TICKETS for shamed BBC star John Barrowman’s new tour are being given away for free amid sluggish sales.
The former Strictly and I’m a Celeb contestant has a new tour called Laid Bare featuring songs and stories from his life – where he also promised to talk honestly about his damaged reputation following accusations that he repeatedly exposed himself on the sets of Doctor Who and Torchwood.
Tickets for John Barrowman’s new tour are being given away for free[/caption]
The actor’s career took a major hit after he was accused of flashing on the set of a BBC show[/caption]
But tickets for the second date of the 2025 half of the tour in Tunbridge Wells Assembly Halls Theatre in Kent on February 5 – only two weeks away – are being given away for free.
Sales site Show Film First says it is only charging its “Access Fee”, which covers “our reasonable costs of providing access to the tickets and administering the booking website”, but nothing extra for the ticket price.
The theatre’s own direct site shows ticket prices should be £42, £37 or £32, before the extra charges are applied.
This week its seat map showed whole rows of seats still available – with only 18 out of 310 sold in the cheapest £32 tiered stalls.
Less than half the £37 stalls tickets were sold – with in total only just over 300 seats of the near 1,000 capacity theatre reserved.
Barrowman hoped his tour, which is in the middle of a two-month break, would herald a comeback almost two years after he was dropped from his role as a judge on Dancing on Ice following the allegations against him.
He describes the past three years as “devastating” as his work dried up.
After the accusations came to a head in 2021, he issued a statement saying: “With the benefit of hindsight I understand that upset may have been caused by my exuberant behaviour and I have apologised for this previously.”
Ahead of the tour, Barrowman claimed recently that “99% of the things that were said about me were bulls***”
He said: “If I was naked on set it’s because it was written into a script, and if I was wiggling it or being stupid it was to make myself feel comfortable because I’m standing there stark b****** naked.”
He said of the new tour Laid Bare: “That’s why I’ve decided to talk about it and lay it bare on stage because it’s quite disgusting how people have treated me.
“You’re going to be entertained, going to learn things about me you might not expect me to talk about.”
There is a question and answer session with the audience and they can ask anything they want to ask.”
Barrowman also sings on the 46-date tour – with a mix of Broadway classics and contemporary songs.
He now lives in Palm Springs, California, with his husband Scott Gill and his parents who have recently moved in.
John took part in Celebrity SAS last year but lasted just minutes[/caption]
John Barrowman’s Doctor Who scandal explained
In 2021 the Scots star faced accusations about his behaviour behind the scenes of Doctor Who after a video emerged of co-star Noel Clarke making jokes about it.
A resurfaced clip from 2015 showed Clarke imitating Barrowman taking “his d*** out every five minutes” and “hitting it on everything”.
Eyewitnesses described the incidents as inappropriate pranks rather than sexual predatory behaviour.
Barrowman, who played the character of Capt Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, said he did engage in “tomfoolery” while working on the fantasy series and its spin-off Torchwood.
But he added that he had evolved in the years since.
The actor said that his “high-spirited behaviour” was “only ever intended in good humour to entertain colleagues on set and backstage”.
He told The Guardian: “With the benefit of hindsight, I understand that upset may have been caused by my exuberant behaviour and I have apologised for this previously.”
