Aladdin announced as family pantomime at York Theatre Royal

CBeebies favourite and CBBC presenter Evie Pickerill leads the cast of Aladdin, this year's  family pantomime at York Theatre Royal.

Evie – who will play the Spirit of the Ring - joins Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard, reunited as the Dame and the Baddy, in the York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions production of Aladdin from December 3 to January 5.

Evie Pickerill in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal (Image: Ant Robling)

Aladdin comes from the same team of writers - Paul Hendy and director Juliet Forster - who were behind previous York pantomimes such as Cinderella, All New Adventures of Peter Pan, and last year’s Jack and the Beanstalk.

Evie is one of the main presenters on children’s television channel CBeebies. She also regularly hosts on CBBC and has guest starred on Blue Peter.

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She has been hosting CBeebies since 2018 and has also performed leading roles in the channel's Christmas and Shakespeare productions. Aladdin director Juliet Forster previously directed Evie as Juliet in a CBBC Shakespeare production.

Emily Tang in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal (Image: Ant Robling)

Robin Simpson returns as Dame Dolly after main stage pantomime appearances as Ugly Sister Manky in Cinderella, Mrs Smee in All New Adventures of Peter Pan and Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk. He also played Dame in the theatre’s Travelling Pantomime which toured to city venues.

Paul Hawkyard follows his villainous Captain Hook with the equally villainous Abanazar in Aladdin.

Sario Solomon, who plays Aladdin, was one of the winners of the BBC reality TV competition Let It Shine, which aimed to find five young men to play the boy band Five to Five in a new touring stage show called The Band, featuring the songs of Take That. He is currently on tour playing Donny in the musical Grease.

The cast also features Emily Tang as Princess Jasmine and Tommy Carmichael as Charlie.