'I've never been in panto in Chesterfield before' says telly's A Touch of Frost star who has been working as an actor for 60+ years
"I really think this will be my last panto,” said John Lyons. “Two shows a day, three on Christmas Eve - it's hard work if you're a young man, let alone my age.
"I'm 82 and because of that, I'm always the oldest in the company and always working with young people. It's good for my brain - it keeps my young."
Best known as David Jason’s sidekick in telly's A Touch of Frost, evergreen actor John is cast as King Crumble in Jack and the Beanstalk which opens at the Winding Wheel Theatre on December 5.
John said: “I've never been in panto in Chesterfield before but I have played the Pomegranate in at least five or six straight plays with Rumpus and Tabs theatre companies.
"This is probably my 35th panto and my third Jack and the Beanstalk. Panto is lovely. For a straight actor it really is the only time that an actor gets the chance to do things that you don't normally do like dancing, singing, taking part in sketches.
"The other thing I like about panto is the communication with the audience. The audience in a panto is 50% of the show - you get a reaction on most things they shout out, they call back. You certainly don't get it, and don't want it, in a straight show but in panto it's great fun."
John has been an actor since he was 17 years old. He went to East 15 drama school for two years, finishing on a Friday night in 1963 and starting his first professional job filming Catch Hand for the BBC the following Monday. "I'm glad to say that I've been working ever since,” he said. “I have been working consistently for 62 years so I must call it a day.
"The other thing I do, and I will carry on doing this, is P&O cruise ships. I like to talk a lot and I'm what's known as a guest speaker. I talk about my life, how I became an actor, how I met my wife Ann in a pub when I was 15 and she was 16... this year was our 60th anniversary.
"So far over the years I've done 47 cruises all over the world. I give three different talks - 45 minutes a time. They look after my wife and I nicely, give us a cabin with a balcony."
John has seen big changes in his profession throughout the decades. He said: "If I flick back to when I became a professional actor, there was a lot of work around. We used to do a lot of TV dramas, things like Z Cars, Upstairs Downstairs, The Sweeney. Then I used to do half-hour comedies such as On The Buses, George and Mildred.
"Now there are very few TV shows being made, it's mostly reality shows.
"In my earlier years a lot of theatre tours were going out with big casts. Nowadays, if touring companies go out they have to find plays with maybe three or four characters with one set just to keep the costs down.
"I would imagine that with AI, there's going to be even less work. People tell me they can take a voice, they can take photos of you from different angles, they can use your image.
"There are so many drama schools in this country and every three years they turn out hundreds of men, women, boys and girls going into the profession and there's no work for them.
"When I was at drama school in a class of 15, only three of us went on to work...the others used what they learned at drama school to do other professions."
*Jack and the Beanstalk, featuring TV Gladiators star Jamie Christian-Johal as the Giant, will run at the Winding Wheel from December 5, 2025, until January 4, 2026. For tickets, go to www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk or call 01246 345222.