The Next Step Wild Rhythm Tour - Concert Hall

This was a night for screamers, as the Concert Hall’s perfect acoustics aimed the product of the audience’s excitement directly towards the stage for our dance heroes to hear exactly what we thought of them.

The excitement was reaching fever pitch as Next Step dancers Trevor Tordjman, Victoria Baldesarra, Jordan Clark, Lamar Johnson, Myles Erlick, Briar Nolet, Isaac Lupien and Isaiah Peck finally hit the Nottingham stage after months of excruciating anticipation.

The Canadian cast of the CBBC show seemed to be in character as they took us through some amazing routines which took in contemporary, tap, hip-hop and ballet, along with their trademark gymnastics and tumbling.

There was a dance-a-long with the crowd, where we all learned some slick moves, a Q&A when Jordan came out into the audience to get questions for the rest of the cast to answer. And another highlight was the tap-off between Trevor and Isaac… which last night Isaac won hands-down.

Cast members from the spin-off series Lost & Found, Shane Harte and Sarah Carmosino performed a solo each, supported on stage by the dancers, and then treated us to an emotional contemporary duet.

If you didn’t already know, The Next Step is a hit Canadian teen “reality” TV show that follows the lives of a group of young dancers. Acting their parts on TV, they are also one-to-one on camera talking about their roles and the ongoing story as if it were a real-life documentary. They’re incredibly popular and this sell-out show was testament to that.

Most of the cast preformed a solo, and we saw a video biography of their life and work (real life this time rather than their TV characters) to get a real insight into their lives and families.

There was a massive age range in the audience, from five up to teens – as well as their parents – mainly girls with a few boys scattered among them.

With lots of souvenirs on sale, as well as an invitation to film and take photos all evening, we all came away with previous memories of a great worldwide tour that continues around the UK, then on to Australia to thrill their fans down-under.

George’s Marvellous Medicine, Theatre Royal, Nottingham

We all know that horrible things happen to horrible people, and in the world of Roald Dahl, this is a fact rather than mere supposition.

As if to prove it, along comes the Birmingham Stage Company with their latest adaptation of a well-loved children’s tale, George’s Marvellous Medicine.

Clearly one of Dahl’s shorter books, the cast make the most of the tools they’re given through his words and take us on a journey of one small lad who’s determined to improve his somewhat rude and nasty gran.

She’s invited herself to stay on the family farm indefinitely as she’s become infirm. And George immediately decides he can improve on the medicine she’s already on. So while his parents are busy with their household and farmyard chores, out comes the devil in little George, who uses every household ingredient from deodorant and shampoo to brown paint, pig pills and horse medicine. Note: Don’t Try This At Home, kids.

Gran, who he fears is actually a witch, really does swallow the new and improved mixture, and grows taller than the house, bursting through the ceiling and looking down on the farmyard – but still being a rude and bossy pain in the neck to the rest of the family.

This performance is a knockabout experience and probably best for pre-teens and fun-loving adults.

It’s another winning adaptation from the talented David Wood with loads of audience participation and a great turn from the adult Ed Thorpe who’s truly believable as the wide-eyed eight-year-old George.

Dad Richard Mullins, mum Tessa Vale – who passes out perfectly with shock during the show – and the Deborah Vale as manic gran all fit their roles like fingers in a glove.

So could George’s dad make use of the medicine to super-size his farm animals? And how will they make more medicine? What will happen to gran – will she ever get back to normal, or is she really an old witch?

Miles Jupp, Songs of Freedom: Nottingham Playhouse

Within minutes of Jupp bounding onto stage, in our minds we have the striking and carefully drawn image of him reclining in a bath on stage. With soap, and steaming hot water. And a good wash. Not a square inch missed.

This is his looking forward to the end of the gig, returning to his hotel room and relaxing with wine after the show.

His way with words makes it crystal clear what he’s driving at. He even tells us he’s carrying a little excess timber.

And when he describes following his audience out of the theatre and into the foyer and outside at a previous date in Spalding, it’s easy to relive that moment with him – and appreciate the absurdity of it all.

For adults of a certain age in the audience – the parents that is – Miles first came into our consciousness as a very different character to the one that dropped the C-bomb around 15 minutes into each half of this carefully drilled new show.

Indeed, he slips in a couple of references to his previous TV life, reminding us – with no little angst – that teenagers like to go up to him in Wetherspoons, shout “Archie” in his ear and run off.

It’s hard to imagine Miles Jupp in a Wetherspoon pub, but he might surprise us. As he says, people make an awful lot of judgements about him based on the way he speaks, the way he looks and how he acts.

Working from comprehensive crib-sheets, he works his way through telling us (from YouGov surveys) what we like to wear, what we love to eat and, tellingly, where we like to shop.

He strikes a chord with a rant on how he’s over-polite, why Prince Charles’ Duchy Originals belong to all of us anyway – and painfully recreated that moment when we’re trying so hard not to have to clarify something with our wives, especially when we can’t find something.

It’s a great show, full of truths and shows why this now familiar face on TV is so much like us. Even down to bemoaning the lack of buttons these days, citing the example that having a nuclear button is inherently safer than the touchscreen option…

Jacqueline Wilson, Nottingham Playhouse

This was a super-fan event to get to know Jacqueline Wilson, the much-loved children's author, who has recently published her 105^th book, Clover Moon.

Sitting centre stage with the new book on a coffee table beside her, she spoke about the inspiration for her stories, Clover Moon itself, her life and her background - and getting started in her career.

Jacqueline told us that as a child her head was always full of stories and imaginary friends.

As she grew up, she used to save up her pocket money for a new pen or notebook for whatever she would write next.

She told the sell-out Playhouse audience (mostly of girls and their parents) about how at 17 she sent off a short story to DC Thomson in Dundee, which eventually resulted in her living there, working on a new magazine for girls!

One of her roles was to write pretend 'readers letters' and to make up the horoscopes column - all good practice for her award-winning fiction writing later on in life!

She spoke about her latest book Clover Moon. Poor girl Clover lives in a grimy backstreet of Victorian London with her six younger siblings, her weary dad, and his cruel uncaring second wife.

More full of life than the others in her family, Clover jumps at the opportunity of learning her letters, and loves the chance to paint or draw. Unfortunately, despite her talents, Clover's future is as a house hold skivvy.

Then an exciting chance crops up, to have a meeting with an artist that opens up ideas of her future.

Jacqueline told us she enjoyed writing this book, and even let on there is a Hetty Feather encounter in the book as well.

Towards the end of the jam-packed hour, there was a question and answer session with the audience.

She revealed her own favourite stories were Hetty Feather and The Story Of Tracey Beaker.

She also told us to expect a three-part CBBC series of her book 'Katy' as well as (in two long years' time) a feature film of her book 'Four Children And It' to look forward to.