Christmas concert with Line of Duty star Vicky McClure and Our Dementia Choir in Papplewick is cancelled due to Covid

The Our Dementia Choir was formed by Vicky and a group of musicians, initially for a BBC series that culminated in a performance in front of 2,000 people at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall.

Since then, the choir has performed regularly and was due to bring some festive cheer to Papplewick on December 22.

But the rapid rise of Covid cases caused by the new Omicron variant, combined with the Government’s move to plan B restrictions in England, has led to the concert being cancelled.

A spokesperson said: “After a long deliberation with Vicky reviewing various possible scenarios regarding the possibility of continuing with the Christmas performance in light of the new Omicron variant and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we both feel that we have no choice but to cancel the event on the 22nd.

"We need to ensure the safety of our choir and their families as well as for the public that would be attending.

“With the new addition of the current restrictions on care homes, it would also mean that some of our members may not even be allowed to attend.

"There is also some noise coming from high profile politicians to reduce contact as much as possible, review get togethers and with all of our choir members being extremely vulnerable, and a lot of the audience that may be too, we do not feel that the risks can be fully controlled and mitigated with the high transmission rate that we are currently seeing across the country with this new variant.

“Ultimately our main priority is the safety of everyone and we feel we have no other choice but to cancel and review the situation for rehearsals for when we were due to start back on January 12.

“There will be a lot of disappointed people out there.

"I hope you all understand and support the choice we have made.”