THE magical pages of an Oor Wullie annual opened up into an unforgettable adventure at the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr.

Oor Wullie The Musical recently played to packed houses over five nights as part of a tour across the country.

And while it appealed especially to Sunday Post readers, where the comic strip appears, the story had universal appeal.

The musical started with a man known as The Librarian/Shopkeeper, most likely based on original Oor Wullie illustrator Dudley D Watkins, played by George Drennan chatting to a young boy, Wahid, played by Pakistani-born Eklovey Kasyhap about reading options open to him. He encouraged him to take an Oor Wullie annual home. However he couldn’t read it because of the pure Scots language and went out to gather his thoughts. Wahid later returned to see the annual open and after popping out of it. Wullie, played by theatre star Martin Quinn then took him on a fascinating adventure. This featured his friends, including Wee Eck (Grant McIntyre) Soapy Soutar (Bailey Newsome) along with the outrageous and hilarious PC Murdoch (Ann Louise Ross) and the scheming Basher McKenzie- All My Sons star Leanne Traynor - who wanted the Oor Wullie book so she could create her own story. There were lots of great one liners in the show. which comes more than three years after the Broons took centre stage at the venue. And we enjoyed also an excellent selection of songs, including one based on Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang and another in which Quinn uses great vocal aerobics.