PANTO legend Berwick Kaler has told how he is fighting back to health from major heart surgery as he prepares for his next show at York Theatre Royal.

Britain’s longest serving pantomime dame says he is recovering well following a double heart bypass operation in July, when he received “absolutely brilliant” care from NHS doctors and nurses.

He said he was looking forward to his 39th pantomime in December - even though he is still working on the script after delays caused by the surgery and lengthy recuperation.

However, he hinted that he might finally look to retire after his 40th panto next year, which he wants to be a “celebration”.

The 70-year-old from Acomb said he would like at some stage to retire and relax, and said: “There’s something inside of me that says I’m not going to go on that stage on a zimmer frame and I am not going to go for the sympathy - you know: 'Oh, he’s losing it a bit.'”

Berwick said doctors had decided to operate after he had had to be fitted with a pacemaker last year, following the diagnosis of a complete heart block.

The Press reported last year how he had mentioned he was suffering from dizziness and lethargy to a nurse during a routine appointment. She told him to see a doctor, who then sent him to York Hospital for the life-saving emergency surgery.

He said yesterday that the bypass operation, which took place at Castle Hill Hospital near Hull, had lasted almost four hours and involved removing a section of vein from his leg and ‘cracking’ through the ribs in the front of his chest to install it there to bypass the heart, which had to be stopped for four hours. “The most dangerous bit was when it came to re-starting the heart.”

He said he was in hospital for five days and laid low physically for six weeks, and the full standard recovery from such surgery was six months - which took him right into the panto season.

He assured fans that the show - Jack and the Beanstalk this year - would go on, although he would have to give himself a less active role. There would also be humour in the show relating to his operations and fellow panto star Martin Barrass’ motorcycle crash last year, from which Martin has now fully recovered, allowing him to return to this year’s panto.

“It’s going to be trial and error,” said Berwick. “I’m not going to be jumping through any windows. At 71, I think those days are over, aren’t they?”

He said his experiences over the last couple of years had totally ‘blown me away’ and he had dealt with them with humour. “All my life I have got through things with humour.

“I will get the humour from what I experienced and if you can imagine Martin Barrass and me next to each other, vying for: “Who died first? I nearly died first and then you, three weeks later, had to buy a blooming motorbike and go in an air ambulance!”