2017, London Palladium

The Royal Variety Performance 2017 may well be remembered most for what happened before the show, rather than for the show itself.

The Royal Performance at the London Palladium was scheduled to begin at 6.30pm on the evening of Friday 24th November 2017, with Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving at 620pm.

The West-End of London was exceptionally busy with the combined effect of both 'Black Friday'  (the discounting Christmas shopping day) and also an anti-fur protest march along Regent Street. At around 5pm, the emergency services received numerous 999 calls reporting shots fired in a number of locations on Oxford Street and at Oxford Circus underground station and a Met Police spokesman said: “Given the nature of the information received, the Met responded in line with our existing operation as if the incident was terrorism, including the deployment of armed officers."

The West-End was effectively placed on 'shut-down' with all roads closed and every person cleared from the streets. Thousands of terrified shoppers 'ran for their lives' fearing another terrorist attack (London had experienced seven major terrorist incidents during 2017). Singer Ollie Murs who was conducting a book signing in Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, tweeted, "F**k everyone get out of Selfridges now gun shots!! I’m inside,” Tweeted Murs. “Really not sure what’s happened! I’m in the back office... but people screaming and running towards exits!”

The 1.5 mile square district of shops and theatres, previously packed with rush-hour commuters and shoppers had experienced the bizarre 'phenomenon of panic' and within minutes had been transformed into a ghost town.

Chairman Giles Cooper and Life-President Laurie Mansfield were held behind a police-line on the north side of Oxford Street unable to reach the London Palladium on the south side, in Argyll Street. Meanwhile stranded shoppers and members of the Palladium audience had been forced into shops and restaurants, many placed under tables, into toilets and into basements.

In the London Palladium, the doors to the main entrance were securely locked shut and whilst the full Royal Variety cast remained backstage waiting for news, there were two exceptions; the cast of 42nd Street decided that the delays would surely mean the Royal Variety would be canceled and rather than lose a day's wages, decided to head back to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and relieve their understudies. Singer and ex-soldier James Blunt decided not to hang around at all - forcing his way out through Stage Door and getting to Battersea Helipad to get the first helicopter to fly him to Southampton where he was due to perform the following day.

Giles Cooper recalls, "I remember being held at a police-line on Oxford Street whilst having the Equerry to Their Royal Highnesses on one mobile phone in one ear, seeing in front of me what looked like a platoon of Special Forces with machine guns running down the centre of Oxford Street and having the Met Police's Chief Superintendent on another mobile phone in my other ear! It was very surreal and how we all managed to keep calm and ensure the show went on is testament to the professionalism of all involved."

It turned out there were three incidents that ignited the panic; a scuffle between two commuters in Oxford Circus Underground station had forced an 'Emergency Stop' button on an escalator to be pressed - the sound of the escalator stopping was 'like a loud bang' and resulted in a few screams as it came to an abrupt halt. This incident had coincided with a car back-firing on Regent Street, together with the anti-fur protestors letting off firecrackers. These three incidents had combined to cause wide-spread fear and ignited the contagious 'phenomenon of panic' rarely seen in City centres.

The police lifted the lock-down (after aproximately 70 minutes) at around 640pm and Giles Cooper informed all at the Palladium that the Royal Party were at last on their way from Kensington Palace. The cast of 42 Street halted their show at Drury Lane and rushed back to the Palladium, alterations were made to the running order as everyone scrambled to do what they could to rescue the show. The only artist not to return to the Palladium was James Blunt, who was already half-way to Southampton. The pre-show Royal line-up, in the foyer of the Palladium, was abandoned with the exception of a presentation of a posy of flowers and a show programme to the Royal couple by 7 year old Matthew Haines and 9 year old Heather Cooper. The show itself began at 715pm, only 45 minutes after the scheduled start!

Host Miranda Hart was the first woman for many years to host the show and in the circumstances did the best she could. She will perhaps be most remembered for persuading the Duke of Cambridge to pretend to gallop like a horse in the Royal Box!

There were understandably a few technical issues as the Running Order of artists was adjusted as the night went on, but none that delayed the show and the night will mainly be remembered for the glittering array of musical performances headlined by the absolutely fantastic, The Killers.

Louis Tomlinson, The Script, Paloma Faith, The Leading Ladies, Ball & Boe and Seal were all outstanding. Many however, recall the stunning performance of Britain's Got Talent winner, Tokio Myers and his amazing audio-visual set as being the most memorable of the night. Scottish illusionist, Colin Cloud, finalist of America's Got Talent, was a particular favourite in the Royal Box.

So the 2017 Royal Variety Show was quite a night, but the fact that the show went ahead at all and raised money for the RVC was such a relief to all involved. Their Royal Highnesses were on such 'good form' and were such 'good sports' that they transformed the atmosphere of what was otherwise quite a harrowing night.

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