Based on the true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research, Calendar Girls was an international box office success grossing nearly £100 million worldwide. Tim Firth will discuss how he adapted his own screenplay (co-written with Juliette Towhidi) into a successful stage play, which is embarking on its second national tour as well as making its international premiere in Toronto.

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Tim Firth first came to the attention of theatregoers with the worldwide hit comedy Neville’s Island, and to television viewers with the 1994 series All Quiet on the Preston Front. On stage he went on to win the Olivier for his musical Our House, and on television to win awards and plaudits for works including The Flint Street Nativity, Cruise of the Gods and and children’s series The Rottenrolls. Tim’s first two feature films were released in 2003. Calendar Girls starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters went to number one in the UK, becoming one of the most successful British films of all time and one of the top fifty grossing films in UK cinema history. Blackball, starring Paul Kaye and Vince Vaughn reached number three in the UK charts as did his third film, Kinky Boots starring Chiwitel Ejiofor and Joel Egerton. Tim latest screenplay collaboration, Confessions of a Shopaholic, was released in February 2009. The film was directed by P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) for Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney pictures.

Calendar Girls, which wowed the audiences across the country during its 2008/09 tour, and in the process broke the all time British box office record for a play also continued to sell out during its West End residency. In 2010, the hit comedy is about to embark on a UK country wide tour, one of the largest ever for a play. Calendar Girls has proven a success in Athens (current) and opens in Norway (late January) and Buenos Aires later in the year, plus a tour of major cities across Australia is planned to begin in April. In March 2010, Tim was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Chester.