I feel lucky this year because Basingstoke, where I am panto-ing, is altogether more Christmas-friendly for me than past years, and I will be home early enough to join in the Christmas Eve festivities that have apparently evolved due to the enthusiasm of my daughters during years of enforced absence. In fact, the schedule this year is the friendliest I have had for years, as the evening shows are all at 6pm. Clearly, Basingstoke folk are not keen on being out late, any more than I am.

This year is my 33rd pantomime. When I set out to be an actor, I did not see panto as playing such a part in my career.

How much I would have missed over the last four decades had I not been offered the role of Dick Whittington in Cork in 1979.

It was a sharp learning curve. Because I was in a popular TV series, The Brothers, the theatre thought I would be a draw, so imported this novice. I had to learn fast, as the comic who played the dame had a Cork accent so strong I could understand only his every fifth word. He took the unmerciful mickey out of me for two months to the delight of the audience.

As the eponymous hero, it was not appropriate for me try to take on this master of comedy on his own patch, nor would I have had much luck had I tried to. But I learned a lot about the role and importance of each character in a traditional pantomime.

The story has to be told in a way that children can believe. They must identify with the plight of the hero and heroine and they must have every reason to hate the baddie. If you ask any young girl whom she liked best in a panto, she will almost, without fail, name the fairy or the princess. They need to identify and care. Boys are different – they tend to favour the silly Billy characters – and the would-be tougher boys will name the villain. And even though adults love the comedy of the dame and the comedians, we must remember that panto is for families and particularly for children.

If what may well be their first experience of theatre is something that excites and delights them, they may in later years revisit theatres to sample some of the other wonderful things that live theatre can offer.