ONLY Fools and Horses star Sue Holderness and Katrina Bryan from CBeebies will be appearing in this year’s The Gazette-sponsored pantomime at The Anvil, Sleeping Beauty.

Holderness will play the role of Carabosse, the Bad Fairy. She is best known as Marlene Boyce in one of the nation’s favourite sitcoms, Only Fools and Horses, which she played from 1984 until the final episode in 2003.

She went on to co-star with on-screen husband John Challis in the spin-off The Green Green Grass.

Bryan will play the part of Princess Briar Rose, Sleeping Beauty. She is known to children as Nina in the hit CBeebies series Nina and the Neurons. She has also appeared as pathologist Ellis Sinclair in Taggart as well as in Fried and Rab C Nesbitt.

At the christening of the king and queen’s long-wished-for baby, seven good fairies are invited to be godmothers to the Princess.

However, the evil Carabosse is left off the list, so she curses the baby: Princess Briar Rose will prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die.

The Good Fairy tries to reverse the curse and manages to change it the enchantment so that she falls asleep for 100 years – to be awakened by a kiss from a prince.

Featuring traditional pantomime ingredients for the whole family, Sleeping Beauty’s glittering costumes, sensational songs and dazzling dance routines are guaranteed to keep you awake.

Tickets: £26, £25, £21, £19; Over 65s £2 off, under 16s and f/t students £3 off (all ticket prices include £2 booking fee). Family ticket, schools and group rates available.

Tickets are on sale now for Sleeping Beauty, which runs from December 8 to January 2, 2017. Call the Anvil Arts box office on 01256 844244 or visit anvilarts.org.uk.

There is a relaxed performance on Wednesday December 21 at 2pm. This is a specially adapted performance for those on the autistic spectrum and with other disabilities.