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FROM Emmerdale, Coronation Street and the West End comes Bill Ward who’ll be leading the cast for Derby Arena panto Peter Pan as the dastardly Captain Hook.
Tinker Bell will be played by Katrina Bryan from CBeebies’ Nina And The Neurons and Molly & Mack.
Ward, who has been working in TV, film and theatre for two decades, says: “Hook is one of those iconic parts for an actor and I’m really looking forward to playing him. I properly love panto and am very much up for the challenge of getting an entire arena to boo me!
I’m also looking forward to spending Christmas in Derby and having a good look round the city.”
He’s best known for his roles in Coronation Street as Charlie Stubbs and Emmerdale as James Barton, in which he appeared for over 700 episodes, and for which he won numerous awards.
His latest role is in the hit musical Everybodys Talking About Jamie in the West End where he’s also appeared in Spice Girls musical Viva Forever, Million Dollar Quartet and Spamalot.
His other TV credits include Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat, Jonathan Creek, Footballers’ Wives and In Deep.
Katrina Bryan played Nina in the awardwinning Nina And The Neurons a kids’ show now screened across the world. Her current role is as Alice in CBeebies drama, Molly & Mack.
She says: “”I’ve always loved panto ever since I left drama school. Peter Pan is one of my favourites and I’m very much looking forward to bringing the special mischief that is Tinker Bell to a venue as spectacular as the Arena.
“I love working with children and the comedy side of things too and you can’t beat panto for that.“