Julia Donaldson & Sara Ogilvie’s The Detective Dog to tour UK theatres in 2025

A stage adaptation of Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Room On The Broom) and Sara Ogilvie’s (Dogs Don’t Do Ballet, The Worst Princess) best-selling children’s book The Detective Dog is heading on a UK tour in 2025.

Produced by Tiny and Tall Productions, the show will feature creative captions and British Sign Language to make the show accessible to deaf children and their families.

The tour kicks off in Harrogate on 15 February 2025, and then tours to York, Salford, Kendal, London, Oxford, Derby, Canterbury, Scarborough, Birmingham, Blackwood, Newbury, Farnham, Cambridge, Bury, Swansea, Barry, Leicester, Bangor, Chipping Norton, Brecon, Taunton, Sale, Sheffield, Stockton-on-Tees, and Barnsley.

The charming tale of a dog with an extraordinary snout will feature incredible puppetry, heartwarming music, including joyful rhymes and toe-tapping beats, and magical scent technology!

The show follows the story of young owner Peter’s very special furry friend with an ever-sniffing nose. Brought to life using innovative puppetry, families can follow Nell and Peter on a sleuth’s journey as they uncover the culprit of a mysterious book disappearance at Peter’s school.

The Detective Dog is directed by Peta Maurice (The Gruffalo, the Giant and the Mermaid; The Gruffalo, the Witch and the Warthog), with a creative team that also includes Designers Katie Sykes & Ruby Brown, Composer Jack Drewry, BSL Director Lynn Stewart-Taylor, Access Consultor Jonny Cotsen, Video Designer Christopher Harrison, Lighting Designer Joe Price, Puppet Designer Jess Jones, and R&D Performers Adam Bassett, Tessa Bide & Anna Rathbone.

Director Peta Maurice said in a statement: “This project is an important step forward in making family shows accessible to more children. We are working hard to transform this gorgeous story into a production that deaf and hearing families can both enjoy, using lots of fun physicality, creative captioning, dance and some British Sign Language. The music and songs will be as visually brilliant as they are fantastic to listen to. We also are going to bring in scent technology into foyers, where the children can smell the smells that appear in the story so it will be a multi-sensory extravaganza! I’m really looking forward to bringing the team together to play in the rehearsal room at the end of January and we’re all very excited to bring this production to theatres across the UK in 2025.”

Children’s author Julian Donaldson was recently made a Dame in The King’s New Year Honours.