AS THE That’ll Be the Day Christmas Show rolls into Salisbury and Bournemouth this weekend front man Trevor Payne has spoken of his challenge to constantly reinvent one of the most successful touring shows in the history of entertainment.

That’ll be the Day will celebrate 30 years on the road next year but before that he has to complete a run of 38 Christmas shows!

The festive-themed production visits Salisbury City Hall tonight and the BIC Bournemouth tomorrow.

Audiences can look forward to the ultimate Christmas party with a mix of comedy, music and nostalgia featuring Christmas classics from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Trevor who stars in, directs and produces the show, pointed out that new Christmas songs have not exactly been forthcoming in recent times. The last true Christmas song, he says, was Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You back in 1994.

“To actually write a Christmas song these days isn’t easy: the sentiment is quite tricky because it’s all been done before. How many times can you describe Christmas, mistletoe, berries and snow?

“We have to keep reinventing the show. This year there is slightly less Christmas content and we spend time looking back at the year.”

By the time we roll into 2015 Trevor and the TBTD gang will have done a total of 222 shows this year. But big plans are already being set in place for next year, which will be their 30th anniversary tour. They have booked in 240 shows followed by a big 30th birthday celebratory show at The London Palladium!

Trevor says that will be their last big anniversary as he doesn’t believe even he will be able to keep going for another ten years – even though the show might!

For now though he says he is happy to be in the business of entertaining people – and making friends!

“All we do is make friends- it’s astonishing.

People are envious of TBTD; they don’t understand how we do so many shows.”

It seems that once people go to see TBTD they virtually always go back again. The devotion to the show by many is quite extraordinary.

Trevor revealed: “One lady who comes to see us has been over 1,000 times. She doesn’t have a car but hires a car and books into hotels. It must cost her at least £150 a time: it’s a very expensive hobby! She’s called Deirdre and she sits on the front row every time.

“Then there is ‘Paul’. He’s been to at least half of our shows this year. He doesn’t have a car either but travels by coach and will take 6-8 hours to get to a gig. He sits there by himself.

He always says hello to us when we come out front of house at the end of the show and then he goes back to his bed and breakfast. In most theatres we can name all the people on the first two rows. They just keep coming back. They know if we make a mistake as they know all the lines. If it is their social life then good luck to them. Everyone has their favourite person in the show and they will book a certain seat in front of a certain spot on stage because they know that’s where he or she works!

“They spend a lot of money, wear the T-shirts and spread the word: They are like evangelists for That’ll be the Day and that’s how our business has become massive – through word of mouth. We find that about ten to twenty per cent of audiences are new to the show, the rest are returning because they get hooked!”