The Laboratory

Apologies for delays in getting these uploaded - school doesn't finish until 21st December so it's all hands on deck at the minute. Today we are thinking about pantomimes. Oh yes we are! The most unlikely panto star popped up in the news this week. At the Bristol Hippodrome, we have the unlikely pairing of David Suchet, star of Poirot and Bible-narrator beloved by Christians everywhere, and Faye Tozer, from Steps. Unrecognisable as Captain Hook, in JM Barrie's Peter Pan, Suchet looks like he is having a lot of fun. And possibly cosplaying Windsor Davies (ask your Dad).

We love a good panto! Though it's a bit debatable whether this one (flyer picked up on a trip to Birmingham) would be in that category: Marti Pellow would be a big hit with the 40- and 50--something mums. But everyone loves Marti. Dr Ranj, for those of you unaware, is a "TV doctor" who's also been on dancing, sewing and cooking shows, so maybe he'd be good for a dance or two. Or if someone in the stalls had a heart attack from laughing too much. He plans to produce a West End musical based on his life. Suzanne Shaw was in Hear'Say. Remember them? The ones who weren't Liberty X. Since then she's been in the West End, on The Bill, and Dancing on Ice. Matt Slack is a panto regular, Doreen Tipton is selling off her online merch in a sale ( http://www.doreentipton.com/ ) and Andrew Ryan is a West End actor and director. Have you seen any good panto posters round your way?

Today Sarah is off to the local panto (oh no she isn't! etc) Snow White & The Seven Dwarves has pulled in the big names of Gok Wan (as "The Man In The Mirror"), Harriet Thorpe "of Brittas Empire fame", top sports impressionist Aaron James, and in the title role, Rebekah Lowings, who trained at Guildford's School of Acting so she's a "local" girl" which is nice. Aaron seems to have had a bit of work done, and grown a little beard to look more like Paddy McGuinness. If you've forgotten what Harriet looked like at the height of her 90s fame (on the left, pictured with Julia St John): Of course, the most important people aren't featured - the little people playing the dwarves. The last time Woking had Snow White as its panto in 2016, Warwick Davis played Prof (because of course the traditional names are all Disney copyright). It'll be interesting to see what this year's dwarves are called. And five years earlier, there was ...

Our third and final Saturday on the calendar takes us all the way back to 1864. This is the year that Christ Church, Ottershaw was founded by Sir Edward Colebrooke, and we have had a year of celebrations and commemorations. So when looking for an 1864 theme for today, I was astounded to find this : Cinderella, or, Harlequin and the Magic Pumpkin, and the Great Fairy of the Little Glass Slipper: A Pantomime written by the Brothers Grinn.  London: Published and sold in the [Royal English Opera] Theatre, [1864]. First performed Monday, 26 December 1864.   Cast: Hobgoblin, a discontented Demon who lives by himself and won't give up his Hermit for any quantity of spirits (Mr. Lingham); Papillion, a Fairy who's "beautiful as a Butterfly" (Miss Craven); Prince Ugolino, who has carried out the direction "laugh and grow fat" (Mr. E. Danvers); Grimguffin, his Private Tutor (Mr. Naylor); The Baron Pumpolino (Mr. W. H. Payne); Pedro, his head man and foot-man (M...

Every year we seem to get bigger and better names in our local Panto in Woking. Once it would be ex-Eastenders star Steve McFadden, then last year we had a girl and her dog off Britain's Got Talent, but this year we have got superstar potential: Yes, Mr Tumble, a woman off Blue Peter and another bloke are in "Cinderella". Justin Fletcher seems a genuinely nice guy (I once saw him switch on the Christmas lights at Bluewater where he led us in a rendition of "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes") and having 2 children's stars seems to make it a lot more family-friendly. Hal Cruttenden as Dandini (on the left) seems to have been chosen so he looks confusing like Justin. He's a comedian with the same chin and hairstyle, but they don't seem to mention this in the pantomime. Zoe Salmon as Cinders doesn't need to do much other than not be a plump bloke in his 30s. One thing I do like about pantos is that because you only see adverts for your local...

This year, Cilla Black (born Priscilla White) is playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Liverpool Empire. Bonnie (short for Bonita) Langford is playing Peter Pan in Richmond. Here's the scary fact: Bonnie is 44 years old, which is 2 years older than Cilla was when she started presenting Blind Date.

Welcome to the Advent Calendar for 2008! Everyone loves a panto (oh yes they do!) and we were amazed to see the strange similarity between the pantos in Swindon, Southend, Cardiff and Crawley - all of which have the same poster! Of course the C-list celebrities range from Barry (from Eastenders) to the Chuckle Brothers, and Cardiff are particularly lucky to get Anthony Costa (from Blue), and all feature the magical 3D genie. To see more panto coincidences, visit the It's Behind You website, which also has a helpful list of celebrities so you can find out which provincial theatre to visit them in.