An actress travelled more than 150 miles to ensure a musical went ahead after its leading lady and understudy both became ill.

Jessica Daley travelled from Middlesbrough to Leicester's Curve Theatre to star as Eva Peron in Evita at 19:30 GMT on Saturday.

The theatre, which had spent the day trying to find a replacement, described Ms Daley as a "diamond".

She received a standing ovation for her "amazing" performance.

Martha Kirby and her understudy Chumisa Dornford-May were too ill to go on, although Ms Dornford-May has since recovered and will return to the stage later.

In 2019, Ms Daley led the international tour of Evita to "high acclaim".

I love stories like this, and can only marvel at what it must have been like for the cast and crew. It's not just a matter of knowing the songs, but also somehow figuring out, with no prep time, the blocking (ie how the scene is staged - where to enter and exit, how to position yourself in relation to other people etc), music direction, costumes etc.