AND now breaking news . . . a much-loved TV favourite from three decades ago is is back making the headlines all over again.

Drop the dead donkey was a modern '90s satire set in the fictitious (but, sometimes, scaringly very real) Globelink News organisation.

A dysfunctional team of editorial staff and management clashed on a daily basis.

The series went on to receive wide critical acclaim for including topical news items right up until the actual broadcast.

Now a brand new stage version is touring the UK and fans who grew up with it are lapping up this trip down memory lane.

It seems to be a trend at the moment with classics becoming theatre pieces. Fawlty Towers has opened in the West End and there's an anniversary tour from The Fast Show appeasing its followers.

Drop the Dead Donkey won a BAFTA and an EMMY - so it's place in telly history is secured.

Does it work as a stage show? Yes, even if the pace is slower.

Back projections of early clips treat the audience to pioneering episodes setting the scene for the 2024 reimagining . . . indeed reawakening!

So if you have never seen the original you can will quickly get the picture of what will follow.

The original cast have reunited without, sadly, Haydn Gwynne and David Swift.

But the rest of the gang are here including: mild-mannered editor George (Jeff Rawle), shady Dave (Neil Pearson), fact-meddler Damien (Stephen Tompkinson), pompous newsreader anchor Sally (Victoria Wicks) and smarmy PR man Gus (Robert Duncan).

As each character took to the stage they received enthusiastic applause and even cheers - that's what you call a successful comeback.

Now the diverse characters are reunited in a glossy media outlet called Truth News.

The original writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkins establish early on what they have all been up to since the plug was pulled on Globelink. But something isn't right . . . who is financially backing the ironically-titled Truth News?

No spoilers.

But as the two-hour-ten-minute production rattles along there's plenty of topical references to enjoy from The Post Office Scandal to Prince Andrew, Donald Trump and Liz Truss.

There are many laugh-out-oud moments and lots of visual slapstick.

It's a welcome flashback to one of the all time satirical greats

VERDICT: Four stars. Alive and Kicking

It is on until Saturday (May 18).

Tickets from 0151 709 4776