Oh yes he does...

Adrian Edmondson has shocked parents by swearing on stage during a pantomime.

The Young Ones star let the f-word slip out when he went off-script in the performance of Peter Pan at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre.

The 52-year-old broke from the plot to urge the audience to donate to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, saying that they hoped to raise more than £50,000 by the end of the run next month.

He added: ‘That would be fucking brilliant.’

Edmondson, who is making his panto debut playing Captain Hook in the Kent production, immediately apologised – but parents were not mollified.

One dad said: ‘It's just not what you expect from a family show like the panto. It's just not suitable for something where there are so many young children.’

Edmondson told the Times the word ‘slipped out’, adding: ‘It was just me being genuinely excited about how much good we were doing for Great Ormond Street.

‘I immediately realised what I'd done and immediately apologised from the stage. I apologise again to anyone who heard it and took offence.’

Royalties to perform J M Barrie's Peter Pan go to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, under the terms of the author’s will. The arrangement required a special act of Parliament to extend copyright on the work beyond the usual 50 years after his death when it would have expired in 1987.

Published: 30 Dec 2009