NO sooner has the return of Dallas started on Channel 5 than new developments with the filming of the revived American television show have forced Charlene Tilton to pull out of the Grand Opera House pantomime in York.

Charlene, who plays Lucy Ewing in the Texan oil dynasty soap opera, had been the poster girl for New Pantomime Productions’ production of Sleeping Beauty.

Taking her place will be former Emmerdale soap star Deena Payne, who will play the evil fairy Carabosse alongside veteran comedian Syd Little’s King Egbert The Umpteenth.

Deena starred as Viv Hope in the Yorkshire farming soap from 1993 to 2011, becoming one of Emmerdale’s longest-serving characters.

Sleeping Beauty will run from December 14 to January 6.