"It's great to be back in Bradford," chirped comedian Billy Pearce as he bounced on to the improvised stage, set up in the God's Bar at the Alhambra, to announce his return once more in pantomime.

"Nothing's changed. There's still roadworks in Manchester Road."

The audience, largely of bookers representing groups who plan to see Cinderella during its seven-week run from December 19, roared with the laughter of recognition.

Billy, with the good comedian's instinct for homing in on a subject dear to his audience's heart, had picked the right target for his opening gag.

A few more quips and then he was serious: "It really is a wonderful compliment for me to have been invited here again," he said.

Again? More than that surely? Six times in all now. Last year he was Billy, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This Christmas he'll be Buttons, falling in love with Veronica Hart's Cinderella.

And tomorrow he'll be at the Alhambra again but in his more adult persona, presenting for one night only the stand-up show for grown-ups that he devised some years ago to counter his image as simply a children's entertainer.

Being asked back to Bradford might indeed be a compliment for Billy, but it's also a convenience. For just over six weeks, to February 8 (with an option to extend), he'll be able to make the 20-minute road journey every night to the home in Wakefield that he shares with fiancee Kerry (who is to become Mrs Pearce in three weeks) and their son, two-year-old Jack.

"I call him Small Clump of Grass," he told me, then paused for me to raise a questioning eyebrow. "Because he's a little sod!" he explained with a grin.

Veronica Hart is a new name to Bradford pantomime, though not to West Yorkshire. She grew up in Huddersfield before heading for London and musical success in hits like Whistle Down the Wind, A Chorus Line, Hair, Fame and Hot Mikado. She was most recently in her home county playing Ronette, in the West Yorkshire Playhouse's production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Veronica will be arriving at the Alhambra rehearsals in December after spending the summer and autumn touring in the show Boogie Nights.

"It's fantastic to be appearing at this theatre," she said. "When I was growing up I always wanted to be a Sunbeam at the Alhambra, but I was first too small or then too big for the requirements. So it's great to be here as Cinderella. Doing panto here is going to be absolutely mind-blowing. And I'll be able to be at home with my parents for Christmas."

Cinderella this year will have a Scouse Dandini in the shape of Dean Sullivan, the actor who found national fame playing Jimmy Corkhill in the Channel 4 soap Brookside. In last week's British Soap Awards he was presented with the Special Achievement Gold Award for his outstanding contribution to television.

And making a return to Alhambra panto after two years, this time as the Fairy Godmother, will be Mina Anwar, one-time PC Maggie Habib of BBC-TV's The Thin Blue Line, and last seen on screen as Dr Sandra Malik in The Bill, being frightened off by the psychotic PC Cathy Bradford.