Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane previews at the Comedy Theatre from Feb. 16, opening Feb. 22.

The production, directed by Roger Smith (Duet for One, Steaming) received its premiere at York Theatre Royal on Oct. 24, 2005, and transfers to the Comedy for a nine-week season.

Comedy writer Ray Galton – who with Alan Simpson wrote the original television series – has teamed up with John Antrobus to write the stage version of a show that gave rise to two of British comedy’s best-loved characters, Albert Steptoe and his son Harold.

In the stage version, Harry Dickman and Jake Nightingale play the father and son "totter" team – traders in unwanted artefacts who traditionally collect their goods by horse and cart.

The core of the show features a father-son relationship in which emotional blackmail keeps the forty-something son from leaving his manipulative father. Galton and Antrobus’ new plot sees Harold return to the ramshackle West London house, having fled the country after killing his father in a fit of pique. Harold enters his home – preserved as an example of a "totter"’s yard – only to be greeted by the ghost of his father. No reason was given by the producers for the cancellation of School of Night.