'Playing a dame in panto is part of my DNA'

Paul Gibson splits his time between working in pantomime and television as a director

A television director has said he wants to bring back "warm and sparkly" shows for the whole family to enjoy, ahead of taking on the role of a dame in a pantomime.

Paul Gibson, 55, from Bedworth, Warwickshire, has spent years building an impressive television career and working on iconic shows, including Shakespeare and Hathaway, Midsomer Murders and Father Brown.

But he said his heart lies in pantomime after falling in love with it when he first performed at Bedworth Civic Hall at the age of 17.

Now a creative director at the performing arts theatre on the town's high street, he is taking to the stage as Widow Twankey in this year's production of Aladdin in December.

"Preparations are steaming ahead as we open in five weeks, and we've been rehearsing for about six weeks," he said.

"There's a bit of final polishing to do, but it is an amazing show that we've got lined up this year."

Mr Gibson said being in pantomimes is "part of his DNA"

Having performed in various pantomimes around Coventry and Bedworth over the last 30 years, Mr Gibson said he learned where his passion came from a few years after he first performed as a dame.

"I did my first dame at 25, and three or four years later my uncle came to see me and said to my dad that 'it was like watching our old man'.

"My grandfather was a club comic and used to work at all the clubs in Coventry, and it turned out he used to [be a] panto dame as well, so I finally learned this about my grandad who I had never met," he said.

He added he was thrilled to understand where his passion came from.

"I just fell in love with [panto] as a teenager and it just felt like something I had to do, like it was part of my DNA," he said.

Mr Gibson added he wanted to put the pantomime on at the "amazing" venue to honour the fact it was saved by volunteers last year and run entirely by them.

He said he enjoys performing in shows ahead of Christmas as the theatre is "warm, it's sparkly, it's amazing, and you put on this show that's for the whole family".

"We don't have many of those kinds of shows anymore, or Sunday night television where the whole family can sit round and watch, be told stories as a family," he said.

"That is what panto does, it caters to everyone and there's something for the whole family to enjoy."