This demented, screamingly funny sketch comedy structured around the Piccadilly line was a hit in 2023 and has been revived for a full sold-out run in 2024. An ensemble cast of seven take us through original songs (Jay Foreman; Rich Longdon; Tom Woffenden), a quiz show, and even time travel, all lovingly skewering everything we love to hate about the London Underground and London society.

James (Saul Boyer) and Tory (Beth Lilly) don’t know each other, but they both get on the the Piccadilly line at Heathrow in order to travel all the way home to —— you guessed it —— Cockfosters. Following on from this awkward meet cute of forced conversation, a cavalcade of completely insane characters appear in flashback, or just by pure surrealism.

Things reach a most frightening tenor with the arrival of Charles Pearson (Charlie Keable), a top hat-wearing, deluded and violent aristocrat who is permanently cross-eyed and bent double: it see is from this horrifying creature that we witness the creation of the tube. But then there’s also an extended musical number with Poundland cowboy hats, starring a cardboard cutout of Tina Fey.

The script (Tom Woffenden and Hamish Clayton) veers wildly around in terms of comedic style, offering us a smorgasbord of entertainments (much like the Piccadilly line itself). The direction (Hamish Clayton) is big and broad throughout: this is an out and out comedy (but a romantic one…?). A simple set (Gareth Rowentree) of benches with the iconic Piccadilly line maquette is all we need for the journey.

Playing at the Turbine Theatre 9 – 20 January 2023.