Springer stage show battles on despite protests

British stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera has been saved, after a string of theatres across the country agreed to stage the controversial musical.

Last month the British Arts Council withdrew funding for the successful West End show, bowing to pressure from Christian fundamentalists, who dubbed the opera "blasphemous".

Evangelical group Christian Voice set up street vigils in an attempt to stop the British televised broadcast on BBC2 in January and recently threatened to prosecute anyone who hosted the show.

Twenty-one theatres across Britain have refused to let the controversy affect the opera - based on Jerry Springer's infamous talk show - and have pooled the marketing costs so the cast and crew can afford to tour.

Co-writer and composer Richard Thomas enthuses: "I am overjoyed Jerry Springer the Opera is going on in spite of such extreme protest. I am also buying a flak jacket and sticking to the shadows."