A remarkable 20 Eastbourne pantos for Dame Martyn

He's the dame in this year’s Devonshire Park pantomime spectacular Snow White, alongside Tucker and Carli Norris plus Georgie Hales and Ben Tyler who make their Eastbourne panto debuts. Snow White is the 23rd pantomime from the Devonshire Park Theatre team. Tickets are priced from £13. Call the box office on 01323 412000 or online www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk.

“Eastbourne holds a lot for me,” Martyn says. “I used to holiday here. We used to have a week here and a week in Bournemouth and my mum used to sing on the bandstand. That was our holidays and when I got the chance to come down here, I know it sounds so cliched but it really felt like a family. But the point is it's not just us on the stage. It is also the backstage crew and the front of house and the marketing. Really it is a family feeling you get here.

“And the audience is so good. It always surprises me the warmth that I get for every performance. I just love doing what I do. I went to Malta earlier this year and I saw on a wall something saying ‘Find a job that you enjoy doing and you will never do a day's work in your life.’ And I just thought oh my god! That is so true!”

There is a huge advantage to being a panto regular in the same place: “I don't have to audition for a start!”

And it also means developing the kind of friendship he enjoys with the show’s comedian Tucker: “We work so well together. We know each other inside out. We know if something goes wrong then we can get each other out of trouble. The rapport that we have with each other is great. He's really like a son to me.”

And given that Tucker has his twin 13-year-old daughters in the show as well: “It also feels like I'm working with my grandchildren!”

As for the role of Dame: “Personally I think that the audience needs to know that I'm a man. I do the make-up very feminine but it's obvious in the way I talk and move that I'm a man. The other thing about being the dame is that you've got to have the rapport with the audience. You've got to be able to ad lib if someone throws something at you but really it's just so magical when you see all the children crossing their fingers in the audience believing that they're going to help you defeat the evil character.

“I learned from so many different people in the business. There was a guy in Watford called Peter John who was a fantastic dame. And there was also a gentleman called George Lacy. He used to come on his wife's arm to the stage door but as soon as he got his heels on he became this sprightly character. His timing was just impeccable, the looks and the glances. It was wonderful and it was the same with Peter.”