Peter Pan Pandemonium

Some 20-strong and intrepid punters braved the London Palladium’s pantomime again this year. Julian Clary and his merry band of thespians including fall guy Nigel Havers with Gary Wilmot and Jennifer Saunders had the audience shouting for more as well as ‘He’s behind you!’ A jolly event, much enjoyed by a largely adult audience with the ES members in the stalls as well as dizzyingly high up in the dress circle. A stray ES member was spotted in the queue with his son and grandson who had all come under their own steam. We knew we were in good comedy country at that point as the person in question was none other than our great friend Paul Mayhew-Archer (R 1967–71), well known for the Vicar of Dibley and other such programmes, who had come to see his old mucker Jennifer Saunders playing… herself. It was all very silly and, as the actors recognised, hardly followed the plot of Peter Pan. Indeed, as remarked by JT, an aficionado of the pantomime, the plot was so wishy-washy that he thought it was a repeat of some previous ones like Snow White or Goldilocks. It was only when he saw the seven bears appear that he knew he was in 2024.