Sophie CridlandSouth of England
BBCA larger than life wig, more make up than you feel comfortable in and a big frilly dress are what makes a traditional pantomime dame.
The comedic character is traditionally a male in drag and the late actor, John Inman, played the dame many times.
Some of the Are You Being Served? TV legend’s costumes have been handed down to the resident pantomime dame at Weymouth Pavilion in Dorset.
Jamie Riding said: “There’s about 20 in total with all the different wigs and accessories and I’m very very lucky that I’m going to be preserving John’s history and heritage.”
Inman is best known for playing Mr Humphries in the long-running BBC sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. He died in 2007 at 71 years old.
Mr Riding said that some of Inman’s costumes he keeps in storage to preserve them but others do make their way to the stage.
Getty ImagesSpeaking of wigs and accessories, while wearing one of Inman’s pantomime dame costumes, Mr Riding explained that the late actor designed his own outfits.
“Some of the costumes he actually made himself as well because he was very, very creative,” he said.
“There’s a story that I’ve heard about John from several people that he often could be seen in his dressing room sewing something onto a costume.
“Or seeing him making a pair of trousers for himself because he was a very good seamstress as well.”
This year, Mr Riding is playing Dame Daisy Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk.
He said festive theatre is something Inman always enjoyed and would have wanted his costumes to live on: “The most important thing is what John wanted them to be and that was to carry on having the panto magic, because that’s what he was all about.
“He wanted audiences to enjoy pantomime and I’m very much the same about that.
“A pantomime is a child’s first time ever stepping foot in a theatre and if you catch them at a young age to have them for life as an audience goer, it’s absolutely magic.”
Mr Riding first starred as a dame in the school gala at the of 14 when he volunteered to play the part.
“Then that following Christmas, two years after that, I saw a pantomime at the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne,” he said.
“I went up to the producer and I said ‘next Christmas you’re going to have me in your show’. And he did.”
Jack and the Beanstalk runs until 3 January at Weymouth Pavilion.
