‘It won’t be pretty!’ French and Saunders to play the Ugly Sisters in Palladium panto

. UK edition

Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French at a red carpet event
‘It feels this is the fulfilment of a dream’ … Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French. Composite: Getty

Comedy duo will take the stage together in the West End for the first time in 17 years in Cinderella alongside Julian Clary

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are to return to the stage together for the first time in 17 years to play the Ugly Sisters in the London Palladium pantomime.

“It won’t be pretty,” the popular duo predicted in an announcement on Tuesday. “We have wished to play the Ugly Sisters for so many years, it feels this is the fulfilment of a dream – a dream our hearts made.”

The pair began performing together almost 50 years ago after meeting as students at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. They collaborated on a hugely successful sketch comedy series for the BBC and toured together in 1990 and 2000. Their last tour, French and Saunders: Still Alive!, was in 2008-09 and they teamed up again for a podcast, Titting About, in 2020.

Michael Harrison, the producer of the Palladium panto, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders will be starring in this year’s Cinderella. Having two of the nation’s most beloved comedy icons together on the Palladium stage is incredibly exciting. Their legendary chemistry and razor-sharp humour will make this a truly special experience for audiences.”

Dex Lee will play Prince Charming and Hope Dawe has been cast as Cinderella. They will join Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers and Rob Madge, who have all starred in previous pantos at the venue. The Palladium resurrected pantomime in 2016, for the first time since 1987, with Clary playing Dandini in a production of Cinderella that the Guardian’s Michael Billington described as a “tsunami of smut”. Catherine Tate joined the cast for its 2025 panto, Sleeping Beauty, which Harrison said “broke all records at the London Palladium” with more than 137,000 theatregoers attending over its run.

French appeared as Queen Dragonella in Snow White at the Palladium in 2018 and returned as Dame Trot in Jack and the Beanstalk in 2022. Saunders made her Palladium panto debut in 2023 as Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

Cinderella runs from 5 December to 10 January. Tickets go on sale on 2 April.