STYLE GURU Gok Wan and comedy legend and Strictly star Brian Conley have been named as the stars of this year’s panto at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Bristol audiences shall go to the ball this Christmas as Cinderella transforms from rags to riches, outwits her very Ugly Sisters, and with the help of her hilarious friend Buttons and one very magical Fairy Godmother, wins the heart of the dashing Prince Charming.

In a career spanning three decades, Brian, who will appear as Buttons, has performed in award-winning West End musicals and television sitcoms, presented his own chat shows, recorded three albums and completed numerous sell-out tours of the UK.

Most recently he was a contestant on the 15th series of BBC 1’s Strictly Come Dancing, coupled with pro-dancer Amy Dowden, surviving four eliminations from the show by wowing the nation with his endearing dance routines and loveable personality. 

On stage he has starred as Edna Turnblad in the hit West End musical Hairspray and the title role in the UK tour of Barnum, previously at The Bristol Hippodrome.

Brian has completed a nationwide tour of Brother Love, celebrating the music of Neil Diamond, directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood, starred in the nationwide tour of Oliver! playing Fagin, played the title role in Jolson, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award, and had leading roles in Me and My Girl, The Music Man and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Gok Wan, meanwhile, will play The Fairy Gokmother, offering helpful style tips to The Ugly Sisters and creating the most magical ball gown in panto-land for Cinderella.

The show marks Gok’s sixth pantomime appearance, the first of which was the subject of the Channel 4 documentary Gok Does Panto. Cinderella marks Gok and Brian’s fourth pantomime together.

Gok’s TV career started with the overwhelming success of his Channel 4 series, How To Look Good Naked, which proved so successful that a further six series were filmed, as well as three series of Gok’s Fashion Fix. Gok’s other recent TV credits include How To Cook Chinese, Gok’s Style Secrets, Gok Live Stripping For Summer, Too Fat Too Young and Gok’s Teen’s The Naked Truth. Gok is a regular guest presenter on ITV1’s This Morning and hosted ITV1’s Gok’s Lunchbox.

Theatre Director Jenny Hutchinson said: “This is incredible news for us coming at a time when The Bristol Hippodrome is breaking box office records and our customers are already planning their panto excursions.

“Having Brian and Gok starring in Cinderella this year will delight Bristol audiences. Off the back of a great run last year with Aladdin, with many customers saying it was the best panto they’d ever seen, I’m thrilled QDOS Entertainment have raised the bar even higher!”

Cinderella will run at the Bristol Hippodrome from Saturday, December 9 to Sunday, January 6.

Tickets cost from £12. For more information visit www.atgticktes.com/bristol.