HUNDREDS of people were turned away from seeing top comic Lenny Henry at a Brighton theatre at the weekend.

Disappointed Danielle Peters, 22, of Bevendean, Brighton, was looking forward to seeing the popular funnyman at the Gardner Arts Centre on Friday night. She turned up at 6.30pm with fiance Steven Camfield, 26, after their friend picked up free tickets for the show. But an hour later she was told she would not be allowed in and was turned away with hundreds of other fans. The show, Lenny Goes to Town, is being included in his new Saturday night programme to be screened in the autumn. The whole episode was dedicated to Brighton and Lenny's new comedy characters and live bands were featured at the event. But Danielle said: "We queued for an hour but then we were told there were only 500 seats and about 400 people were turned away. They had under-estimated the numbers. "I have just had a back operation and it was something I had been looking forward to for the last three weeks. It's a letdown." National Westminster Bank worker Colin Fines, 41, of Craignair Avenue, Patcham, was another who queued with wife Jane and son Nick, 16. He said: "We had a flyer come round the bank. A lot of people from branches in Brighton went along. We got along there at 6pm on Friday and queued for nearly an hour. "Someone eventually came out after we had been there for ages and said there were 450 seats available but they had given out 900 flyers. "There were a lot of miffed people there." Nobody from the Gardner Arts Centre was available for comment.

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