BEHIND YOU. Yes, it's panto season. Well, not quite, but it's definitely the season for planning the family trip to the pantomime. An almost uniquely British tradition, the annual panto is a chance for mums, dads and kids to unite in laughing at different bits of whatever legend or fairy tale has been given the sauce at the local playhouse.

Some are better than others, of course. Just one look at the grim posters for the regional D-listers set to descend on some threadbare seaside town to deliver excruciating double entendres is enough to turn your stomach. But some pantos are different. Some are staged in huge, temporary, purpose-built performance spaces at one of the nation's foremost entertainment venues, starring a genuinely funny all-round family entertainer in a tale we're all familiar with.

Lily Savage's journey from the pubs and clubs of the North West to family entertainer was complete some time ago but 'she' remains a brilliant casting for any panto and that's exactly what has happened for the 2012/13 production of Aladdin - A Wish Come True at The O2. Savage plays Widow Twankey in a rare return to the stage, following the prior success of the same production in Southampton.

The new theatre will hold 1,900 and promises to be a perfect venue for a festive family treat, all sited conveniently near the end of the DLR.

Aladdin: A Wish Come True is running at The O2 in Greenwich from Friday 7th December 2012 until Saturday 5th January 2013. We have tickets available now, priced from £19.50.