DAVID Gilmore has directed 17 West End productions.

Most recently Sinatra at the London Palladium and Gaslight at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, in Toronto.

His successes are aplenty and include the original award-winning production of Daisy Pulls It Off which ran for three years at the Globe Theatre, Lend Me a Tenor also at the Globe, and another prizewinner, The Hired Man by Melvyn Bragg and Howard Goodall, all produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

In fact, his CV is pretty much end to end hit shows.

David's in the director's chair for one of the mainstays of this year's Old Laundry theatre's autumn programme, Tell Me on a Sunday, a one woman show that charts the romantic misadventures of a young English girl in New York during the heady days of the 1980s.

Running from Friday (October 4) until October 26, the show is another from the creative partnership of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black.

David says that he directed the Australian version of the original production many years ago when it formed half of the show, Song and Dance, and having worked a number of times over the years with Old Laundry owners Roger Glossop and Charlotte Scott, he was thrilled to be asked by them to do it at the Bowness theatre. "It has a fabulous space for it," says David.

"The show follows a young English girl in New York and LA through several relationships and the exhilaration, heartbreak and general ups and downs of her emotional life. Don Black’s superb lyrics and Andrew Lloyd Webber's wonderful melodies ensure a wonderful evening."

David was born in 1945 in Dulwich, south London and educated at Alleyns School and Cheltenham Grammar.

He started working backstage at weekends and holidays at Cheltenham Everyman Theatre while he was in sixth form. He decided against reading psychology at university when a job came up at Everyman. He trained in all aspects backstage and stage management. He also took on ever larger acting parts: "After several years I switched over completely to acting, which I did for the next ten years in major reps all over the country."

His directorial debut came while at Lincoln Theatre Royal. "My first production was Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon. Many years later I directed his play, Chapter Two, in the West End with Tom Conte and Sharon Gless."

As for David's career highlights? "Well I suppose Daisy Pulls It Off," he adds, "which I'd discovered when running the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton and took to London with Andrew Lloyd Webber and which ran for three years; it has to be a big favourite. Another must be my production of Grease, which ran on and off for 25 years."

It also must be noted that his production of Defending the Caveman at the Apollo Theatre won an Olivier Award for best entertainment.

Overseas productions include As You Like It for the Shakespeare Repertory Company in Chicago and David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross at the Royal Flemish Theatre in Brussels. His production of Happy Days opened the Olympic Superdome in Sydney while his version of La Haut, a French comedy operetta, which he originally directed for the Theatre des Celestins in Lyon, completed a season at the Theatre de Variétés in Paris and has subsequently been filmed for French television.

Other West End productions include the long-running hit Beyond Reasonable Doubt at the Queen’s Theatre starring Frank Finlay, and Annie Get Your Gun with Suzi Quatro centre stage at the Aldwych. Oh, and he also directed the farewell tour of the band Harvey and the Wallbangers.

How do you follow all that?

The 'girl' in Tell Me on a Sunday - we don't actually get to know her character's name - is played by Katie Birtill.

London-based Katie - who trained at the Royal Academy of Music after initially studying medicine at Bristol University - will have the pleasure of singing the irresistible songs from the wonderful score such as the chart-topping Take That Look Off Your Face and the title track Tell Me on a Sunday.

Katie has a varied career as an actress and singer, with theatre credits such as Cathy in The Last Five Years, Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity; Madeline in By Jeeves (at The Old Laundry) and Monique in A Boy Who Fell Into A Book (Stephen Joseph Theatre ), both those shows directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn.

Her solo concert appearances include The Sound of the 60s and Bernstein on Broadway at the National Hall, Dublin, with The RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Simply Gershwin at The Royal Festival Hall and Crazy for Gershwin on tour with the London Concert Orchestra and Raymond Gubbay.

She has also performed in A Celebration of The MGM Musicals on tour with the amazing John Wilson Orchestra.

Katie has just released her debut album Baby, Dream Your Dream a celebration of musical theatre songs with a jazz quartet. Her first EP of her own songs, Fragments, was released in 2016.

And just to emphasise even more her vast vocal versatility, Katie often sings with the Down for the Count Swing Orchestra and the brass heavy pop and funk band Latimo.

Frankly, sounds like Tell Me on a Sunday is a show not to be missed.

Box office 015394-40872.