When Annie’s husband John dies of leukaemia, she and best friend Chris resolve to raise money for a new settee in the local hospital waiting room. Blasting away all preconceptions of what it is to be in the Women’s Institute, they manage to persuade a group of ordinary women in a small Yorkshire town WI to do an extraordinary thing and to make an artistic nude calendar to raise money for charity.

The news of the women’s charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The calendar is a success, but up turning preconceptions is a dangerous business and none of them expect the emotional and personal ramifications that follow but, gradually, the making of the fabulous and funny calendar causes each of the women to unexpectedly blossom.

Based on the true story of eleven WI members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukaemia Research Fund, Calendar Girls opened at the Chichester Festival theatre and has since become the fastest selling play in British theatre history. The true story of the Calendar Girls launched a global phenomenon, a million copycat calendars, a record-breaking movie, a stage play and a musical. Calendar Girls opened at the Chichester Festival theatre and has since become the fastest selling play in British theatre history.