Home And Away's Lynne McGranger loves York so much, panto baddie 'might become tour guide'

"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 and played the Wicked Queen," says Lynne.

"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," she says. "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 we became best friends."

Strictly Come Dancing finalist Debbie McGee's good fairy, Adorabella Marigold Angelpie, with Lynne McGranger's evil cousin, Wizadora Crabapple. Picture: David Harrison

So much so that 64-year-old 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 went on holiday with them this year 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 will play Wizadora Crabapple, the wicked sorceress armed with the Aussie putdowns. "I'll be putting a spell on Potty T Potts [played by Audrey Laybourne] and the children in the kitchen, who become candelabras," she says. "I'm guessing she had her nose put out of joint at some point!"

Lynne first worked with producer Chris Moreno 12 years ago, in 2005. "That's 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 me 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's Wizadora Crabapple with Blue singer Antony Costa's Prince. Picture: David Harrison

She loves the teamwork of pantomime. "We're all rowing the same boat, goodies, baddies, fairies, the dame!" says Lynne. "It's good to be part of an experienced team where you can rely on each other, so if something goes wrong, and let's be honest, it will, there'll be the professionalism there to react to it because we've all done it before, so no-one will panic – and that's the beauty of live theatre.

"As long as you include the audience in what you do, if you go wildly or mildly wrong, when you apologise for it, that's fine. In fact, I think the audience are disappointed if something doesn't go wrong."

Post-York panto, Lynne will return once more to her soap-opera day job as Irene Roberts. "It's 25 years now that I've been in Home And Away; I'm the longest-running female character in Australian soap history. I feel very old....no I don't." she corrects herself. "I feel very honoured. If someone had said to me I'd still be doing it after 25 years and reaping the benefit, like coming to the UK to do panto, I couldn't have imagined it.

"I love what I do, and if you can do what you love, then wonderful. I sometimes can't believe it! Those times when you think, I don't know why, but it seems to work and people are buying into it."

Assessing why Irene Roberts is the gift of a role that keeps giving, Lynne says: "She's a nasty, mean drunk, not a nice drunk, who's fallen off the wagon a couple of times and calls a spade a 'front-end loader'.

"Full credit for the writers who've come up with a story to explain how she's been behaving all these years. It turns out she was abused by an uncle at 14 and was forced to give up a child who was the result of the rape, and that's a storyline that's only recently come out, but she's had to live with it for so long."

Meanwhile, the wicked fairy Enchantra will be casting her spell in York from tomorrow.

Three Bears Productions presents Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York, from tomorrow to January 7. Box office: 0844 854 2757 or at atgtickets.com/york