All across the Pantosphere, there are little whiffs of change in the air: new voices are chipping in with fresh thoughts on the old, familiar panto plots and there's even a tendency to subvert the genre itself.
However, this Mother Goose, with the regular team of Allan Stewart, Andy Gray and Grant Stott at its centre, is still firmly rooted in the traditions that have grown up around the King's big family shows.
As expected, Grant Stott rolls out the villainous cackles: this year he's Demon Vanity in a peroxide wig and camp pink satin, speaking in excruciating rhymes with a call sign – "Aren't I adorable?" – to trigger the boos.
Gray and Stewart continue the running gag: Stewart's the Dame, Gray's the numpty who's smitten. Their spats deliver rapid patter with punning wordplay and hissy fits (the Dame's) because he – a tartan-clad 'Elvis' McSporran – keeps making amorous overtures in-between doleful claims of "Ah'm no w-e-e-e-ll..."
It's a double act welcomed by loyal audiences and newcomers, and when there are topical side-swipes and local references, such as Edinburgh's trams, the comedy ticks the right boxes.
This continuity, where's there's a guarantee of entertaining performances, is a strength and yet it teeters on the verge of a weakness. A samey-ness is creeping in, and no amount of Gangnam Style or a posh-tottie Fairy can, like a Magic Pool, turn a wrinkly old dear into a gorgeous stoatir.
HHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article