Mead believes nan saw 'Joseph' debut

Any Dream Will Do winner Lee Mead believes that his late grandmother was looking down on his first Joseph performance.

The 26-year-old actor's Grandma Liz, who passed away five months ago, was the first person to encourage his love of musicals and would have been thrilled to see him in such a high-profile role.

Mead performed for the first time on Tuesday night and impressed several critics, despite a technical issue which meant that the show had to go on without lights or props.

"It is such a shame she passed away before she could see me getting a leading role at last," Lee told The Sun. "She is the person who I first started going to see musicals with when I was a child. But I know she'd have been looking down on me on my opening night and it was nice to think that.

"It was a big night for me and very emotional but I tried not to get too overwhelmed."