Craig Revel Horwood says his Christmas production of Sleeping Beauty has been rewritten to address what he calls a “non-consensual kiss.”
The Strictly Come Dancing judge told the Cheltenham Literature Festival that “the woke thing really has gone brilliantly well,” according to The Times.
Horwood, 61, appeared with interviewer Julia Wheeler on Oct. 15 to discuss The Book of Panto. The hour-long event at the Times and Sunday Times Forum included a book signing, according to the festival program.
He has spent roughly two decades performing in the British Christmas tradition, which combines familiar fairy tales with songs, slapstick and audience participation. His stage roles have included Captain Hook and Cinderella’s wicked stepmother.
The Prince and Princess Fall in Love Before the Curse
Horwood questioned how to stage the familiar ending, in which a prince wakes a princess with a kiss after a century of enchanted sleep. His concern was that she cannot give permission while unconscious, as The Telegraph reported.
The revision introduces the couple earlier, allowing audiences to see them meet and fall in love before Aurora falls asleep. In Horwood’s description to The Times, “they steal a kiss, so it’s consensual.”
The Bristol show’s official synopsis retains the enchanted spinning wheel. Aurora receives it as a birthday present from her wicked aunt Carabosse and pricks her finger, leaving the prince to try to break the spell.
Cinderella’s Sisters Get a New Description
Horwood said the stepmother’s daughters are now called simply “the sisters” in productions he discussed, rather than the traditional “ugly sisters,” because of concerns about appearance-based jokes and body-shaming. He called the adjustment “a bit weird” and also described greater caution about grotesque makeup and behavior, according to The Sun.
His own turn in Cinderella at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal in late 2025 featured a feathered headdress, rhinestone boots and a salsa sequence. A LeftLion review also described scorecards and references to his television judging, with a script by Harry Michaels and Alan McHugh.
He also cited Babes in the Wood, with its children threatened over an inheritance, and Bluebeard, about a man who murders his wives, as difficult material for family shows. His other examples included removing the reference to the seven dwarfs from Snow White titles.
Crossroads Pantomimes, which produces his Bristol show, is advertising Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Stoke-on-Trent’s Regent Theatre this Christmas. That production stars Jonathan Wilkes as Muddles and opens Dec. 11.
Bristol Gives Horwood His First Turn as Carabosse
Horwood will play Carabosse for the first time when Sleeping Beauty runs at the Bristol Hippodrome from Dec. 4, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027. He last appeared in the venue’s pantomime in its 2022 production of Cinderella.
Andy Ford returns as Muddles, with Naomi Pacquette as Princess Aurora and Tom Major as Prince Peter. Jade Marvin plays the Enchantress, according to Crossroads.
BBC Radio Bristol breakfast presenter Joe Sims joins them as Carabosse’s henchman. The broadcaster shared a video of Horwood offering him the role. Sims’ acting credits include Broadchurch, while Pacquette appeared as Dinah Lord in the 2026 production of High Society.
His Book Follows the Work Behind the Fairy Tales
The Book of Panto was published Oct. 8 by Faber & Faber. The 240-page hardback traces the form’s international history and includes the work of costume makers, writers, set designers, directors and producers alongside celebrity performers, according to the British Library listing.
Horwood also recounts how he went from disliking pantomime to becoming one of its advocates. At Cheltenham, he said his reputation for delivering harsh judgments on Strictly led to his casting as stage villains.
He argued that a first pantomime visit can draw children away from phone games and into a shared live performance, the Mirror reported. “You want them to be naughty and they have a licence to do it,” he said.
In a separate Times interview, he challenged the idea that the genre is inferior to other stage work. “Panto allows the theatre to operate for the entire year,” he said.