PAUL O’GRADY RETURNS AND MATT BAKER JOINS
JULIAN CLARY, PAUL ZERDIN, NIGEL HAVERS AND GARY WILMOT IN
G O L D I L O C K S A N D T H E T H R E E B E A R S
FOR A STRICTLY LIMITED 5 WEEK RUN AT THE
LONDON PALLADIUM FOR THE 2019 FESTIVE SEASON
Qdos Entertainment today (Friday 24 May 2019) announce that Paul O’Grady will return to the London Palladium in Goldilocks and the Three Bears to play The Evil Ringmaster. Joining O’Grady and making his Palladium Panto debut will be Matt Baker as Joey the Clown who will star alongside season regulars Julian Clary as The Ringmaster, Paul Zerdin as Silly Billy, Nigel Havers as Daddy Bear and Gary Wilmot as Dame Betty Barnum.
Dame Betty Barnum and her daughter Goldilocks’ circus is under threat from an evil rival circus owner and, with the help of their madcap circus friends, they’re battling to rescue their Big Top from ruin. Will they succeed? All seems lost, until three brilliant bears join the gang… Roll up, roll up to see panto join the circus, and be swept away by a London Palladium spectacular that’s just right at the home of pantomime!
Returning for the fourth year and once again produced by the Olivier award-winning team and directed by Michael Harrison, choreography will be by Karen Bruce, set design will be by Ian Westbrook, with a returning team of costume designers including Hugh Durrant, visual special effects by The Twins FX, lighting by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Gareth Owen and original music by Gary Hind.
Best known as host of BBC Radio 2’s The Paul O’Grady Show and for helping rescue dogs in For the Love of Dogs – not to mention his acid-tongued creation Lily Savage – Paul O’Grady is returning to the London Palladium following his performance as The Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella, which reintroduced pantomime to the iconic venue in 2016.
Matt Baker who will make his Palladium Panto debut is best known on television as a presenter of The One Show and Countryfile on BBC1. Previously he presented Blue Peter and was a finalist on Strictly Come Dancing. He has been seen on stage as Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Julian Clary returns to the London Palladium for the fourth year having previously played The Man in the Mirror in last year’s Snow White at the London Palladium, The Spirit of the Bells in Dick Whittington and Dandini in Cinderella.
Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin has previously appeared at the Palladium as Muddles in last year’s Snow White at the London Palladium, Idle Jack in Dick Whittington and as Buttons in Cinderella.
Nigel Havers played The Understudy in the 2019 production of Snow White at the London Palladium, Captain Nigel in Dick Whittington and Lord Chamberlain in Cinderella, all at the London Palladium.
Gary Wilmot’s played Mrs Crumble in last year’s Palladium pantomime Snow White at the London Palladium and was also seem in the previous year’s Dick Whittington.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears is produced by Nick Thomas and Michael Harrison for Qdos Entertainment. Nick Thomas is the founder and Chairman of Qdos Entertainment Group, one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe and is the UK’s second largest regional theatre and concert hall operator. Michael Harrison has previously produced over 100 pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment where he is also Managing Director. As a producer in the West End his credits include the imminent production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium,Gypsy, The Bodyguard, Annie and Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
As the world’s biggest pantomime producer, over the past 37 years Qdos Entertainment has established itself as one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe. Over the past three decades the pantomime giant has staged 719 pantomimes.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Theatre: London Palladium, Argyll St, London W1F 7TF
Dates: 7 December 2019 – 12 January 2020
Gala night: 11 December 2019 at 7.30pm
Box Office: 020 7087 7747 (no booking fee)
Performances: see website for performance schedule
Website: PalladiumPantomime.com
Twitter: PalladiumPanto
Facebook: Facebook.com/PalladiumPantomime