When he set out to create his first play, a show that would go on to become a worldwide theatrical sensation, Danny Robins’ aspirations were modest. ‘I wrote 2:22 A Ghost Story in my shed,’ the 47-year-old recalls, ‘and thought that the definition of success would be that we might not lose our money, and that it might get one or two reviews.’

This was around seven years ago. Subsequent to the initial drafts of that theatrical piece, the Newcastle-born writer, who’d cut his teeth on the stand-up circuit (Ross Noble and Marcus Brigstocke are peers and pals), children’s drama (CBBC’s Young Dracula) and TV comedy writing (BBC’s Comedy Playhouse, The Basil Brush Show), diverted into podcasts and audio drama. Hit productions Haunted, The Battersea Poltergeist and Uncanny all followed. But still no play.

‘The podcasts sprung out of [the writing of] the play because I was researching ghost stories and I asked around on social media if anybody I knew had seen a ghost,’ he explains. ‘I got all these amazing stories coming in, and so my first podcast series Haunted came out of that. Yeah, it took a long time to get to this stage,’ he adds, any ruefulness tempered by the fact that that lengthy gestation would, ultimately, be a boon.

‘And then The Battersea Poltergeist came out,’ he says of the BBC Radio 4 horror drama, ‘and created this platform for my work. It was kind of coincidental that 2:22 was [about to be staged] at that point. But something about the two of them coming out at the same time made for this explosion of interest in ghost stories in my writing.’

This was summer 2021. Theatregoers in London emerged from the last lockdown and into the chilling embrace of what would become an unexpected West End phenomenon. On 3 August that year, allegedly ‘for 11 weeks only,’ 2:22 A Ghost Story premiered at the Nöel Coward Theatre. The four-character play boasted a cast that included sometime-pop star Lily Allen in her first stage role and further celebrity sizzle in the shape of Jake Wood (EastEnders’ Max Branning). Ultimately, though, Robins’ play would do its own heavy lifting.

At a two-couple dinner-party in a gentrifying corner of East London, two old university pals and their partners do the usual dinner-party thing: fret over the sleepless newborn whose cries bleed from the baby monitor; listen to Massive Attack; bicker over property prices and renovations; joust over classism and careerism; drink too much wine. But there’s something going bump in the night (at 2.22am, precisely) and a harried, sleep-deprived mum fears it’s the lingering spirits of the former tenants of this Victorian home that she and her partner have been busy ripping up.

Here was that old faithful, the haunted-house drama, rebooted and retooled for modern, post-covid audiences, with added jump scares. Quickly, 2:22 A Ghost Story became a critical and word-of-mouth sensation; and a transferrable, relatable one, too. The production is currently playing around the world, has its eyes on Broadway and a film adaptation and, now, for the first time, is touring the UK.

‘The interest in ghosts is evergreen,’ notes Robins. ‘But I do think that living through a period of time where you were trapped in your house, and you started to feel haunted by your house, meant we could really relate to ghost stories. So I think the play went on at precisely the right moment for it. It found its audience. You could argue “would the play have such a big impact if it had gone on at a different period?” I don’t know,’ he admits. ‘But it definitely felt like a case of the right place at the right time when it came out.’

Right place, right time, right casting: Robins’ creation would go on to make a virtue of featuring a rotating line-up, usually featuring at least one pop-culture figure, their appearance helping boost the play’s credentials among younger audiences less used to forking out for the theatre. Step forward ex-Girls Alouder Cheryl, Hogwarts alumni Tom Felton, Hollyoaks grad Mandip Gill, Matt Willis from Busted and, currently starring in the fifth London production, Frankie Bridge, once a member of S Club Juniors and The Saturdays. For the Scottish leg, Joe Absolom and Louisa Lytton are among the quartet.

‘Every time we get a different cast, it takes on a different life and shifts and changes a bit . . . but I say: you go in for Cheryl or Lily, you stay for the play. If the play was no good, you’d quickly go in there and feel a bit of anti-climax and disappointment.’ The casting, thinks Robins, catches the eye. But then once in your seat, ‘you love and connect with the play; then go away and tell your mates about it. That’s why I think that we're running two years later, because it’s not just about the names or gimmicks. There’s a real substance to this.’ Danny Robins would say that, of course. But he’s also correct. Scarily so.

2:22 A Ghost Story tours until Saturday 25 May.