EVERY Christmas, theatres across the land come alive with pantomime – and none more so than the Kings Theatre in Albert Road, Southsea, which, once again, is already drawing crowds of families eager to join the traditional fun.

Anita Harris is known to an earlier generation as a singing star of the 1960s but she also has had many acting credits on television and stage since and she leads the cast of Snow White as Queen Malevola.

Waving her fairy wand to combat the queen’s bad magic will be former model and television presenter Melinda Messenger, who is Fairy Sparkle.

Hollyoaks actor Marcus Patrick, who hails from Gosport and was a favourite in last year’s Kings’ panto, returns as The Huntsman while comedy is in the safe hands of Jack Edwards as the dame Sarah Spoilit, ably assisted by Simon Gray’s Muddles.

Making her adult professional stage debut is 19-year-old Hannah Lowther, from Basingstoke, who is Snow White with Jordan Adams as her Prince Valentine and, of course, seven dependable dwarfs make up the numbers for the spectacular production.

The traditional recipe for fun family festive entertainment is set for success.

Snow White is on until January 1 and tickets, costing from £16 to £29.50, can be bought from the website at: www.kingsportsmouth.co.uk or by calling 023 9282 8282.