Peter Pan Panto Launch At Nottingham Theatre Royal

Photo © Nottingham Confidential

Ahoy me Nottingham hearties! 'Twas with a merry swash and a buckle that local heroine Su Pollard, Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood and a cardboard cut-out of David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff did launch the Peter Pan Panto at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham exactly six months before Christmas Day, arrrrrrr!

Whilst The Hoff sent his hilarious apologies and panto greetings via a video link from his home in LA, Nottingham's favourite daughter and home-town legend, the super-duper superstar Su Pollard shimmered into view as Mimi the Magical Mermaid, a vision in matching sparkling blue dress, hair and lipstick whilst CBBC's Barney Harwood wisecracked through proceedings as a naughtily impish Peter Pan.

"Oooh, it's always wonderful to be back in Nottingham," Sue told us confidentially. "You never forget where you've been brought up and where you've been given a chance in life, do you? And the lovely thing is, I've also been sent an honorary ticket for life member at Nottingham Arts Theatre where I trained! I was so lucky to join that, I learned a lot from there darling, I was there about fourteen years, yes, man and boy! So I'm thrilled!

"And here in the Theatre Royal I've had a seat named after me! It's J17, I was so thrilled, they surprised me and I said, I'll love that! They said they'd call it Su Pollard's Nottingham Seat but I said ooh no, that's too poncey, we won't have that, let's call it the Queen Of The Midlands! And that meant as much to me as meeting the Queen, dear! And whoever sits in it when they come and watch the panto , I'll throw marshmallows at you!

"Can you imagine dear, David Hasselhoff! I think it'll be great, he's popular with everybody and you know what, I like that he sends himself up, he's able to joke about himself and the girls all love him and the ladies will probably swoon! I think it'll be fabulous."

Photo © Nottingham Confidential

"I did a little dance when I heard about David Hasselhoff," said Barney Harwood "I haven't told anyone that, but I did a little boogie. He's been on TV since I was a kid, 1982-1986 was Knight Rider, you see how I'm a geek, I know all the dates. He drove the coolest car in the world, he had all the coolest gadgets and I used to pretend to be David Hasselhoff as a kid, I used to run round the streets talking to my watch. And now he's going to be the bad guy in this and I've got to scrap with him with a sword. He's a genuine bona fide hero of mine and I can't wait to meet him.

"This is my first panto in Nottingham and I'm going to be here about six and a half weeks, so I'll need plenty of tips on chippies and good places to eat and and I'm bringing my camera as I like taking photographs so I need good places to take some nice shots!"

So whilst Nottingham buzzes with excitement at possibly one of the most fabulous panto line-ups EVER, what more could we want- but to be told possibly some of the best secrets we've heard confidentially EVER. "I think the secret I can tell you is when I'm on stage, even though you can see the regular Peter Pan costume, there's another costume underneath..." said Barney Harwood. " It's for a specific reason and even though what I'm about to tell you sounds weird and probably not quite right, I have to do it. When I'm Peter Pan, I wear incontinence pants. Now listen, the harness digs into certain areas and the only way to protect those areas when you're flying is to wear those pants so that's my secret and do NOT tell anybody!"

And you can watch Su Pollard's secret confidentially in the video clip below!

You can also see our photo album of the launch in glorious technicolor on our Facebook page here

Peter Pan is at Nottingham Theatre Royal from December 7th 2013 to January 12th 2014. Full details can be found on the Theatre Royal website here