Based on an original idea by Ivan Butler, Big Bad Mouse was first staged in 1964 but did not become a box office hit until Edwards and Sykes took over the lead roles and toured the show across the UK in 1966 and 1967.

With a fluid mixture of clever dialogue, quick fire jokes, sight gags, witty repartee backwards and forwards with the audience and even slapstick routines the pair ripped the original script to shreds.

During the mid-play interval the cast joined the audience in the bar, remaining in character and performing several hilarious set piece conversations in between chatting with theatre goers.

In the classic Sykes-Edwards production, the young actress playing the part endured endless ad-libs and delays in the action and still resolutely hit her cues and scripted lines.

In the final act, having confessed her love for Bloome while wearing a drab ankle-length dress with a high lace collar, she next appears in a sexy red leather mini-skirt and boots, much to the delight of the audience who have appreciated her professional contribution to the performance.

Castle's additional skills as a musician, a singer and as a supple dancer brought an extra facet to the show, which by now bore little resemblance to the original script.

With the play effectively finished, Edwards and Castle returned to the stage each night for an encore that often lasted for over an hour of jokes and routines, often 'attacking' the front stalls and private boxes with toy machine guns filled with table tennis balls.

When the London show closed in 1970, Sykes returned to the role as Bloome, and it was taken on a repeat national tour of almost every theatre in the UK with the remainder of the original West End cast.

Generally well accepted by the audiences and playing to packed houses, several regional theatre critics felt that Cannon and Ball did not possess the comedic depth and wider talents of the show's original 1960s stars.