And invariably, yeah, we would.”

So, you can rest assured that even if he wasn’t hosting Big Night of Musicals 2024 by the National Lottery, he’d be at home, singing along in the comfort of his own home. And he’d probably be doing a pretty good job of it, too. Although he’s primarily known as a comedian, Manford has proved on several occasions that he can belt out a showtune. He’s appeared in musicals such as Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Guys and Dolls, and also came second on the first series of The Masked Singer.

So, no wonder he was chosen to host the first Big Night of Musicals in 2022, which aimed to thank the people who had helped to keep the theatre industry going during the difficult days of Covid. He proved such a hit, he returned in 2023.

Now he’s back for a third time, and he’s joined by Beverley Knight, Daniel Mays Nicole Scherzinger and Alfie Boe. There are also appearances by the casts of an impressively wide variety of musicals, from vintage crowd-pleaser Guys and Dolls, which made its Broadway debut in 1950 and still get regularly revived thanks to Frank Loesser’s witty, evergreen score, to Mrs Doubtfire the Musical, which opened in the West End last year.

The mix of classics and new favourites continues as we get performances from A Chorus Line, Grease the Musical, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Hamilton and Disney’s Aladdin. They may be very different in plot and musical style, but what they should all have in common is an ability to remind us why theatre endures, even in tough times.

As Jason said ahead of last year’s show: “I always think theatre and musical theatre and comedy or anything is good for the soul, it’s good for you, it’s good to see people having a great time, even in difficult moments.

“It’s been a terrible time for the industry, whether it’s pandemic, whether it’s cost-of-living crisis placing customers in crisis, it’s a very difficult time at the moment and hopefully nights like this help.”

If you need a further boost, the good news is that the musical theme continues on BBC2 with Showtunes at the BBC, followed by Andrew Lloyd Webber at the BBC, while on Sunday, BBC Four kicks off its own musicals night with Leonard Bernstein – Stage and Screen with the John Wilson Orchestra.