The great thing about London is the little pockets of culture, like Hackney, which has its panto and its great community. Of course there's also the West End with its brilliant theatres and thriving tourism but to also have areas like Hackney which are so community based but not exclusive, that remind you that those surrounding you are the most important, is what makes London what it is.

Everyone has their own taste: some like theatre, some don't, some like opera, some don't, some like pantomimes, and some don't.

You wouldn't get rid of the Mona Lisa just because someone painted another picture of a woman smiling.

The idea with theatre is to come to an environment that you enjoy.

People love the traditional pantomimes and I don't think we need to disregard that tradition.

I love London. I know it's an old saying but there's always something to do, so much so that when you live here you end up not actually doing much!

There is of course a dark side to panto because there are always baddies and you can't have a baddie without a dark side. But most of the time the baddies become good.