Sir Ian McKellen to star in West End panto 'Mother Goose'

The Lord of the Rings star hailed the Mother Goose production as ‘magical’ after it was announced he would be starring in the show written by Jonathan Harvey and directed by Cal McCrystal.

The acclaimed 83-year-old actor will play the eponymous lead role alongside comedian John Bishop as Vic Goose and actor and former Bake-Off presenter Mel Giedroyc as the Goose.

He said: “It is a serious story told comically. It is about good and bad, and of course good always triumphs in a pantomime.

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“It uses every device theatre can offer. There is singing, there is dancing, there is rhyme, there are jokes, there is sentiment, there is audience participation, there is a man dressed as a woman, a woman dressed as a goose.

“Everything has gone haywire, and it is all for the audience to have a good time. That is the only reason you do it

The show will open at the Theatre Royal Brighton from December 3 to 11 before a West End run at the Duke of York’s Theatre between December 15 and January 29.

It will then tour the UK until Easter, visiting the Liverpool Empire, Oxford New Theatre, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff and more.

Growing up in Barrow Bridge, Sir Ian celebrated his 80th birthday in Bolton and spoke to The Bolton News on being back in his hometown for the big day.

The panto tells the story of Mother Goose and her husband Vic, who run an animal sanctuary and live a wholesome life inside an abandoned Debenhams department store, but the sudden arrival of a goose causes upheaval.