Advent Calendar 2022 Day 18: Jack and the Beanstalk, 1998

In 1998 ITV decided the TV pantomime was a grand TV tradition ripe for renewal, even though it had never really been a thing, and so went to town, staging the magic bean feast at the Old Vic Theatre with a cast of all the talents and any more they could crowbar into Simon Nye's script. Paul Merton narrates as Neil Morrissey is Jack, Adrian Edmondson the Dame and Jack's mother, Griff Rhys Jones the evil baron and their landlord, Julie Walters the fairy godmother with more than a hint of Mrs Overall, Denise van Outen is Jill the Baron's daughter - we see what they've done nominatively there, and giving her a love duet with Morrissey feels unequal - Morwenna Banks as Little Girl as Goldilocks (wait a moment...) and Julian Clary the fourth wall breaking beanstalk giant's henchman with mute assistant Peter Serafinowicz, which is interesting in itself as he'd barely done anything in TV at the time and would likely have just been fresh off recording Darth Maul's voice for The Phantom Menace, though he and director John Henderson had worked with Nye on How Do You Want Me? The giant is... a voice. And that's it. ITV only did three more before, dunno, it got too cumbersome.