SO Christmas has begun. A first time for the customs house to have its pantomime as Little Red Riding Hood, which has all the classic characters you would expect to find such as Red (Natasha Haws), Granny Hood (Ray Spencer), Wolfgang (Steven Lee Hamilton) and the woodcutter Timber (Craig Richardson), and some unexpected ones such as Three Little Pigs (Kylie Ann Ford, Gareth Hunter and Luke Maddison), Bracken the Witch (Jamie Birkett) and a very dodgy character called Mr Fracker (Stephen R Sullivan).

This mismatch of classic fairytale clichés includes a number of musical hits which all the family will recognise whether it is Tina Turner for the adults, Frozen for the children or current chart hits such as Pharrell Williams’ Happy.

Similarly, there are jokes for all ages, classic panto involvement for the children and slapstick comedy which most will thoroughly enjoy. There are also the jokes that should fly over the children’s head. I found the adult content was perhaps too crude for my liking, and was actually quite surprised at some of the things said. I much preferred the North-East jokes and The Shining reference for the adults, but if you like crude quips then don’t let me stop you, the children still won’t know.

Standout performers for me were Birkett and Hamilton, who played the panto villains ever so well. Overall, the show was extremely camp and a little too long, but if your family loves pantomimes you won't want to miss a minute.

  • Runs until Saturday, January 10. Box Office: 0191-454-1234 or Customshouse.co.uk

Emily Craig