The story of Wilko Johnson’s miraculous second chance at life has become almost as legendary as the mercurial musician himself. In 2012 the former Dr Feelgood guitarist (he was kicked him out of the band he co-founded) was given a year to live after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He refused treatment, opting instead to make the most of his final months by spending time with the people he loved, making music (including an album with old mate Roger Daltrey) and playing gigs. The notoriously difficult, miserable git claimed he’d never felt so happy or alive.

Everything changed after an emotional farewell show in London, when fan, photographer and cancer doctor Charlie Chan told him he looked too healthy to be at death’s door, and urged him to get a second opinion. He did, was told the cancerous tumour could be removed, and after 12 hours on the operating table a melon-sized growth was taken out and Wilko ended up living for another decade.

The story - of Wilko’s survival but also Scrooge-like salvation as his fate forces the grizzled curmudgeon to embrace the joys of life - is an undeniably remarkable one, and with a few minor reservations writer Jonathan Maitland’s play makes a terrific fist of telling it. There’s plenty to enjoy in the biopic presentation of a fascinating life - Wilko was a proud Canvey Island boy with high-brow interests, genuine intellect and aspiration - but the script skirts round a few significant issues (why did his wife Irene not leave him when he proudly admitted his infidelity? Why are his children so absent from proceedings?) and is more sympathetic to its titular star than his reputation as a fairly obnoxious character perhaps merits.

The latter element is perhaps forgivable given that Wilko narrates the whole thing (he describes the play as an 'illustrated monologue', and certainly not 'a jukebox musical'), meaning we see events through his eyes, but a little more of his edgier, darker side would not only have amplified his character arc, but also apparent redemption as he starts to truly love life while facing death.

In truth this is only a minor niggle for a hugely enjoyable show that wraps Wilko’s life story around its most feted 12 months via a combination of musical and cultural history, humour and thrilling live performances of some of Dr Feelgood’s best-known tunes by the instrument-wielding cast. Speaking of which, Jon House is particularly good as the band’s formidable harmonica-playing frontman Lee Brilleaux, but the undoubted star of the show is the superlative Johnson Willis, whose pitch-perfect portrayal of Wilko, complete with Essex nasal drawl, is worth the ticket price alone.

At one point the guitarist suggests the play is 'A Christmas Carol but with guitars... and cancer', and while Wilko: Love and Death and Rock N’ Roll might not reach that lofty ideal, to paraphrase one of the evening’s top tunes, it does a lot right.

4 stars

Wilko: Love and Death and Rock N’ Roll was reviewed by Steve Adams at the Belgrade Theatre on Monday 7 September, where it shows until Wednesday 9 September.

The production returns to the Midlands from Tuesday 22 September until Saturday 26 September at Malvern Theatres, and from Thursday 22 October until Saturday 24 October at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury.