Once proud, now doomed theatre which opened in 1911, packing audiences in for decades with hit show after hit show. Then in 1973 the ceiling collapsed during a performance of the smash hit Hair, causing the show to relocate and the theatre to embark on a remarkable run, staging one terrible flop after another for an impressive four decades.

Low points in the history of this apparently cursed theatre include Umoja, Calamity Jane and Bat Boy although there were some great shows which deserved to last longer, for instance High Society and Rent. The most dreadful thing to occur in the Shaftesbury occurred during April and May of 2000 when the auditorium played host to a several episodes of Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned.

In 2006 the theatre tried to break the curse with Daddy Cool, the Boney M musical widely hailed as the worst ever. Next up Fame, which flopped despite a reality TV show to boost audiences. Here's hoping a whiff of Hairspray can revive the patient...