Entertainment

This Morning to put on pantomime featuring Joanna Lumley and Christopher Biggins

The performance will be broadcast on Friday.
The performance will be broadcast on Friday. The performance will be broadcast on Friday.

Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Joanna Lumley and Christopher Biggins are to star in a pantomime performance on This Morning.

The programme’s production will also feature performances from actress Sheridan Smith and musician Jon Courtenay, who won Britain’s Got Talent this year.

The performance will be broadcast on Friday on the ITV show, which is presented by Schofield and Willoughby.

WW2 bombs
WW2 bombs Joanna Lumley (Ian West/PA)

Actress Lumley, 74, said: “All of us who appear in front of the audience are painfully aware of the desperate situation of everyone who makes shows and plays happen: the chorus and crowd artists and dancers… and then backstage, choreographers and chorus masters, props and costumes and dressers, and writers… the list goes on and on.

“To be able to help them in any small way is a privilege and a pleasure; and I am thrilled that we shall be paying tribute to them in this sensational one-off pantomime.”

Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat press night – London
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat press night – London Christopher Biggins (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Actor Biggins, 71, said he is “thrilled” to be part of the performance.

“In these uncertain times, where productions are being cancelled all over, it’s good to be giving the country a pantomime that they can laugh at and find Christmas joy,” he added.

The performance aims to give people an opportunity to witness the Christmas tradition at a time when many will not be able to go to the theatre to see a pantomime, according to the makers of the programme.

This Morning’s pantomime will air on Friday from 10am.