Peter Pan flies into Mayflower Theatre with The Grumbleweeds in tow

Marti Pellow, the former Wet Wet Wet frontman and musical theatre star, leads the cast as the villainous Captain Hook. Joining him as Mr Smee will be television and stage star Darren Day, and Union J singer Jaymi Hensley as Peter Pan.

And bringing the mayhem, will be long-running musical comedy act The Grumbleweeds as the Pirates.

The Guide sat down with Robin Colvill and James Brandon, and found out that getting it so wrong takes a lot of effort.

As Robin puts it: ‘I think I've done 54 pantomimes. I'm nearly getting it right now...’

James explains: ‘It’s got to look like you’re not getting it right, but there's a lot of discipline involved to make it look like that. As the old saying goes, comedy is a very serious business.

‘And indeed, what we do is the old “organised chaos” thing. We often describe it as a theatrical disaster – we sort of create the illusion, it’s like the duck floating calmly on the water – there's a lot going on below the surface. It’s the art that conceals the art...’

Robin continues: ‘We are kind of (production company) Qudos’s secret weapon.

‘Most of the audience don't really know who The Grumbleweeds are when they walk through the door. We're on the bill and some people might remember us from the TV, but they didn’t come to see us.

‘You’ve got your big stars like Marti Pellow and Darren Day who bring the people in and they're really, really good at what they do, which is fantastic.

‘Ken Dodd said to me many, many years ago in 1965, he says: “When you're a star, surround yourself with talent”, and that's the greatest advice anybody could ever give you. Some people work under the illusion that if you've got rubbish around you, it makes you look good, and it doesn't work like that, trust me.

‘So, we are the secret weapon and as such as in this panto, we just cause chaos. We're not really part of the plot – we just break stuff.’

The Grumbleweeds formed in 1962 as a band and had a hit Radio2 show from 1979-91 and an ITV sketch show from 1983-88.

But by the late 1990s were a duo – Robin and Graham Walker. They continued like that until Graham’s death of cancer in 2013.

James and Robin had worked together in a few plays before, and it was Qdos who suggested they try working together as an act in panto.

Robin had initial concerns about whether they would be accepted under the same name, but it all went well.

‘And that was six years ago now. We still kept the same feel – we kept the same DNA,’ says Robin. ‘We've got music in it and clowning and ridiculous and visual comedy and stupidity and daftness, the whole thing

James adds: ‘It’s innocent comedy. It's old school comedy, but with a new spin on it. And it works for kids as much as it works for adults, hence Qdos keep bringing us back into some of the biggest pantos going. We've reached the pinnacle of success and to us it's great. We're back on top.’

Peter Pan

Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

December 14-January 5

mayflower.org.uk