Panto! is a 2012 one-off 90 minute  Christmas special which aired on on Thursday 27 December 2012. This fictional special centres on Lewis Loud, a local Morecambe radio DJ his stage debut of Dick Whittingotn at the Grand Theatre Lancaster where he is playing Jack the Lad.  

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Cast:

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                                       John Bishop as Lewis Loud

                                        and

                                        Sheridan Smith as Tasmon Taylor

                                        with

                                        Samanatha Spiro as Di Jenkins

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also starring Michael Cochrane, Chesney Hawkes, Mark Benton, Daniel Bishop, Ami Metcalfe, Kaye Wragg, Kenneth Cranham and Lisa Jackson.

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Lewis Loud is doing his early morning radio show at Morecambe FM with his less than impressed producer Deborah at his side. After the show, Lewis heads to rehearsals for his first ever pantomime Dick Whittington where a romance between him and Dick, Tamsin has been blossoming. Tamsin is also known as 'Mad Mindy, The Axe Murderer' from the nation's favourite soap. A full dress-rehearsal has been called for the show by Producer Di as tensions begin to build. Di's nervous daughter Chantelle stars as the obvious miscast love interest of Dick while Director Francis tries hard to pull the show together while Di keeps interfering with his decisions. Johnny Darby  a famous Channel 5 star goes into drag while accident prone Chesney Hawkes tries to make the show. While all this is happening, Lewis' son Paul is dropped off with him while Lewis' ex-wife Gina and her new boyfriend Tony go on an exotic holiday that they won by creating a jingle for a toilet company. Tamsin however gets offered by her agent Jerry  to go on Celebrity Sleigh Ride, a new reality show which sees celebrities battling to the North Pole with a vote-off day to day. Tamsin takes the offer with her agent also offering Lewis to go but he declines to face his responsibility with Paul. The cast is then reformed to match the show with Paul playing the cat and Greg Chip the original cat playing Dick. Gina dumps Tony to be on her own after coming back from the airport after their flights were cancelled as the toilet company went bust. At the end, Lewis plays football with Paul after the show was a success.

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