WHY are evil spirits and ghosts such good friends? Because demons are a ghoul's best friend. Ooh!

There's plenty more punning jokes like that, spouting from the crooked mouth of Harrogate Theatre's dimple-cheeky silly billy, Tim Stedman.

Stedman collects jokes like a squirrel hordes nuts, and he can't wait to crack them at every stage entry. He is playing Wishee Washee this year - "Watcha Wishee Washee!," shout the children - as part of the pantomime double act with dame Alan McMahon that Harrogate cherishes as much as York loves the Kaler & Barrass combination.

The helium-voiced Stedman, with his strawberry-sized freckles, labrador-puppy enthusiasm and innate sense of fun, is the counter to the Scot McMahon's almost scolding, mock-superior tone. McMahon is gangling, long and lean of limb and nose, with comical ears to rival an elephant and big white boots that Rod Stewart might wear on a particularly bad fashion day.

For his sixth Harrogate panto, he appears to have sprouted a large posterior - bringing a new meaning to "It's behind you" - that allows him to carry off his ever more outrageous costumes and millinery. A big burst of applause must go to designer Keith Baker for McMahon's shocking pink PVC dress with panda motif and panda headgear; the laundry dress with clothes baskets for pockets; and the walk-down number, a full-length dress in red and gold in the shape of Chinese lanterns. More than ever, McMahon's couture is a show in itself.

Nicholas Pegg's script is a little slow to warm up; indeed there is one particularly long scene of exposition between Rebecca Stokes's game Aladdin and Wishee Washee before McMahon's grand entry in Union Jack regalia with matching stockings. His staccato delivery and short, sharp bursts of dry wit, picks up the pace, and Pegg's dialogue starts to fizz as it usually does.

McMahon's Widow Twankey has a running gag about her latest visit to the doctor, but the dame is in fine health once more, not least in the laundry slapstick scene.

Laura Strachan's demure Princess So-Shy, Christian Newton's grave Genie and Phil Corbitt's villainous Abanazar all add to the second-half drama, with Corbitt breathing new panto life into Michael Jackson's Thriller. Harrogate's traditional chase scene with ladders and the Benny Hill theme is as mad as ever, and watch out for Pandora the panda and Aladdin's carpet ride in a newly-extended ultraviolet scene.

Lennox Greaves's hard-working cast finishes with a reprise of Walking On Sunshine, and you will be after this most savoury Chinese dish.

Box office: 01423 502116

Updated: 12:03 Friday, December 05, 2003