THE pantos at Bournemouth Pavilion are always spectacular and this year’s is no exception, starring Su Pollard as a most excellent baddie, Dr Who and I’m a Celeb star Colin Baker as the dame and Asa Elliott from ITV’s Benidorm as the Prince.

Alongside this stellar cast is Bournemouth panto regular Chris Jarvis from CBeebies’ Show Me Show me, who has again written and directed the show and stars as Happy Harry.

Some amazing effects had my four-year-old entranced, as cast members flew through the universe and Bad Fairy Su arrived on stage to balls of fire.

Su, one of my favourite sitcom actors, was hilarious – but perhaps slightly too quickfire at times, which made some of her gags hard to hear.

Colin Baker was fabulously funny as the dame, and the staging was as sumptuous as ever.

Just once I would like to see a leading female who wasn’t a bit wet, flinging her arms wide every second line and squeaking breathlessly, but that’s probably just me being an old grump. I’ve never once seen a feisty young heroine in a panto and I’m guessing that’s the rule.

Miranda Robertson