The London Palladium to present pantomime this Christmas, supported by the National Lottery

Panto will be back at The London Palladium – oh yes it will!

A brace of stars who appeared in previous Palladium shows, such as Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers, Gary Wilmot, Ashley Banjo and Diversity and Charlie Stemp will return this year for a special socially-distanced panto variety experience.

Beverley Knight and Jac Yarrow will join the piece, after previously starring in the Birmingham Hippodrome panto.

The show is set to be two hours and 15 minutes long, with tickets from £25 going on sale today. The piece will run from 12 December 2020 to 3 January 2021.

It has a creative team composed of director Michael Harrison, choreographer Karen Bruce, set designer Ian Westbrook, costume designer Hugh Durrant, lighting designer Ben Cracknell, sound designer Gareth Owen and composer and orchestrator Gary Hind.

The production is aided by the National Lottery, which will be helping to support pantos through ticket buying schemes. More details and venues participating in the scheme are to be announced.

Michael Harrison, managing director of producers Qdos Entertainment said: "Pantomime is a critical part of the calendar for many theatres. As a result of lockdown in March, venues were forced to close their doors, placing the live performance industry in crisis, causing job losses and placing the viability of theatres large and small at risk.

"This initiative will be a lifeline for those venues, whilst enabling us to provide much needed uplifting entertainment at such a challenging time."