Blue Peter legend and East Sussex resident Peter Duncan has confirmed the return of his critically-acclaimed lockdown pantos for streaming this Christmas.
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00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. My goodness,
00:07what a pleasure to speak this afternoon to the Blue Peter legend, Peter Dickinson.
00:11I read about you. You run marathons like me.
00:13That's what makes it so very, very interesting, doesn't it? And youthful and athletic. But
00:20the point is, we're talking about pantos. Now, this goes back to the dark, dark days
00:24of the pandemic. You started creating online pantos, and the lovely thing is they're going
00:29to be available again this Christmas, aren't they? Tell me the story about how it began.
00:33Yeah, we started with the pandemic because all the theatres were closing and I started
00:37to make this film on my back garden and it evolved into going to cinemas, going to thousands
00:42of schools and families at home because everything was kind of closed up. And then we made another
00:46one the following year when it was a little bit tricky, Cinderella. Jack and Beansort
00:49was the first one. Then we made a third one called Pantoland. And they're all out in a
00:52group this year. And if you're a family at home, you can't get to that or you prefer
00:57to watch it online, we'll stream it to you. Just go to pantoonline.co.uk and you can read
01:03all about it. It goes into care homes and scouts and yeah, so it's a fantastic accessibility
01:08wherever you are. You can watch it. Yeah, yeah. I'm just a small streamer.
01:15And you are a dame in this, aren't you? Yes, I play the dame. Yes, dame.
01:18What kind of dame are you? Well, the first one, I'm Dame Trot, so I'm
01:21very attached to what's got my cow. Second, I'm Dame Billie Eyelash. I'm an horrible ugly
01:26sister, always the same accent. And the third one is Dame Dolly Donut, who's a bit of a
01:31bit of a stunt woman. She does lots of stunts. Well, we would expect some daring, wouldn't
01:36we, really, from you? Yes, it is. I'm quite daring on zip lines
01:40and falling over a lot from great heights. And the Pantos, obviously, they're timeless,
01:45aren't they? But do they feel like a product of those dark days of the pandemic?
01:49Not really, because a lot of the gags, a lot of the timing, a lot of the jokes, I wouldn't
01:53call them repetitive. It depends how your comic, what your comic timing, everyone's
01:57comic timing is like. But no, there is a reflection of the past. But then they're fables. You
02:03know, they're always going to be about good and bad and tell a story that will make you
02:08laugh and hopefully make you cry as well. You know, and that's the beauty of Panto that
02:12when people go, whether you're a grown up or a kid, there's always something for you.
02:16And it's interactive. So you shout at the screen, you do all the things you would do
02:20in a theatre, you know, and it works. I've seen it work in schools and cinemas and at
02:25home. And you're saying all this from the perspective
02:28of your lovely new life, of which you paint a glowing picture. In East Sussex, you are
02:33seven miles or so from Rye, and you are entering a good life, aren't you, really?
02:38Well, yes, I'm not quite, what's his name? I've forgotten his name.
02:42Richard Pryor, isn't it? Yeah, I'm not Richard Pryor, no. But we are
02:46down from London, been here just over a year, and we're immersed into sort of the ecology
02:51of the place we're in, you know, no dig, sort of raised beds, building ponds, sort of getting
02:59attached to the sheep that wander around my land, rescuing them when they run away. And
03:03lots of other things about climate that, you know, obviously trying to get solar panels
03:09up, trying to sort of work a way of, you know, it's about climate for me coming down here.
03:15And not rather than pontificate about it, or get into trouble for protesting, I want
03:20to actually physically do things that make the difference on my little patch, really.
03:24So it's the practical action, isn't it? But the fact is, is also, as you describe it,
03:28it is good for the soul, isn't it? As much as we were saying running is, it's good for
03:32you to take that approach, isn't it?
03:35There is a spiritual sense of getting closer to nature and to the history of this planet
03:41we're in. I'm just about to read the new Booker Prize book, which is based on six trips
03:48around the Earth from the International Space Station, which I came out of my house and
03:51saw going over Hastings. I checked on NASA, and there it was. It really was, you know,
03:57just 400 kilometres up. So I'm really keen on to read that book, which I think will encapsulate
04:03a bit what we're talking about, about looking down those five different nationalities, looking
04:08down on the Earth and saying, we've got to do something about that, you know.
04:11And isn't it interesting, as the years go by, I think we get closer to our planet, don't
04:15we really? Or we see the need to be.
04:18Well, I think there is a need to be. And I think maybe if there's anything good about
04:21human beings, that will manifest itself. And we will start to, as individuals, make changes
04:27and be connected, because that's the bit we've, some of us have lost a lot, and some of us
04:32have lost a bit.
04:33Kind of the only hope, if we do, isn't it, really?
04:35I think so, yeah.
04:37Fantastic. Well, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you for your time.
04:40And to you, Phil.