One of Swindon's most enduring festive fixtures is David Ashley performing on the Wyvern Theatre stage for the pantomime, and the endearing dame is back again for a whopping eighth performance. 

David will be treading the all-too-familiar boards yet again, this time as both the dame and the show's co-director, after making his first appearance at Swindon's theatre as a humble villager in 1986's Jack and the Beanstalk.

Since then he starred in a run of six shows from 2011 to 2017, which included Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Whittington, Show White, and two Cinderallas, alongside the likes of Nigel Havers, Keith Chegwin, Adam Woodyatt, and Adam Thomas.

He will be joining The Chase and I'm a Celeb star Anne Hegerty and Britain's Got Talent finalist impressionist Paul Burling for this year's show - Beauty and the Beast - his eighth and one that, incredibly, he hasn't done before.

And, speaking to the Adver, the local larger-than-life character who trained at Swindon's Tanwood School of Performing Arts explained that he was thrilled to be back 'home'.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me, I really am grateful for the opportunity to be back, It sounds really soppy to say but I wouldn't be here today without the Wyvern Theatre."

"This changed everything for me. It just has my heart, the staff, I honestly love it here. There was a moment just now where I was looking around and it's such a cliche but it feels like I'm home."

Swindon Advertiser: David Ashley as Dame Fifi for this year's Swindon pantoDavid Ashley as Dame Fifi for this year's Swindon panto (Image: Wyvern Theatre)

He added that a big part of why he loves coming back was the people of Swindon

"For me, panto is two things, the first thing is the environment that it's in, and I've been very lucky in my career to work in some extraordinary environments like this one where it's celebrated, but everybody gets involved and everybody gets excited about it.

"Secondly it's the audiences, Swindon audiences are... I remember working with Keith Chegwin a long time ago and he said 'I've never known audiences like it' and I said 'they're ace aren't they.'"

On top of his love for performing for Swindon audiences, David also spoke about why he loves a panto dame so much.

"She's back! I like to say that she is the heart of the piece. All of the dames that I've been lucky enough to play all have their very different roles, but they're all poor, they're all trying to find their way and they're all fundamentally good."

Beauty and the Beast runs until January 2, 2003. For tickets visit: https://swindontheatres.co.uk/Online/panto-swindon-pantomime