A PANTO will be screened to children in hospitals across the country next week.

A special performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, currently being staged at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle, is to be broadcast for free to 170,000 patients in 180 NHS hospitals on Tuesday (Dec 23).

Cast members today (Wednesday, December 17) revealed the news during a visit to some of their young fans at The Great North Children’s Hospital at the RVI in Newcastle, where they brought gifts and signed autographs.

The screenings are the brainchild of businessman and theatre trustee Howard Tait.

He said: "I have always been passionate about bringing children from hospital to see the panto and seeing their faces light up just made me want to extend this magic to those children who are too sick to leave their beds”.

Emily Shaw, who plays Snow White, said: "It is a really humbling experience going to visit the children in the hospital because you can see how much it means to them.

"It’s lovely to think we can bring a bit of the Christmas joy we all experience at the theatre to them in their hospital beds, both through this visit and by screening the panto to them."

Among the youngsters meeting the cast was 16-year-old Amanda Patton, from Peterlee, who underwent spinal surgery at the hospital and is now back on the ward waiting for an infection to clear before going home.

She said: “The people here at the hospital are great but it does get quite boring when you’re here for a long time.

“Having the panto screened on the TVs is a great idea and will be good fun for everyone; it’s a good distraction from what’s going on.

“It’s great to meet the panto cast members in person and it’s made the ward very colourful today! It’s so lovely having a new and different set of guests in to cheer us up.”