THE cast of York Theatre Royal's annual panto wished our readers a merry Christmas - before a Covid outbreak forced the cancellation of the show for the next week.

A theatre spokeswoman,speaking before yesterday's announcement that Cinderella was off until December 30, said the show had been a great success, with 'fantastic audience feedback and great reviews.'

She said: "We have loved hearing the enthusiastic reactions particularly from lots of schools and from young families coming to the pantomime for the first time and absolutely loving it."

She said the spread of the Omicron variant meant some people had been cautious about going out and this had obviously affected ticket sales this year.

She said people had told how glad they were to have come and said what a tonic the pantomime had been during difficult times.