Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Come to the Bristol Hippodrome

This year’s family pantomime at the Bristol Hippodrome brings a fantastic cast to the stage, and some very popular special guests for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

First Family Entertainment and The Bristol Hippodrome are pleased to announce that Kim Ismay, Francesca Lara Gordon and Special Guest Star Shaun the Sheep will be joining previously announced film and television star Warwick Davis, Cbeebies presenter Andy Day and panto favourite Andy Ford in this year’s dazzling family pantomime – Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. Kim will play the Wicked Queen Morgiana and Francesca will play the beautiful Snow White with Warwick Davis as Prof, Andy Day as the loveable Muddles and Andy Ford, with his usual comedy mayhem, as Herman the Henchman.

Shaun the Sheep of course needs no introduction to his fans and will be baaaa-forming his way through the pantomime alongside this hugely talented cast.

Kim Ismay’s musical appearances have included Mamma Mia!, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Singin’ In The Rain & Saturday Night Fever whilst Francesca will be starring in her first major role since graduating from The Arts Educational School, London.

Warwick’s acting career came about purely by chance when his Grandmother heard a radio announcement calling for ‘short people’ to appear in the new Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. He played the tiny Ewok Wicket, who became one of the film’s lead creature characters and the rest is history.

Warwick’s work in film includes Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Labyrinth, Willow, cult movie Leprechaun which spawned five sequels, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace where he played no less than four roles, children’s films A Very Unlucky Leprechaun and The White Pony. More recently Warwick could be seen in Ray Charles biopic Ray, as Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and in Prince Caspian the follow up to The Chronicles of Narnia’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Warwick has appeared in many guises in all eight Harry Potter films which have become one of the most successful film series of all time. His characters include Professor Flitwick, the Goblin Bank Teller and Griphook.

In 2011 he starred in BBC comedy series Life’s Too Short, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  Warwick co-created the show which saw him playing an exaggerated version of himself alongside guest stars including Liam Neeson, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Barry from Eastenders. 2012 saw Warwick travel the globe in An Idiot Abroad 3, on Sky 1 HD with Karl Pilkington. The unlikely pair were sent by Ricky Gervais to follow in the footsteps of Marco Polo from Venice, Italy to China. In 2013 Warwick made his West End debut in Spamalot, starring as Patsy alongside his Life’s Too Short co-star Les Dennis as King Arthur. Not even Warwick’s wife knew he could sing and dance until she saw him treading the boards at the Playhouse Theatre. In 2014 he realised a dream by founding and touring with the Reduced Height Theatre Company with their first production See How They Run. This wonderfully funny and much-loved farce was enhanced by the fact that the cast are all under four foot tall. He then also went on to be the host of his first prime-time game show, Celebrity Squares, as well as starring with his family in their own travel show, Weekend Escapes with Warwick Davis, both for ITV. Finally, he rounded off the year by appearing in his first Christmas movie, Get Santa, alongside Jim Broadbent and Rafe Spall.

2015 has already seen Warwick hosting second series’ of both Celebrity Squares and Weekend Escapes, and he is set to feature in the forthcoming Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, due for release later this year. Says Warwick: “I am delighted to be appearing in Snow White at The Bristol Hippodrome this Christmas. I am looking forward to working with the theatre, the cast and crew to bring you the best panto Bristol has ever seen. It’s a ‘tall order’ but I’m determined it won’t fall ‘short’ of audience expectations! I’m looking forward to seeing you all there!”

Andy Day is very well known to families across the country for fronting his own Bafta nominated Cbeebies series Andy’s Wild Adventures, as well as the follow-up series Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures.  Andy has just completed filming a new series Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures which will be shown in 2016. When not presenting for Cbeebies Andy stars in a comedy family show Andy and Mike’s Tick Tock Time Machine.  Andy is no stranger to pantomime having appeared in several including Aladdin, Cinderella and Dick Whittington.

Andy Ford has become a firm favourite with Hippodrome audiences and critics alike and this will be his seventh consecutive panto here following his hugely popular performance as Idle Jack in Dick Wittington in 2014/2015. Andy has performed his comedy routines to Her Majesty The Queen and also topped the bill at the World Famous London Palladium. His irrepressible style and charm has seen him invited onto the UK's top chat shows and his live stand-up routine as well as his Comedy Seminars are constantly in demand.

Steve Jones, Marketing Manager, The Bristol Hippodrome commented “I’m delighted this year we have Snow White which is the perfect family panto for Christmas. Add to this the casting of Harry Potter and Star Wars fame Warwick Davis and Bristol audiences are in for a real treat. A warm West Country welcome awaits CBeebies Andy Day as Muddles in his first visit to the Hippo and the return of Bristol’s favourite ‘babber’ Andy Ford. We are all in for a great season this year! Oh yes we are.”

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a dazzling fairytale of a pantomime guaranteed to melt everyone’s hearts; watch as the beautiful Snow White and the dwarfs attempt to defeat the Wicked Queen. Will Snow White meet her handsome Prince and save the day?

Snow White will feature all the traditional pantomime ingredients: Sensational songs, sparkling costumes, a live band, dazzling dance routines, hilarious slapstick comedy and bags of audience participation, plus the magnificent sets and costumes The Bristol Hippodrome panto is famous for.