Jimmy Carr delights his double audience in Telford shows

The frontman of TV shows, including 8 Out Of 10 Cats and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, stepped in to the breach after computer booking systems at Oakengates Theatre in Telford crashed earlier this year, leaving hundreds of fans disappointed.

Already scheduled to do one performance on Saturday night, the funnyman then agreed to do two consecutive performances of his show, Working Progress, rather than leave fans in the lurch.

And audiences were not left disappointed.

Carys Baskeyfield, 40, travelled from Shrewsbury with her husband Matt, 49, and her sons Sam, 18, and Adam, 15, to see the show.

She said: "We have seen him before so when we saw tickets were available again for tonight we decided to make it a family night out.

"It is nice to do something together.

"We don't mind travelling to Telford, it isn't far after all, particularly to see someone like Jimmy Carr and it was well worth the effort. It is good to do something as a family."

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Craig Churm, 23, from Lawley Village, said: "I saw him last year in Wolverhampton.

"Oakengates is a smaller venue but it's more personal.

"I had trouble getting tickets as I couldn't get through on the phone so it is great he said he would put on another show.

Simon Ward, 23, from Shifnal, is a big Jimmy Carr fan having seen him several times before.

"I have seen him in Wolverhampton and at Aberystwyth where I was at uni," he said.

"I am a really big fan of him. He is a very funny guy.

"Putting on another show has given a lot of people the chance to see him who may have missed out." Lesley and Nigel Clowe from Apley, Telford, had originally thought they had booked tickets for the show when the computer system crashed.

"When I heard he was coming to Telford, I tried to get tickets on the phone, the landline and on the tablet," said Lesley, 53. "I thought I had got through and managed to get some tickets as my money for them was taken from my account. But I had no receipt for any tickets. It turned out we had been double booked. Nigel, 58, added: "The theatre got in touch with us, told us there had been some problem with the computers and we were offered seats for the later show. It is really good of him to put on two shows and it shows we can have bigger artists in Telford.

"It's great."

The 640-seater auditorium was sold out twice over with one show starting at 8pm and another at 10.30pm.

The ticket sale disappointment happened in January when fans, in a rush to snap up the £16 tickets, caused the online and telephone booking system to fail.

The theatre apologised to fans on Twitter and Jimmy Carr, host of last year's Royal Variety Performance, offered to put on two shows instead of the one he had originally planned.