Well, in the London Palladium panto, at least

Dawn French is to headline this year’s star-studded London  Palladium pantomime, it has been announced.

The comedian will appear in Jack And The Beanstalk alongside the regular cast of Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers and Gary Wilmot.

French will play Jack's mum Dame Trott in the £2million production – a role traditionally, but not always, played by a man in drag. Nor will she be the usual baddie, with producer  Michael Harrison telling the Daily Mail ‘she'll be the force for good - we wanted to shake it up a bit.’

The comic played the evil queen in Snow White at the Palladium in 2018 and had signed on for Jack And The Beanstalk before the pandemic struck. 'We've waited two years,' she said.

Her panto role starts on December 10, following her 20-date UK tour  Dawn ​French Is A Huge Twat, that was announced last week.

The show, which features a 12-piece orchestra, runs at the Palladium for five weeks. Priority tickets go on sale on Monday and the rest on Tuesday.

Published: 25 Feb 2022