'Nottingham's like coming home a bit... it's such a beautiful city'

STRICTLY STAR CRAIG REVEL HORWOOD LOVES PLAYING THE VILLAIN

- By LYNETTE PINCHESS [e-mail]

WITH spectacular costumes and scenery from the London Palladium, dazzling special effects and a cast led by Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood, this year’s panto at Nottingham's Theatre Royal is set to be FAB-U-LOUS.

The curtain will rise on Cinderella at the 160-year-old theatre on November 28, and will run for five weeks until January 4.

Playing the Wicked Stepmother, the TV star isn’t worried about being typecast, having previously appeared in panto as Captain Hook in Peter Pan and the Wicked Queen in Snow White.

The entertainer said: "The villain is always the best part to play for me. They have a history. There's some sort of darkness in them that has made them like that.

"I love in panto the fact you get booed and there is a moral — you either end up in prison, die or get eaten by something at the end. The villains always get the best songs, the best lines and it’s just so much more fun to play."

As he might say, he was looking 'gorgeous' in one of the five costumes he'll be wearing — a black sequined cloak, chevron-patterned skirt, a five-kilo wig and hat, and boots with six-inch heels. “The costumes all keep getting bigger and bigger until the finale, which is a huge surprise and fantastic.

“Yes, I dance in heels, of course. We're doing a little bit of cha cha, a little bit of salsa and a little bit of ballroom, a little bit of everything. It’s a compilation of dance routines and it’s good fun because she’s there at the ball, having a ball.