In 2013, Mike was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and given five years to live. Mike's daughter Victoria was put in charge of planning the funeral. But a year later the doctors realised they had misdiagnosed Mike.

Victoria and Mike decided to go ahead with the funeral anyway and Victoria went to Port Talbot to train as a funeral director. Ugly Chief plays out the funeral Victoria planned, including her experieences of training at a funeral home

Ugly Chief is a comic take on what we want and expect from a funerals and how the deceased might behave if they were actually there to see it. It also explores a father/daughter relationship, and "father and daughter reassess their relationship in the very act of making and performing the show" (The Guardian).

The publication includes colour photographs from the premiere at Battersea Arts Centre and an interview with Victoria Melody.