Beauty and the Beast, UK Productions
Reviewed 7th December 2025
4/5
A Real Beauty of a panto.
Audiences at the Grand in Blackpool have come to expect a great panto, and with Steve Royle at the helm, they weren’t disappointed.
Steve was joined this year by another Blackpool legend, Betty Legs Diamond, who played Steve’s mom, Polly La Plonk. This was Betty’s first panto in Blackpool, and hopefully it won’t be her last. Her can-can showed she still has the moves and probably one of the highest kicks in pantoland!
Written by Jon Monie, the script followed a more traditional take on the story, but with some clever jokes thrown in. The prison scene where Steve explained to Belles Father, played by David Alcock, how the lock worked was very clever, as was the cake trolley.
Belles suitor, Hugo Pompidou, was played by Marc Baylis (Coronation Street), and his French accent gave rise to some brilliant play on words style jokes. He had a great voice too, but his character seemed underused which was a shame.
There were a few moments where the energy seemed to drop, probably because of the more traditional storyline, which was a shame, as the rest of the show was full-on fun, with some great musical numbers. The audience were certainly having a great time.
Beauty and the Beast runs until 4th January 2026