Panto stars meet to launch festive show

"I thought, no, no, it's beneath me," says Christopher Biggins, remembering when he was first approached to do panto decades ago. "I don't do pantomime, I'm an actor."

"Eventually they mentioned money... and it was £1,000 a week.

"So the initial thing was to do it for the money, and then I suddenly realised how much I loved it."

Biggins is guest starring as King Richard in Robin Hood, this year's festive offering at Birmingham Hippodrome.

He met the rest of the all-star cast on Tuesday to launch the show, including TV presenter Gok Wan, appearing as Gok Scarlet, and former Steps singer Faye Tozer.

Wan joked: "Faye Tozer is going to sing all of my songs.

"They've given me six songs, but I've got a voice that can clean ovens."

Tozer, who will be playing Maid Marion, said she always enjoyed getting stuck into different roles.

"Obviously there's going to be plenty of Steps references in there, as there always is, and of course a Steps melody at the end," she said.

Local favourite Matt Slack will return in the title role for his twelfth Birmingham panto in a row, while X Factor winner Matt Cardle makes his panto debut as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The theatre's artistic director, Jon Gilchrist, has predicted Robin Hood will be a "show to remember".

Staged by Crossroads Pantomimes and featuring costumes from The London Palladium, performances run from 20 December to 1 February.

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