THE ENTREPRENEURS behind this year’s Thameside Theatre Aladdin Pantomime will appear on BBC 2’s TV show ‘Dragon’s Den’ on Sunday 28 August 2011 at 8pm as they bid to expand their operations. Polka Dot Pantomimes’ partners Darren Maddison and Helen Wright braved the panel of business gurus for the high profile BBC2 programme – and their attempt to get £100,000 features this Sunday night!
Darren and Helen bid for the cash in exchange for 10% of their Panto Company’s equity, although details of how they get on remain under wraps until the show airs at the weekend.
They went down to film the show in June and took with them five actors and six children – making their pitch as a Panto performance to try to catch the eye of Duncan Bannatyne, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and new Dragon Hilary Devey.
Polka Dot Pantomimes did three Pantomimes last year, at Spalding, Grantham and Boston. This year, they are taking on extra venues at Clacton on Sea, Sutton in South London and here in Grays! Darren and Helen applied to go on Dragon’s Den in a bid to increase that even further. Darren said: “We got good comments but bad as well but we came out alive at the end! “We were in there for about 50 minutes so it is in the lap of the editing suite now. “As a Company we are expanding rapidly and we are extremely excited to have added the Tameside Theatre, Grays to our portfolio of Pantomimes. We look forward to a successful run of Aladdin, which stars local celebrities Dean Gaffney and Brian Belo.”
The 2011/2012 pantomime at the Thameside Theatre, Grays is Aladdin starring Dean Gaffney (from EastEnders and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here) as Wishee Washee and Brian Belo (Winner of Big Brother 8 and Presenter of Big Brother’s Little Brother) as the Genie! It runs for 53 performances between Wednesday 7 December 2011 to Wednesday 7 January 2012.
To book your tickets you can telephone us on 0845 300 5264 or you can pop along to the theatre and book your tickets with our helpful Box Office staff. The Box Office is open 10.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday and on Saturdays 10am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm. Alternatively, you can go on-line at www.thurrock.gov.uk/theatre any time of the day or night, where you can purchase up to 9 tickets.
Book now to avoid disappointment and get the best seats in the house!
