The Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future will all visit Chatsworth this year as the festive season is given a Victorian gothic twist with ‘Oh Dickens! It’s Christmas’, a celebration of Charles Dickens’ best loved works.

Actors playing Scrooge, Fagin, Miss Havisham and others from Dickens’ rich cast of characters will bring the theme to life, along with room guides in period costume, as they roam around in the fog and gaslight of Chatsworth’s grand rooms. Visitors of all ages can join in the fun by choosing from dozens of character costumes ready to try on and made by Chatsworth’s textile team.

Rooms throughout the house feature period sets that evoke both the splendour and squalor of Dickensian London – as well as the London docks and Victorian shop fronts, specific scenes from the books, such as Scrooge’s bed, have been recreated in detail. Thousands of traditional and lavish seasonal decorations and hundreds of metres of ribbon will dress the celebrated Painted Hall, Oak Room, Chapel, State Dining Room and Sculpture Gallery, which will also contain 25 real trees, two of which stand more than seven metres tall.

This enchanting interpretation of books such as A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop and A Tale of Two Cities will feature large-scale illustrations, wall murals, sound and light effects, projections and props. Artists such as the paper sculptor Su Blackwell are working with Chatsworth to help recreate the Christmas spirit that Dickens sought to highlight in the gathering together of families and the enjoyment of food, drink, dancing and games.

Displays will also include related items from Chatsworth’s own collections, such as letters from Dickens himself to the 6th Duke of Devonshire; first editions of books including Little Dorrit and A Tale of Two Cities; and letters from Duchess Georgiana to her mother from Paris during the uprising referenced in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’.

Christmas at Chatsworth spreads beyond the house to include events in the garden and farmyard such as the hugely popular Christmas market (17 Nov – 5 Dec); wreath making classes; an evening pea and pie supper and a nativity play in the farmyard starring the farm animals.

More than fifty costumes have been made by Chatsworth’s textiles team while in-house joiners are helping build the elaborate sets, dressed with individual props and decorations made by staff from across estate.

Planning for the two-month Christmas season at Chatsworth starts the previous year and involves nearly everybody, including the Duke and Duchess, in generating ideas, developing themes, creating costumes and sets and getting everything in place for the opening day.

Chatsworth’s Christmas season will run from 11 November 2017 to 7 January 2018. The house and garden will be open every day from 11am-5.30pm (10am opening at weekends) except 24, 25, 26 December and 1 January. The farmyard and playground will also be open from 10.30am to 5.30pm. Chatsworth will be using timed entry ticketing during the Christmas season to improve the visitor experience and prevent overcrowding at peak times.

Anthony Sahota from BBC’s `Let It Shine’ is to star alongside Dancing on Ice champion Sam Attwater and the lead singer of multi-platinum selling group Liberty X, Kelli Young in The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan at the Pomegranate Theatre this Christmas.

Fresh from this year’s BBC smash hit singing competition Let it Shine, Chesterfield Theatres has announced that singing star Anthony Sahota, is set to tread the boards as Peter Pan, joining previously announced EastEnders’ star Sam Attwater and Liberty X’s lead vocalist Kelli Young  in the swashbuckling  family favourite pantomime.

Following a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Kingston University, Anthony starred in the BBC’s exciting new talent competition Let it Shine which aimed to find young performers to star in The Band, a new stage musical featuring the songs of Take That. The fresh new talent format was presented by Graham Norton and Mel Giedroyc, with Gary Barlow, Dannii Minogue and Martin Kemp serving as celebrity judges throughout the series.

A passionate singer and performer, Anthony had record deal offers prior to the show but decided to finish his degree before pursuing his singing dreams! He has his mum Caroline to thank for his starring role in the primetime show. She nominated him having seen ads online for the show, leading to an unforgettable moment for Anthony when Gary Barlow surprised him by turning up at his graduation to tell him he had been selected for the show!

Recalling the day Anthony said:-

“I was absolutely speechless. To be selected from hundreds of applicants for an opportunity like this and for it to be announced in front of all of my family by Gary Barlow was just the greatest feeling.”

Throughout the show Anthony received praise for his unique vocal style and beautiful renditions of current chart hits. A highlight was performing with his childhood favourite pop group Busted on national TV. He went on to reach the quarter final stage in the contest.

Pantomime Producer Paul Holman said:-

“Anthony is a talented young musician and performer with the right fun, energy and talent to play the adventurous and slightly cheeky chappy character Peter Pan. He completes a trio of sensationally talented singers in joining soap and stage star Sam Attwater and Liberty X’s lead vocalist Kelli Young in this classic family pantomime. With unbelievable singing talents, great comedy and spectacular costumes and scenery lined up this year’s pantomime truly does have something for everyone.”

The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan opens on Saturday 2 December 2017 and plays till Tuesday 2 January 2018. Tickets are available here.

A magic carpet tale of adventure is set to touch down in Chesterfield with two multi-million selling pop stars leading the line-up of the family favourite pantomime Aladdin this Christmas at the Pomegranate Theatre.

Atomic Kitten star and Celebrity Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon, will take to the stage as the stunning Princess Jasmine, while 911 frontman and star of the stage, Lee Brennan, will take on the title role as our hero Aladdin.

Liz is best known as one third of Britain’s most successful girl group of the noughties: Atomic Kitten. The group experienced phenomenal success, going on to have 15 singles reach the top 10 in the UK, including the number 1 hits Eternal Flame, The Tide is High and their biggest selling single Whole Again which sold over a million copies in the UK alone. The girls’ popularity led to global record sales of over ten million, chart success and sell out arena tours at home and throughout Asia and even a slot to perform at Buckingham Palace in front of a TV audience of millions for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in 2002.

After the girl group went their separate ways, Liz achieved chart success in her own right, landing a top 5 hit with her version of the classic Barbara Streisand song Woman in Love, which was produced for her by Bee Gee Robin Gibb.

Away from the music world, 2008 saw Liz back on our screens for an altogether different reason – swapping microphone for apron, she embarked on a new challenge when she entered Celebrity Masterchef. Five million people regularly saw her take on everyone and every challenge put in front of her, where her natural culinary ability and hard work helped secure her the title of Celebrity Masterchef 2008!

Cooking took Liz into the world of television, leading to regular appearances on panel shows and opening doors for her as a presenter. She has hosted the National Lottery for BBC1, interviewed the hottest names in music for MTV and fronted her own series for BBC3. Not forgetting her musical roots, Liz took to the stage in the lead female role in The War of the

Worlds starring opposite Jason Donovan and hit the road in the touring production of Legally Blonde where she starred as Paulette.

Fast forward to January 2013 and Liz was back with Atomic Kitten, starring in ITV2’s huge smash hit fly on the wall documentary The Big Reunion, which documented the real life ups and downs of being part of a reunited pop band. Watched by over two million people, an arena tour followed which saw Liz and the kittens perform to over 200,000 people along with bands Five, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Blue, Liberty X and 911!

After joining forces for a smash hit tour of pop nostalgia, Liz is set to be reunited with fellow popstar Lee Brennan, the lead singer of hit boyband 911. Lee and the lads shot to fame with chart-topping hits such as A Night to Remember, Bodyshakin, Don’t Make Me Wait and A Little Bit More. The band’s debut album The Journey spent 17 weeks in the UK charts, was awarded a gold disc and even went 12 times platinum in Malaysia, such was their success and appeal.

Four more studio albums, including a Greatest Hits, and 14 singles kept the boys in the charts and the public eye from 1996 to 2000. As the millennium approached the hit-makers were one of just five acts in the decade to achieve 10 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK. The lads had become one of the biggest and most recognisable faces of the 90s pop scene, selling more than ten million records and playing to thousands in sell-out arena tours in the UK, and 70,000 people in Singapore alone on their tour of Asia.

Away from the group, Lee has clocked up years of experience on the stage. He has played to thousands in headline pantomime roles around the country, including four consecutive appearances as Peter Pan, and a headline role cutting loose on stage in Footloose, The Musical alongside stage star Maureen Nolan.

Liz and Lee will star in Aladdin at the Pomegranate Theatre from Friday 2 December 2016 to Tuesday 3 January 2017. Tickets are available from the Chesterfield Theatres Box Office by visiting www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk/panto or by calling 01246 345 222. Further cast members will be announced soon.