AN all star cast appear as the revival of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opens its UK tour in Southampton next week.

Spandau Ballet, The Krays and EastEnders star Martin Kemp plays The Childcatcher, alongside celebrated comedian, presenter and The Producers and Sweeney Todd actor Jason Manford as Caractacus Potts.

Coronation Street and Eastenders actress Michelle Collins is Baroness Bomburst while comedian and Never Mind The Buzzcocks team captain Phill Jupitus plays Lord Scrumptious and Baron Bomburst.

Can the loveable but wacky inventor, Potts, along with his two children and the gorgeous Truly Scrumptious outwit the bombastic Baron Bomburst who has decreed that all children be banished from his kingdom?

What happens when the children are caught and imprisoned with the other youngsters by the evil Childcatcher? Will it all end happily-ever-after? Well, of course it will!

This fun-filled production from the team that brought you Fiddler on the Roof and The King and I promises laughs and magic galore – and Chitty herself!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has music and lyrics by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman, who were also responsible for Mary Poppins, The Slipper and the Rose, The Aristocats and The Jungle Book.

Directed by James Brining, Artistic Director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the tour of the much loved Sherman Brothers musical kicks off on Wednesday and runs until Sunday February 21 in Southampton ahead before dates all over the UK and Ireland.

For a chat with Jason Manford, turn to page XX.

A Martin Kemp interview appears in Seven Days, free with the Daily Echo, tomorrow.

Tickets: 023 8071 1811 or visit mayflower.org.uk