HUNDREDS of disappointed ticket-buyers were told that a show based on TV's Stars In Their Eyes, due to run in the region last night, has been cancelled.

As well as the show at Darlington Civic Theatre, further performances of Stars In Their Eyes - Live!, due to run at Newcastle City Hall on June 9 and York's Opera House on July 3, have also been halted.

A spokesman for Judy Totton Publicity said the company had no idea why the 34-date UK tour had been taken off the road.

"We were phoning frantically all day, trying to get some answers from the show's producers," he said.

Peter Brennan, manager of Newcastle's City Hall, said rumours that the tour had run into trouble surfaced at the end of last week.

"It was only the various theatres who booked the tour talking to each other by e-mail that finally allowed us to piece things together," he said.

The tour, which was due to feature six TV winners, was originally arranged between Granada Television - the makers of Stars In Their Eyes - and show producers Mean Fiddler, which is now part of the Clear Channel entertainment group.

The format was to involve audience votes and the famous dry ice transformations of talent show singers into soundalikes of performers, including Will Young, Anastacia and Tom Jones.

Julia Engleman, of Granada Television, declined to comment yesterday, but said there may be a statement today.

Anne Watson, of Darlington Arts, said the theatre had been working to contact 300 ticket buyers about refunds.

A theatre insider said that the tour ran into trouble when the cost of running the shows began to exceed the potential profits from ticket sales and Granada's support for the project came under fire.