Sleeping Beauty in Weston-Super-Mare

Soap star Lorraine Chase dusted off her magic wand to make a whistle stop tour to Weston-super-Mare where she is appearing in the pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.

The former Emmerdale actor who appeared in the 1970s Campari television advertising campaign where she uttered her catchphrase 'Luton Airport' is starring as wicked fairy Carabosse in The Playhouse Christmas panto.

Miss Chase, who appeared in Emmerdale and I'm A Celebrity, Get me Out of Here, will be joined on stage by pop duo Same Difference who found fame on talent show The X Factor.

At the launch a funny and charismatic Miss Chase said: " Must I always look scarey - can't I smile in one of the photographs ? I'm not always this mean and evil."

She joined other stars from the screen and stage on Thursday lunchtime to launch this year's festive production.

Siblings Sean and Sarah Smith, who first came to fame when they finished third in the fourth series of the TV talent show, will be playing the Prince and the Lilac Fairy.

Comedy double act Simmons and Simmons, father and son Keith and Ben who won rave reviews when they appeared alongside John Challis in 2011's pantomime Aladdin, will be making a welcome return to the resort, starring as the calamitous King and his Chamberlain.

And Terry Gleed, who played Wishee Washee in Aladdin, will be treading the boards of The Playhouse again, taking on the role of Muddles.

The cast will be supported by talented youngsters from the Tina Counsell School of Dance and Drama.

Sleeping Beauty, presented by Paul Holman Associates, runs at The Playhouse from Thursday to Sunday, December 13-January 6.

A Playhouse spokesman said: "Evil forces are at play in this far from sleepy production of the classic fairytale as we discover what happens when a fairy is scorned and a kingdom sleeps for one hundred years.

"It's a dream of a pantomime full of X factor and will leave audiences in a spin."

To see the full range of photos by North Somerset photographer Jeremy Long click here