Many will know Anne Hegerty as the imposing and formidable Governess on The Chase, but she'll be inhabiting a rather different role when she takes to the Swindon stage for this year's panto.
The television quiz show and I'm a Celeb star has said that her role on the hit show alongside Bradley Walsh has helped prepare her for pantomime, and this year she'll be playing Fairy Flutterby in this year's Beauty and the Beast at the Wyvern Theatre.
Speaking to the Adver ahead of this year's festive performances kicking off, Anne said her job at The Chase was 'the best job in the world.'
"I trained to be a journalist for about 10 years and then moved into academic proofreading and did that for about 20 years, and then somehow stumbled into the best job in the world," she said.
"It's the best I've ever had certainly, it just really suits me, and the fact that there are other chasers besides me means that I've got mates, I've got someone I can natter to if anything is annoying me."
She added: "I don't know how Brad has the stamina to do what he does, but I absolutely love doing The Chase, and I love doing panto as well."
When asked about people who may have reservations about a quiz master on The Chase stepping into the world of Panto, Anne referred to the fact that the Governess is a character she plays.
"The character of the Governess is not quite who I am, I can channel her if I need to but she's a little bit based on my grandmother and a little bit based on one of my aunts."
Anne's first panto was in 2014 and she revealed that she got that job after finally setting up a Twitter account to stop people from impersonating her on the social media app and being contacted by a theatre producer, but added that her first show did not go well.
"I did panto, I was really fairly terrible the first time, I was technically bad, I used to miss cues, so I stumbled through it and then got offered more and I've been doing it ever since.
"I enjoy doing the panto, it's a chance to act and a chance to sing, a chance to act, a chance to be funny more than one gets in The Chase. This year I'm Fairy Flutterby, I'm not strictly a villain, I do turn the Beast into the Beast but I was only doing it to teach him a lesson."
Beauty and the Beast runs from December 3 to January 2, 2023. For tickets visit: https://swindontheatres.co.uk/Online/panto-swindon-pantomime
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