Hairspray Live airs on British TV, Friday 9 December 2016 on ITV2

Hairspray Live! debuts on British TV.

The hit Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Hairspray returns this evening for a special televised event as NBC's Hairspray Live! airs on British TV at 8pm on ITV2.

The made-for-TV special aired live on NBC in the United States on 7 December. Produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, it was hosted by Darren Criss.

The musical, which features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan is based on the 1988 John Waters film of the same name. After opening on Broadway in 2002 the show opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End in 2008 where it starred Michael Ball, Mel Smith and Leanne Jones. It has been adapted for television by Harvey Fierstein, the book writer of West End hit Kinky Boots.

The cast for Hairspray Live! includes Maddie Bailio as Tracy Turnblad, Harvey Fierstein reprising his Tony Award-winning role as Edna Turnblad, Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton, Dove Cameron as Amber Von Tussle, Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle, Kristin Chenoweth as Velma Von Tussle, Martin Short as Wilbur Turnblad, Garret Clayton as Link Larkin, Ephraim Sykes as Seaweed J. Stubbs and Derek Hough as Corny Collins. Cameos came from Rosie O'Donnell, Sean Hayes, Billy Eichner and Andrea Martin.

Hairspray Live! is NBC's fourth made-for-TV musical telecast behind The Wiz Live!, Peter Pan Live!, and The Sound of Music Live! In the United States it was watched by 9.05 million viewers, down from the numbers seen for last year's The Wiz Live! which aired around the same time. The trend has been adopted by various TV networks who have since presented Grease Live! and The Rocky Horror Picture Show Live!

Last year ITV produced its own version of The Sound of Music Live!, but this year hasn't presented an original TV-movie.

Watch NBC's Hairspray Live! at 8pm on ITV2.