Theatre says national award is 'greatest honour'

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre has scooped an award for the best large‑scale pantomime in the country.

The theatre, based on Lichfield Street in the city centre, won Best Pantomime over 950 Seats at the UK Pantomime Awards 2026 on Sunday night.

The award was given based on its production of Sleeping Beauty, which starred Danny Beard, Debra Stephenson and Zak Douglas.

"The team in Wolverhampton all worked so passionately to play their part and delivered above and beyond to make our first pantomime, created by a new management team, the ultimate celebration of pantomime," said chief executive Karen Smallwood.

The show was created entirely in‑house by Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, which has described it as "an innovative celebration of both traditional and modern pantomime".

Solomon Davy, Georgia Ludica‑Davies, alongside longstanding resident dame and comic Ian Adams and Tam Ryan, also featured in the award‑winning production.

Smallwood added: "We are so incredibly proud of what we achieved with this pantomime.

"Wolverhampton has long been considered one of the country's most prestigious pantomimes and to have our production of Sleeping Beauty be the one to affirm that title and our team's contribution recognised nationally is the greatest honour."

The award ceremony, organised by the UK Pantomime Association for the fifth year in a row, was hosted at the Wycombe Swan Theatre in High Wycombe.

Other winners included Jeevan Braich and Caitlin O'Shea as best newcomers, and the Outstanding Achievement in Pantomime award went to Terry Parsons.

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