Mark Benton as Francis, the Director of the play. In July 2012, it was announced that Benton would star as Edna Turnblad in the 2013 UK tour of "Hairspray the Musical", starting in February 2013 and finishing in September 2013. In 2015 Benton appeared as Police Constable Walt Everett in the BBC daytime series "Father Brown", episode 3.12 "The Standing Stones". He also appeared as Les in the "La Couchette", the first episode of the second series of anthology series "Inside No. 9". In 2015, Benton presented the BBC One daytime game show "The Edge" for its first series, being replaced by
Jake Pratt Ransom, Jr.. The "Scarborough Evening News" on 5 June 2009 reported that Pratt had joined the cast of "Billy Elliot the Musical". On 1 June 2009 he made his West End debut, taking the role of Billy's best friend, Michael. Pratt did a comic performance for his audition, which got him the role of Michael. He moved into the Billy Elliot house, along with the other youngsters who play the lead roles in the musical. In 2011, Pratt was cast as Nigel in the Stratford production of Matilda the Musical, and rejoined the West End, where he played Tommy. Jake