THE pantomime season opened to a full house at the Beck Theatre, Hayes, at the weekend, with Linda Robson cast as Snow White’s Wicked Queen.

It was a dazzling production. filled with an energetic and genuinely funny cast, glittering costumes and impressive special effects.

The two-hour show mixed classic panto scenes with 21st-Century references to hashtags, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber and twerking.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves dreamt up and borrowed names and characters from other shows in an attempt to dodge Disney copyright issues.

The dwarves, whose names were subtly changed from the originals, were called Allergy, Chief, Blushy, Snoozy, Gleeful, Contrary and Silly and were played by talented children, who performed with excitement and confidence.

And there was Muddles, akin to Cinderella’s Buttons, who entertained parents and children alike. along with his cross-dressed mother, Nurse Nelly, who at one point even improvised a joke about forgetting her Tenor Lady.

But the laugh we were all waiting for came when The Wicked Queen nodded to her television past by saying ‘I’m a loose woman, I can make anyone love me!’.

Linda is best known as a Loose Women panellist and also for her role as Tracey Stubbs in the British BAFTA-nominated sitcom Birds of a Feather.

As The Wicked Queen, Linda reined the kingdom of Fortunia in her own deadpan, witty style, using her cockney accent to hilarious effect against the theatrical voices of Snow White and The Magic Mirror.

Linda’s starring moment came when she sang Pink’s Get the Party Started while hatching her plan to kill Snow White. She sang as she spoke, with her North London accent shining through.

Audience participation was rife, and songs like The 12 Days of Christmas were given a pantomime makeover, with the line ‘five golden rings’ changing to ‘five toilet rolls’.

On reaching the 12th day, the cast descended on the audience with water-guns, much to the delight of all children and horror of most mums.

Perhaps most fitting for a show trying to catch the attention of tech-savvy kids, Linda huddled the cast following the final curtain bow and took a selfie on her mobile phone.

With its magically intimate setting at The Beck allowing for a generous dollop of audience participation, Snow White left everyone chuckling and cheering in the festive period.

It was not only the fairest but also the funniest of them all!

The show will run until January 4. To buy tickets, visit: https://becktheatre.org.uk/Online/panto-hayes-uxbridge-pantomime