Former Shrewsbury panto and Britain's Got Talent star takes hilarious impressions home to Shropshire

The comedian and impressionist, who had Simon Cowell and co in stitches with his hilarious performances on the hit ITV talent show in 2022, will be at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury with his show This Is Me.

The 42-year-old, who has family links to Shropshire, will have already been well-known to many in the county when he appeared on BGT, having been in panto at Shrewsbury's old Music Hall theatre early on in his career.

He starred in Aladdin in 2006 and Robin Hood in 2008, which was also the last ever show at the Music Hall.

His new show, which comes to Shrewsbury on May 10, is described as "an evening of hilarious comedy and uncanny vocal impressions".

“I can’t wait to come back to Shrewsbury with my own show," Ben said. "I have so many happy memories here and the audiences were always incredible.

"Shropshire has always been my second home, with my grandfather's family all coming from here, and we would often visit when I was a kid. It’ll be great to come back with new routines and my band and a few surprises along the way - and of course some of the impressions I did on Britain’s Got Talent.

"So please come along for a great night out, it’s suitable for the whole family and it’s the perfect way for me to say thank you to everyone for all the support given to me over the years.”

Since he last performed in Shrewsbury in his mid 20s, he has gone on to play some of the major theatres in the country and alongside many household names including Jason Manford, Alexandra Burke, Craig Revel Horwood, David Hasselhoff.

But he says none compare to Shrewsbury's own "panto legend" Eric Smith.

His Britain’s Got Talent performances wowed both the audience and judges. In his first audition, at the world famous London Palladium, he delivered quick-fire impressions including Boris Johnson, Coronation Street's Kevin Webster, Alan Carr, Take That and many more.

He went on to win the public vote in his live semi-final at the Hammersmith Apollo, before performing in the final alongside 10 other amazing acts including eventual winner, comic Axel Blake.

Tickets to Ben's show are available at theatresevern.co.uk or by calling the box office on 01743 281281.

Q&A with Ben Nickless

When did you first realise you had an ability to do impressions?

"I’ve always done impressions, at home, on holiday if there was a spare microphone nobody was using, a dentist waiting room, at family parties and in the school productions I would ad-lib and do a spot. Then I finally entered a talent show at a holiday camp in Somerset when I was 19 and I won, and since then I’ve been performing professionally ever since."

Can you remember your first impression?

"It was probably Zippy and George from Rainbow. My cousin's boyfriend did a good impression of them so I used to do it, then Frank Spencer. The Lion from The Wizard Of Oz was probably my best and then when I went to high school in Year 7, I auditioned to play the Lion and I was ad-libbing every scene and everyone wanted to come and see the kid playing the lion in The Wizard Of Oz."

When did you have your first professional gig? How nervous were you? How did it go?

"My dad knew a Freddie Mercury tribute and he used to do the clubs in Rochdale where I grew up. He let me do a 20-minute set. It went great and then he invited me to another and I struggled and I hated it. I had another gig with him about a month later and I was so nervous, I didn’t sleep the night before, I couldn’t eat all day and then I went on and fortunately it went great. I always think if that hadn’t gone so well, would I have given up there and then?"

You’re very familiar with Shrewsbury having performed there in pantomime - how many productions did you do?

"I have many happy memories performing at the Music Hall in Shrewsbury. I did two pantomimes: Aladdin in 2006 which was great fun and the first time I got to work with Eric Smith, he’s such a good friend and I used to love making him laugh on stage which to be honest wasn’t too difficult. Then I came back in 2008 with my wife Zoe and of course Eric Smith again, it was Robin Hood and that was the last ever production at the Music Hall which was such a great room to play and had so much history, I was here a couple of years ago at the Theatre Severn with a show and I had to visit the museum and I didn’t recognise the building. But the new theatre I think is one of the most beautiful venues in the country."

You often appear in pantomime, how many have you done? Who has been your favourite star you have appeared with?

"I love pantomime, it's basically a variety show but with a story and you get all ages coming to see the show and I’ve been lucky to work with some great stars like David Hasselhoff, Alexandra Burke, Craig Revel Horwood, Jason Manford but none can compete with panto royalty Eric Smith. This year will be my 20th panto, scary how fast it goes but I’ve loved every one of them, the two here in Shrewsbury are definitely up there as my favourite and the audiences are so loyal, it was packed every performance and I just loved playing to the Shrewsbury audiences."

How do you go about learning a new character for an impression and changing your act to keep everything current?

"It actually gets harder, when I started out there wasn’t as many TV channels or celebrities as there are these days. These days we have 300 channels to chose from plus Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, YouTube, TikTok et cetera. I tend to do more singing impressions as they are still well known but then I also do impressions of comedians like Alan Carr, John Bishop which is fine but if I do Josh Widdicombe or James Acaster, not everyone recognises them so it can be tricky to pick the right characters. It’s a fast paced act so I quickly move on from one impression to the next, you have to keep changing and keep the act current, I can’t wait to bring some new impressions to Shrewsbury."

What was your most memorable moment on BGT?

"I think performing at the London Palladium will always be a personal highlight but winning my semi-final at the Hammersmith Apollo blew my mind, the thought of thousands of people voting for me to win and getting me to the final was incredible."

Do you have plans to do more TV?

"I would love to do more TV, that was part of the reason for going on the show. I have written a sitcom that I would love to one day make and possibly star in but I quite enjoy writing and maybe that’s what I will end up doing as I get a little older and I don’t want to be travelling as much, especially now we have a nine-month old baby but I would love to do more telly and if I could, I’d love to be part of a variety show because I do think it’s missing from prime time TV."