David Tennant says ‘ludicrous’ theatre prices could harm future of British TV and film

Ticket costs soared in the pandemic, with the average price for the best seats now going at an average of £140

David Tennant has spoken out against the extortionate cost of tickets to West End theatre shows, warning that “ludicrous” prices could put off future generations of fans and potential creators of film and TV.

The Doctor Who and Good Omens star, 52, said that it is “difficult to rationalise” the cost of going to see shows, with prices increasing since the pandemic.

Between 2019 and 2022, top ticket prices surged by 20 per cent to an average of £140.85, according to The Stage, with seats at award-winning shows such as A Streetcar Named Desire going for as much as £300.

Last year, tickets for the West End revival of Cock, starring Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey and Joel Harper-Jackson, were going for as much as £400, plus an additional £60 in processing fees.

On the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest, nosebleed seats at theatres cost an average of £25.44 this year, marking a 12.8 per cent increase on last year. Often these seats have a restricted view.

Many theatres offer discounted tickets for young people – for example, The Almeida offers £5 tickets for those aged under 25 – but tickets such as these go very quickly.

Speaking on the Radio Times podcast, Tennant – who has played Hamlet and was nominated for an Olivier for his performance in Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero – said: “Obviously I would like to imagine that [the theatre] is something that everyone should be allowed to enjoy and yet when I’m in a show in the West End I’m aware that there are tickets selling for ludicrous amounts of money.

“But they get sold, at which point you think, ‘Well, what’s the theatre management supposed to do?’ – if it’s a commercial enterprise, should they be expected to give tickets away?”

David Tennant in ‘Hamlet’ in 2008 (RSC)

He added: “The danger is you’re strangling the next generation of an audience coming through.

“We want these industries to be sustainable because in this country – it’s true around the world but it’s very true in this country – what happens in the theatre sponsors, promotes and feeds into what happens on our screens.

“People, like Steve Daldry, like Peter Morgan, like Jack Thorne, who are the creators of our bigger TV and film successes, they started in the theatres and they started in subsidised theatre.”

Tennant is currently starring in the second season of fantasy series Good Omens, which picks up where the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel left off. Read The Independent’s four-star review here.