TV Dragons' Den judges tempted by Dusty The Musical

A theatre producer will tonight confront the BBC's Dragons' Den millionaires in the hope of staging a musical about Dusty Springfield.

Soul power: Dusty Springfield

Josephine Buchan wants £250,000 to launch a West End show about the Sixties pop star.

Ms Buchan — a former presenter of BBC show Pebble Mill and the granddaughter of 39 Steps creator John Buchan — already has a string of stage musicals to her name.

But with the credit markets in chaos she asks the entrepreneurs for £250,000 in return for 25 per cent of Dusty: A Life In Music. She said: "The public have a voracious appetite for Dusty Springfield. Theo Paphitis immediately said he just downloaded Dusty's album onto his iPod."

She has the backing of musical director Mike Moran who co-wrote Barcelona with Freddie Mercury, and one of Dusty's backing singers, Simon Bell.

Kent-based Ms Buchan — who once had a fling with GMTV favourite Dr Hilary Jones, her co-presenter on ITV show The Full Treatment — said she hoped the Dragons would be "intrigued" by her proposal.

"A rock band has been on there but I don't think anybody has ever pitched a musical," she said. "All I can say is I am not disappointed. I come out of it thinking it was a really good experience."
Dragons' Den is on BBC2 at 9pm.