Skip to content

Gareth Gates' panto co-star picked from 200 hopefuls

Neve Gordon-FarleighNorfolk
News imageBBC Rosanna Roscoe sitting down on a red sofa in the BBC Look East TV studio. She is wearing a costume which has a white shirt and blue spotted pinafore over the top. Her brunette hair is pulled back and she is wearing bright red lipstick. She is not looking directly at the camera and is instead looking towards the left at the presenter.BBC
Rosanna Roscoe says she received a call to say she secured the role of Belle a week after she auditioned

A performer is ready to step into the shoes of a Disney princess after being selected from more than 200 hopefuls in a Norfolk theatre's first pantomime for 30 years.

More than 200 hopefuls auditioned in April for the opportunity to play the role of Belle in Beauty & The Beast at the Britannia Theatre in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, over the festive season.

Rosanna Roscoe was announced for her first professional role opposite singing star Gareth Gates, who plays the cursed prince and is also co-producer.

She said: "The search for a local Belle was really important to the team... I have lots of family from Norfolk and my nan still lives there now."

Gates, who rose to fame on TV talent show Pop Idol in 2002 and has appeared in pantomimes for 15 years, has been working on the show for the past year with co-producer Brian Graves.

He said the team wanted to find a Belle locally to "transform someone's career from obscurity".

The audition panel received entries both in person and on film and whittled more than 200 auditionees down to five before Roscoe got the call.

Speaking to BBC Look East, she said: "My nan was probably one of the first people to witness any sort of performing ability.

"From the age of three I was dancing around the living room, running around the coffee table trying not to break all of her ornaments - it feels like a full circle moment to be back with my nan this Christmas and I'm living with her for the contract."

News imageShaun Whitmore/BBC Gareth Gates is sitting down in a room with a number of tables covered in white tablecloths, white chairs and white sheets on the wall, behind him. He is looking directly at the camera and smiling. He has short brown hair, dark facial hair, and is wearing a white T-shirt and a brown leather jacket. Shaun Whitmore/BBC
Gareth Gates hopes to bring a homegrown pantomime to the Britannia Pier this Christmas

Gates said: "As soon as we saw Rosanna, we just knew and she has the most incredible voice and she is a great actress... we saw a lot of talent.

"A lot of our cast are homegrown, there's lots and lots of people from Norfolk.

"We are thrilled to have Rosanna and we can't wait to bring homegrown panto back to the Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth."

The cast will have two weeks of rehearsals before the show opens on 8 December. It runs until 31 December.

Do you have a story suggestion for Norfolk? Contact us below.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links