Ex-Brookside star Jennifer Ellison joins cast for upcoming Take That musical at the Waterside Theatre

Former soap star Jennifer Ellison is joining the cast of the official Take That musical coming to the Waterside Theatre later this year.

Greatest days comes to the Aylesbury venue on 7 November and is being performed at the Waterside until 11 November.

The musical has been taken across the country, since the tour’s launch on 6 May. A film of the same name was released this summer as well, starring Aisling Bea and Jayde Adams.

Jennifer, an actress and singer, and dancer, will play Rachel. She rose to prominence playing Emily Shadwick in the television soap opera Brookside and made her international film debut in the 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.

Jennifer played Tracey in British horror movie The Cottage alongside other film and television projects such as Lynda La Plante’s The Commander: Abduction, Liverpool Nativity for BBC Three, Hotel Babylon for BBC1, The Verdict, New Street Law, and The Brief.

She has also appeared on several national reality television shows, most recently in SAS Who Dares Wins (Channel 4), but also on, Dancing On Ice , Hell's Kitchen, which she won, With a Little Help From My Friends on ITV, as a judge on Dirty Dancing - Time of your Life and as a frequent guest on the ITV daytime show Loose Women.

Jennifer also fronts the UK version of the hit US series Dance Moms for the Lifetime channel, which follows Jennifer at her very own dance school The Jennifer Ellison Fame Academy.

Her other theatre credits include: Lina Lamont in Singin’ In The Rain (Palace Theatre), Paulette in Legally Blonde (UK Tour), Cora and Celia in Calendar Girls (UK Tour), Gloria in Boeing Boeing directed by Matthew Warchus (The Comedy Theatre) and Beth in The War Of The Worlds (UK Arena Tour). Pantomime includes Cinderella with Cilla Black and Les Dennis (Liverpool Empire), Wicked Queen in Snow White (Milton Keynes & Opera House, Blackpool) and Roxie Hart in Chicago (Adelphi Theatre, Cambridge Theatre, UK Tour & 10th Anniversary Gala).

Also joining the company is Olivia Hallett, who will be performing the role of Young Rachel from 24 July at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham.

Olivia Hallett trained at Emil Dale Academy and The Urdang Academy. She originated the role of Marge in ‘KIN’ - A New Musical (The Factory Playhouse Hitchin) and appeared as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (The Other Palace). Other credits include: What I Go to School For - The Busted Musical (Theatre Royal Brighton), The Goodbye Girl (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) Jill in Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime (Little Wolf - The Assembly Halls Tunbridge Wells), Quinn in ‘Chosen’ - A New Musical (BEAM 2023) and The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair (BEAM 2023). Olivia provided the singing voice of Joy in The Secret of Joy (IMDB).

They join existing cast members Taylor Alman, Holly Ashton, Hannah Brown, Kalifa Burton, Benjamin Cameron, Jamie Corner, Archie Durrant, Regan Gascoigne, Kitty Harris, Bayley Hart, Keith Henderson, Karen Holmes, Christopher D. Hunt, Evangeline Jarvis Jones, Rachel Marwood, Mari McGinlay, Jamie-Rose Monk, Mary Moore, Alexanda O’Reilly, Charlotte Anne Steen and Alan Stock.

Ticketing information is available on the Ambassador Theatre Group website.