YORK'S favourite panto dame's silver jubilee show has already provoked a ticket frenzy - even though the performance is still more than seven months away.

York Theatre Royal revealed that Berwick Kaler's 25th anniversary pantomime, Mother Goose's Silver Jubilee, had smashed previous ticket sale records, selling an amazing 3,000 tickets in the first weekend of going on sale - the equivalent of almost four performances being sold out.

Theatre chief executive Ludo Keston said: "We opened booking three months earlier than last year as we expected to see some increase in the demand for tickets due to this being Berwick's 25th anniversary pantomime."

Mother Goose's Silver Jubilee runs from December 10 2003 to 31 January 31 2004.

The box office can be contacted on 01904 623568.

Updated: 11:07 Wednesday, April 30, 2003