Thriller - Live is a near three hour long musical, celebrating 28 songs from The Jackson 5 and the solo work of Michael Jackson. It had already been performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia before opening at the Lyric Theatre, London on 2 January 2009. The show was conceived by a well known Jackson family fan named Adrian Grant.

In August 2006, Thriller ?V Live was previewed in the UK, at the Dominion Theatre ?X which was followed by two additional shows. At the time, Adrian Grant spoke of why he came up with the concept and the prospect of taking it to the West End. He started a British fan club in 1988, and then Jackson invited him out to Los Angeles when he was recording Dangerous. Within a few years the fan club had grown to 25,000 subscribed members. This led to an annual Michael Jackson tribute show from 1991, the tenth anniversary event was attended by Jackson himself. A single tribute show attracted an average of 3,000 people, costing about ?G30,000 to run. Grant later wrote three books, all approved by the singer. Jackson was never involved with the production of the musical shows, but gave Grant his approval.

Production for the West End version began in 2008, when open auditions were held to find a young actor to play Jackson. Ultimately six people would play the singer, going through the various stages of his career, with a total cast of 21 individuals?Xincluding Denise Pearson. Choreography was handled by director Gary Lloyd, who has previously worked with artists including Leona Lewis, Will Young, Robbie Williams and Girls Aloud and five time MTV award-winner LaVelle Smith Jnr. The West End premiere was on 21 January 2009, at the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. Tito Jackson, Lucy Pinder, Vanessa Feltz, Nicholas Hoult, Ciara Janson and Jessica Taylor attended the premiere. La Toya Jackson attended the after show party, following her departure from Celebrity Big Brother. The show was set to run in the UK until 16 May, however this was extended to 27 September. Thriller ?V Live will now run until January 2010 following wide public interest.