In the fictional
Whitley Bay social club, Hampton Cummings performs as "Star Turn", a club singer, introduced by
Geordie concert chairman Albert Charlton who frequently interrupts with announcements and who sometimes joins in the performance, by
playing the spoons or providing a spoken word accompaniment. Charlton is played by J. Vincent Edwards, who had previously appeared in the London performance of
Hair, had a brief career as a solo singer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and then moved into songwriting and production, and was a co-writer of "
Right Back Where We Started From", a UK No. 8 hit, and US No. 2, for
Maxine Nightingale. Edwards' experiences of performing at affiliated
working men's clubs in North East England, early in his career, was part of the inspiration for Star Turn. Cummings is played by Colin Horton Jennings, who had sung and performed with the groups
The Greatest Show on Earth and Taggett, and who composed songs for, amongst others,
The Hollies,
Cilla Black and the
Salsoul Orchestra. In 2012, Jennings and the backing musicians from Star Turn formed a group called 'The Ilsleys'. ==Career==