Royal Variety Performance will put Blackpool back on the map as 2020 airs on ITV tonight

From the balconies of the Empress Ballroom, the song captures a production in action, busy but socially distanced. It is both poignant and pertinent for this year’s annual fund-raiser.

This year’s ‘virtual show’, which comes from the Opera House stage for the third time in the history of the 108 year-old event, also features performances from Gary Barlow and Melanie C.

The historic occasion will be a ‘one-off’ says a hopeful chairman and executive producer of RVP Giles Cooper who has shared in the heartache, the trials and tribulations of undoubtedly one of the hardest years in the entertainments world.

The old mantra ‘the show must go on’ was at the forefront of every conversation when drawing up multiple plans for every scenario for the 2020 performance.

That showbusiness determination, he says more vital than ever, in assisting the charity’s work, helping the thousands of workers in the industry, who have found themselves in ‘desperate situations during a unprecedented crisis.’

Mr Cooper says: “It really has been tricky but fantastic. Our colleagues at ITV Studios have been so supportive and equally determined to put the show on.

“So many times it looked like it might not happen and so the line-ups changed and then having Americans on the bill was a big problem this year.

“It is very much a British line-up, which again is perfect for Blackpool and with quite a few northern artists, Gary Barlow, Sheridan Smith, Melanie C, obviously the host with Jason. It fits really nicely as an all British variety show from Blackpool, the undisputed home of variety.”

An announcement of this year’s annual fundraiser was held back until just a fortnight before the live performance on November 29, owing to the disruptions of the pandemic.

A select number were lucky enough to get their hand on a virtual tickets and enjoy the acts directly beamed from the theatre into the home. Screens were erected in the front stalls and the balcony of the world renowned theatre, for the artists to have that contact and feel with a live audience.

The programme for the RVP is usually released in March, with tickets available to supporters and with time to plan out the Royal guests but Mr Cooper says this year’s plan was ripped up and put back to the drawing board time and time again.

He adds: “It’s without doubt been a tricky thing to juggle again and again.

“It’s fantastic that’s we’ve actually managed it and although it’s not going to be a usual Royal Variety, the amount of people who have called me to say we can’t believe you’ve actually pulled this off, well done for doing it, it’s just what the industry needs, it’s just what the nation needs, a lift.

“Hopefully, it will bring two hours of pure entertainment to lift people’s spirits before Christmas.”

Blackpool has now hosted the Royal Variety Performance three times. The last two occasions in 1955 and 2009 were attended by HRH Queen and Prince Phillip.

The Prince of Wales ‘attended’ this year, for the first time since 2016 with a video message .

Mr Cooper says the continuing support of the Royals is a huge privilege but also gives recognition to the charity the world over, with the broadcast received around the Commonwealth with a global audience of more than 150 million people.

“The Royal Variety has this interesting, traditional, festive appeal not just in the UK but all around the world, which is great thing for the UK but also a great thing for entertainment.”

Blackpool will be in the spotlight once again.

Mr Cooper says: “It really is significant this year’s performance fell in Blackpool and actually that was not by design, it is a coincidence as the programme had already been set up that way.

“The fact we have had such a difficult year and the north west has had a difficult time, not just this year but for some time now, it’s great to be supporting the industry but also the region in this way.

“Michael Williams spoke to me of the impact the Royal Variety had after the last visit so we are so happy for Blackpool to be put back on the map.

“Again it is coincidence the Winter Gardens has ended up being so perfect for us as we had obviously initially planned for a full theatrical audience of 3,000 people and then a socially distanced audience and it was perfect venue for that because it is so big much bigger than the London Palladium. And so we had planned for around 850 people and bubbles of six people, two metres apart.

“But as it became clear a physical audience wouldn’t be possible it still ended up the perfect venue in terms of the sheer size.

“The Winter Gardens has so many additional rooms and space, which has made life so much easier with all the restrictions.”

The management body of the Royal Variety Charity is made up of unpaid volunteers ,all of whom work, or have worked professionally in the entertainment industry.

The Queen remains its sole patron.

Mr Cooper began his career in entertainments working on the music papers Melody Maker and the New Musical Express (NME) in the 1980s before founding media company Soho Media Group.

As CEO of Giles Cooper Entertainment Ltd he has produced thousands of theatre shows, music tours and outdoor music and comedy festivals.

He volunteered his services to the charity in 2007 as a member of the executive committee and within three years was elected the chairman.

“The charity has evolved and gone from strength to strength but it has always had this wonderful family vibe to it, a huge heritage,” he says.

“The entertainment industry looking after itself. There is an assumption with entertainment that all who work in it are well off – it isn’t the case.

"The charity has had to modernise and I’m the sort of person who wants to do all of that overnight but it’s a gradual process with charities.

“There is a lot to go through, it takes much longer than in a commercial world. But we’ve made huge differences, but our main goal remains in trying to educate people that the RVP is a vital fundraising event, it’s amazing still, how people don’t realise that.

“Less than five per cent in this industry are above the national minimum wage. Daily rates even for actors in parts in TV shows are a couple of hundred quid, then you may be on contracts and you have to make your money last. This industry is job to job, season to season, which makes it very hard for planning futures .

“But what we know about entertainers is that they do not do this job for money – it’s a passion. They love it.

“Where the charity is so important is in recognising these people and their contribution for making our lives happier.”

“This year’s show feels very special and in a sense we’ve beaten the virus in our own way, whether through technology in being able to stream to a virtual audience, with the set changes and the artists but also in having that important Royal presence in the video message from Prince Charles, against all the odds pulling it off.”

The Royal Variety Performance, December 8, ITV, 8pm.