Lisa George and Steve Royle head the company of Jack and the Beanstalk, Blackpool Grand Theatre’s pantomime this Christmas, which runs from 4 December 2026 to 3 January 2027 and brings the story back to the Grand for the first time in more than 20 years.
Lisa George, familiar to television viewers as Beth Tinker in Coronation Street, takes the role of the Spirit of the Beans in Jack and the Beanstalk at Blackpool Grand Theatre. The pantomime is presented by Martin Dodd for UK Productions Ltd in association with the theatre, and opens on 4 December 2026 for a season ending on 3 January 2027.
Alongside George is Steve Royle as Silly Simon. A Blackpool pantomime regular, Royle reached the final of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent and was named Best Comic at the UK Pantomime Awards in 2025.
Ben Harlow, whose stage credits include Legally Blonde and Mamma Mia!, returns to the Grand as Dame Trott, having played Widow Twankey in Aladdin there. Shaun Dalton, who covered Javert in the West End production of Les Misérables, is the villainous Fleshcreep; it is 19 years since Dalton’s last Blackpool pantomime, Sleeping Beauty in 2007.
Ruth Betteridge plays Jill Pickle, back at the Grand for the first time in eight years after an earlier turn there as Wendy in Peter Pan. The part is a familiar one: Betteridge won Best Secondary Lead at the 2026 Pantomime Awards for playing Jill in Jack and the Beanstalk at Malvern Theatres. Louis Hearsey, who played JD on the UK tour of Heathers: The Musical, completes the principals as Jack Trott.
Directing is Kylie Butler, nominated for Best Direction at the UK Pantomime Awards for the Grand’s Cinderella. Young performers from Blackpool’s Barbara Jackson Theatre Arts Centre, part of the theatre’s pantomime since 1999, appear in the larger musical numbers, and the staging adds immersive 3D sequences that carry the action out into the auditorium.
Martin Dodd, producer for UK Productions Ltd, said: “The best pantomime moments happen in the auditorium as much as on the stage. You hear children calling out to Jack, parents laughing with them and whole families reacting together when something magical happens. This year, the 3D element is going to magnify this all the more, with the audience quite literally stepping into the heart of the action!”
Andrew Howard, Head of Audiences, Marketing and Sales at Blackpool Grand Theatre, added: “Panto gives families time together in the build-up to Christmas, when life is busy and those shared moments can be hard to come by.”
The theatre’s Magic and Sparkle campaign also lets audiences pay for seats for families who could not otherwise afford a pantomime trip; donations are taken on 01253 290190.
Tickets start at £18. The press performance is at 2pm on Sunday 6 December 2026; audio-described and signed performances are on 13 December 2026 at 7pm and Sunday 27 December 2026 at 1pm, at standard prices, and a relaxed performance follows at 5pm on Sunday 27 December 2026, with all tickets £28.
