LEADING LIGHTS: Olympic Games heroines will join a tv soap star to perform Sunderland’s civic festive lights switch-on.

Emmerdale's Tom Lister, who is playing Captain Hook in panto at the Sunderland Empire Theatre, will pull the switch alongside Sunderland-born Olympic women’s footballer Jill Scott and Olympic trampolinist Kat Driscoll, a member of the Apollo club in Washington.

The event, at Sunderland Civic Centre, takes place on Wednesday November 14, at 6pm, followed by fireworks, at 7pm.