Birmingham Hippodrome’s new musical theatre department has announced that No Such Thing as Wolves by Gerard Foster and Richie Webb, two of the writers behind Horrible Histories, will be one of its 2025 festive productions.
Foster has written widely for children’s television since the early 2000s, with hundreds of credits on a whole range of shows including My Parents are Aliens, The New Worst Witch and Horrible Histories, for which he was twice nominated for a BAFTA.
Webb is best known for his comedy songwriting. He has composed every song for Horrible Histories as well as scoring the Horrible Histories feature film. He has hundreds of songwriting credits for CBBC and Cbeebies including The Teletubbies and Mr Tumble.
Created for everyone aged three and over, No Such Thing as Wolves follows the story of Hettie Hedgehog who is ready to hibernate—until her new friend Sydney Squirrel convinces her to throw a party instead.
Foster said, “despite having spent the last 20 years happily trapped in the world of kids' TV, it’s always been an ambition of mine to write a musical for the stage. To be able to do that now with Richie feels like a dream come true.
“We’re over the moon to be working with the amazing team at Birmingham Hippodrome and can't wait to unleash our fabulous cast of hedgehogs, squirrels and big bad wolves on the children of Birmingham and beyond. It's a show with a lot of humour and heart, inspired by our shared love of musicals and storytelling. We hope audiences will laugh a lot, cry just a little and leave with big smiles on their faces, singing and dancing along to the tunes.”
Webb added, “as a Midlander who first came to Birmingham Hippodrome on a school outing as a child, to now be a part of the brilliant and talented team putting on No Such Thing as Wolves is really special. I can’t wait for the audience to hear my latest earworms: there’ll be warbling wolves, singing squirrels and harmonising hedgehogs—hopefully, the tunes will be stuck in their heads for weeks.”
No Such Thing as Wolves is the second show in Birmingham Hippodrome’s My First Musical series after 2024’s The Jingleclaw, written by Robyn Grant and Tim Gilvin.
Deirdre O’Halloran, head of new musical theatre at Birmingham Hippodrome, said, “Gerard Foster and Richie Webb are a terrific writing team whose work has formed a huge part of so many people’s childhoods. No Such Thing as Wolves is a charming, engaging new story that’s sure to delight adults and children alike.”
No Such Thing as Wolves will run in the Patrick Studio at Birmingham Hippodrome from Saturday 6 December until Sunday 4 January 2026.