EXCLUSIVE: Catherine Tate, the beloved British comedy queen and actress best known for Doctor Who, The Office and her scorching eponymous television show, will top the bill at this year’s London Palladium Pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.
Her casting is a fitting way for the festive extravaganza to celebrate its 10th anniversary since being revived at the Palladium.
David Tennant and Catherine Tate in ‘Doctor Who’
BBC Studios
Tate will play the role of panto baddie Carabosse, the wicked fairy that puts the curse on the princess that if she pricks her finger, she’ll die. Palladium panto standout Julian Clary (Julian Clary: Live – Lord of the Mince, Little Prince) will star as King Julian.
Both leading lights will contribute to the show’s book that’s written by Ed Curtis and Michael Harrison, who oversees the enterprise as director and producer.
Tate caught last season’s panto Robin Hood starring Clary, Jane McDonald (Cruising with Jane McDonald) and regulars Nigel Havers (Chariots of Fire, Empire of the Sun), ventriloquist Paul Zerdin, musical theatre star Charlie Stemp (Mary Poppins, Half a Sixpence, Broadway’s Hello, Dolly!) and comic performer Rob Madge (Last Flight of the Cosmonaut), and soon signed on for this year’s comical shenanigans.
“Catherine met with Julian, and she met with me and we’re all very excited about her joining the cast,” says Harrison.
‘Robin Hood’ at the London Palladium in 2024
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
In an exclusive comment for Deadline, Tate quipped: “I’m thrilled to be joining the cast for this year’s Palladium panto and very much hope to one day rival Nigel Havers’ record!”
The Catherine Tate Show, which ran three seasons on BBC TV between 2004-2009, is still available on BBC iPlayer, and for me it’s a constant go-to if ever I’m in need of a wicked larf.
Tate’s sketches on the show include a cast of outrageous characters she created, like argumentative 15-year-old schoolgirl Lauren Cooper and foul-mouthed ‘Nan’ Taylor.
Their catch-phrases have entered the UK’s lingua franca. Nan introduced, among others, “What a f*cking liberty!”
Lauren, meanwhile, scowled: “Am I bovvered?”
During a Royal Variety Performance, Tate, as Lauren, looked up at the royal box, in which was seated the late Queen Elizabeth II, and asked, “Is one bothered? Is one’s face bothered,” followed by a demand to know: “Who’s looking after the corgis?”
Cameras cut to Her Majesty who gave the amended catch-lines a royal thumbs up. The Duke of Edinburgh roared his approval too.
It’s pretty certain that Tate’s signature lines will find their way into her performance in Sleeping Beauty.
Catherine Tate as Lauren Cooper
BBC Studios
Harrison is tight-lipped when I raise the subject. However, when pushed, he smiles and says: ”I think the audiences might be very very pleased by what they see.”
There’s also likelihood of reference being made to Donna Noble, the character Tate played opposite David Tennant across several seasons of Doctor Who.
Thus far this year, Tate has appeared in comedy Going Dutch, starring Denis Leary, which premiered on Fox in January.
Sleeping Beauty will play 60 performances over five weeks at the London Palladium from December 6-January 11. Priority booking opens March 26.
Some 75,000 members of the public are on the waiting list for this year’s panto info — quite a few U.S. citizens are on it, as well. I’ve observed many an American almost choking on their beverages when they take in the raucous ribaldry.
It’s safe to say, there’s nothing like it on any stage in the U.S. There’d be a run on smelling salts if there was. “Oh yes there would!” to quote a popular panto refrain.
Panto favorites Zerdin will play The Great Zerdini, Havers will be Keeper of the Privy, with Madge playing The Diva of Dreams.
Julian Clary in ‘Robin Hood’
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
Comedian and impressionist Jon Culshaw joins the company as King Julian’s private detective.
In last year’s Robin Hood, Culshaw was one of several special guest stars who took on the cameo role of King Richard. They included Ian McKellen, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, James Corden and Elaine Paige.
Culshaw’s King Richard featured an impression of Donald Trump. So might Trump be making an appearance in Sleeping Beauty, I ask?
“Who knows?” Harrison responds, hoping that President Trump won’t see this item run on Deadline!
Emily Laner, who appeared with Imelda Staunton in last year’s Palladium musical Hello, Dolly!, will play Princess Beauty. Amonik Melaco, who was in the Robin Hood ensemble and who showed expert comic timing in scenes with Clary, has been upgraded to play the Prince.
(L-R) Julian Clary at rehearsals in December 2024 with Amonik Melaco
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
Production creatives include Mark Walters as set designer; costumes are being created by Hugh Durrant, who has already begun creating Clary’s finery — setting the production back $1.298 million for Clary’s dozen or more costume changes; Ron Briggs; Teresa Nolton; and Mike Coltman.
Karen Bruce will put the cast into shape with her choreography. Visual special effects are by The Twins FX, lighting designs by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Matt Peploe and composition and orchestrations by Gary Hind.
Pantomimes were, once upon a time, a longtime annual staple at the Palladium attracting the great and good of the comic and musical worlds like, for instance, Tommy Trinder, Terry Thomas, Frankie Howard, Norman Wisdom, Arthur Askey, Tommy Cooper and Harry Secombe.
Julie Andrews played Cinderella there back in 1953.
But, over time, pantos at the Palladium fell from favor, until after an absence of 29 years Edwin Shaw, an astute theater executive (who sadly died recently), nudged Palladium owner Andrew Lloyd Webber to revive them.
The panto, under Harrison’s control, roared back in 2016 with Cinderella starring Paul O’Grady, Amanda Holden and Clary alongside Havers, Zerdin, and Gary Wilmot.
“Cinderella was three hours long,” recalls Harrison, who has directed and produced the new seasons, initially through Qdos Pantomimes, which was later subsumed by David Ian’s Crossroads Pantomimes, which licenses Harrison’s services to produce panto shows at the Palladium and at over 20 other UK venues.
Harrison notes he didn’t quite get to grips with it in year one. “Its running time was three hours long and was very rude,” he says.
Michael Billington in The Guardian famously called it “a tsunami of smut.”
“Everybody said it was too rude and it would never run. And then the audience told us differently,” Harrison observes.
The following year he lined up Paige, hilariously parodying her own career as Queen Rat in Dick Whittington, with Clary, Havers, Zerdin and Stemp, who drew raves for his Dick.
The production won the Olivier Award for Best Family Entertainment and Show.
Dick Whittington was filthy too. As has every panto since.
That’s what folk pay to see. “Oh, yes they do!”
