OVERNIGHT queues are expected to form outside a theatre next week, when tickets to a legendary Christmas pantomime go on sale.

Although spring has barely arrived, avid fans of Berwick Kaler’s York Christmas productions are expected to queue patiently through the night ahead of tickets going on sale for this year’s Christmas panto.

The York Theatre Royal box office is to open an hour early on Monday, March 2, when tickets go on sale for Dick Whittington (and his Meerkat).

Queues often stretch around the corner of St Leonard’s Place, where the theatre is situated and onto nearby Duncombe Place, with people keen to get their favourite seats. Staff will serve tea and coffee to the loyal fans in the queue. Tickets will be available online at approximately 6pm the same day, with phone booking opening on Tuesday 3 March at 9am.

It is the 37th writing and starring role at the York pantomime for Berwick Kaler, who grew up in Sunderland.

The pantomime will be the first production to take place after the theatre’s forthcoming £4.1 million re-development.