PANTOMIME season is well and truly upon us and this year’s offering from Bath’s Theatre Royal is its best for years.

Starring television actor Nigel Havers, CBeebies cook Katy Ashworth and West Country presenter and Bath panto veteran Jon Monie, Jack and the Beanstalk is packed with pop dance numbers, dazzling costumes and hilarious one-liners.

David Barrett is the dashing young Jack who must sell the loveliest panto cow Daisy to save his mum Dame Trott (Nick Wilton) from financial ruin. As the story goes, of course, instead of a bag of gold he comes home with some ‘useless’ old beans only to throw them out the window and discover the next morning they have grown into a gravity-defying beanstalk.

A tale of heroics, as Jack battles an Englishman-eating giant to save his princess Jill (Sarah Louise Day), ensues as the rescuer and his unlikely sidekicks scale the inflatable beanstalk and find themselves embroiled in ghoul-hunting comic capers.

Nigel Havers is a brilliant understated baddie, playing Fleshcreep the giant’s earthly assistant with just a hint of cackling but unrestrained sarcasm and cutting quips including the best line of the show ‘it’s not your picture on the poster, is it?’ to the lead Jack. With several references to his Thespian credentials, the Chariots of Fire actor is clearly enjoying his panto stint as he struggles to get his lines out through the laughter on numerous occasions.

Our glittering forest fairy Katy Ashworth draws on her CBeebies background to engage with the younger audience members, even singing the aptly-named song I Can Cook for those in any doubt of the show she presents. Jon Monie is once again a star of the show, showing his versatility as an actor, comedian and even a dancer.

This year’s production also features talented troupes of dancers from the Dorothy Coleborn School, ambitious sets and a fearsome walking giant from the Theatre Royal and some wonderfully British displays of eccentric humour, terrible jokes and dreadful but fun puns.

It all comes together for an entertaining two-hours which will leave you with a sore throat from shouting, booing and cheering and a smile all over your face.

Jack and the Beanstalk is on at the Theatre Royal, Bath until January 10.