HOME And Away soap star Lynne McGranger will be away from home once more this Christmas, back in York for the pantomime season for Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House.

"I think it was six years ago [it was in fact 2009-2010] that I was last in the panto, when I did Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, where I played the Wicked Queen," says Lynne at the press launch held last Thursday at The Principal hotel.

"This will be my fourth time here and I love it! I'm so excited about coming back because I've heard such wonderful things about last year's show [the first by Three Bears Productions], which means I'll be working with a new producer here, in my favourite city."

Lynne, who plays the longest-running female role in Australian soap history as Irene Roberts in Home And Away, first left behind sunny Sydney to appear in a Grand Opera House pantomime as Fairy Peapod in Jack And The Beanstalk in 1999. She turned villainous for the first time as Witch Blackweed in Jack And The Beanstalk in 2003 and returned again in the aforementioned Snow White, but not only pantomime brings Lynne to York.

"It has to be 20-odd years ago when I first came to York. I'd done panto in Ashton-under-Lyne for producer Simon Barry, and Simon said, 'if you do Ashton, I'll have you in the York panto next year'. Anyway, James Crossley [Hunter, the Gladiator, from York] arranged for me to stay at the Judge's Lodging, which was owned by his best mate's parents, Maureen and Philip Brown, and they became our best friends."

So much so that Lynne visits the now-retired couple whenever she is in Britain, comes to York immediately after each panto season, wherever she has appeared, or celebrates Christmas with them if she is in the Grand Opera House pantomime or one nearby. "I've just been on holiday with them to Edinburgh, the Isle of Skye and Inverness, which was divine," she says.

Her love of York knows no bounds. "What's not to love about York?" she asks. "The history, the buildings, the place means so much to me, so I come back here at least once a year. It's like a second home to me, and if ever I stopped getting roles in pantomime, I'd become a tour guide here as I know the city so well."

Lynne, who is 64, will play Enchantra, the wicked fairy, in a role that has undergone a name change from the initially announced Wizadora Crabtree in producer Chris Moreno's script. "I first worked with Chris 12 years ago, in 2005, when I did his Theatre Royal pantomime in Lincoln, but I've worked for other panto companies since then until now," she says.

"What happened this time was I was down to do another panto elsewhere but, for one reason or another, it didn't come off, and I happen to be friends with [choreographer and dance captain] Emily Taylor on Facebook. She told me they were doing Beauty And The Beast at York and my agent shot off an email to Chris.

"He replied, asking if I wanted to play goody or baddie? 'Baddie, of course!', I said, and it was all done and dusted in a week, which is fabulous, as I'm such a lover of York and have so many memories of the city. To be in a production with new people, but still to be at this York theatre, will be wonderful."

Lynne McGranger will appear in Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, from December 15 to January 7. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york