Why a Sunday roast is proof of Yorkshire's unique identity

There were a lot of trips to the Yorkshire coast, but super-special was having all of our closest family and friends round for a Wilby Fancy Dress New Year’s Eve every year as a child.

These were always themed – gangsters, TV icons, legends, whatever.

I also vividly remember seeing Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Leeds Grand sitting right up in the gods and having to be lifted up by my grandma and mum so I could see over the railings.

What’s your favourite part of the county?

I think it must be the glorious Ilkley. It’s such a picturesque area surrounded by moors, fields and rivers, but filled with delightful independent friendly local shops, bars and restaurants.

I also spent lots of time there growing up doing amateur theatre, in fact really it’s where I became fully immersed into the world of pantomime.

Elliot Broadfoot (who coincidentally is our Genie in the Sheffield show) and I performed as comic and Dame together at the King’s Hall in Ilkley for a few years on the trot.

So it’s also joyous to get to be in Sheffield, with one of my oldest and closest friends, having this shared experience of something that we love together, now at a professional level. It really is very heartwarming for me.

What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

A chilly winter day in Sheffield. The Christmas lights are up, the markets are in full swing, there's hustling and bustling, and I am holding hands with Damien Williams, and we are both skipping down the road towards the Sheffield Lyceum theatre.

Do you have a favourite walk?

The walk into the theatre, wherever I’m playing, in anticipation of a performance, and that aside, from the top of any hill in West or North Yorkshire. Wherever you are, it’s always stunning. Greenery, rivers, lakes, and those amazing skies.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, or past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

One of my Yorkshire comedy heroes is Billy Pearce, and if you would have asked me this a few years ago I would have said him even before I was lucky enough to work with him. But now I’m fortunate enough to call him a good friend and have frequently dined with him, but I’d still pick time in his company over and over again.

If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem,’ what would it be?

Magna in Sheffield comes to mind, I used to love it there. Fire, water, air and earth, all fueling a young imagination - it was such a fun place. And it is somewhere that I do recommend to people now a few friends have children.

If you could own one thing in Yorkshire for a day, what would it be?

It has changed hands a few times since, but I would take over the JD sports gym on Bradford Road, not because I’m a fitness-freak, but because of what it was in a previous existence - The Batley Variety Club.

And for one day I would make it that all over again. I live near Batley, and it can often get a lot of knocking.

But as a variety performer, being from that town feels like a true privilege. My grandparents saw some absolute legends there.

Dame Shirley Bassey. Morecambe and Wise. And Sir Ken Dodd, who probably still would be finishing his set if they hadn’t closed the venue.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

Where do you start? There are so many things that make Yorkshire so special. The people. Our accent. The walks and the views.

But there is something that clinches it. Something that just topples Yorkshire into a category of its own.

The fact that we as a country have deemed the Sunday Roast as the pinnacle of our cuisine, so much so it must have an entire day assigned to it, and the mighty Yorkshire pudding.

You don’t have an Essex cauliflower cheese do you? Or a Gloucester Gravy? But the Yorkshire pudding is there. Sitting pride of place on the plate, the highlight for everyone.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

The Wheatsheaf, in Gommersal. There’s nothing better than your local cozy pub. One where you know all the staff and they all know half of your family. They’ll be generous and give you a few extra chips or that really big slab of sticky toffee pudding. Can’t beat it.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

I'm from a working-class family in Bradford, but let’s not beat about the bush, M&S is delicious. Now I’m not doing my big shop here, but isn’t it nice to have a little M&S treat when you can, or a little snack to take into the theatre.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

Yorkshire is and will always be the friendliest place in the country, possibly the world.

My grandma and great auntie live not too far out from Leeds city centre, they’ve lived here all their lives, and they will chat to absolutely anyone who wants to. If you’re lost and need some help with where you are, they’ll point you in the right direction.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

The actor, singer, writer and performer Thomas Walton. He comes from Halifax, and he founded Theatre North, which encourages young people to get into this business, and to deliver powerful entertainment, in all sorts of disciplines, to their audiences. The man has incredible energy.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

Most definitely. And I am nothing but proud that it has. Having worked with people from all over the country, and across the seas, the northern charm is definitely a real thing. I think people instantly feel quite comforted by a Yorkshire accent.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

Anything by Sally Wainwright or the late Kay Mellor. Both women created such wonderful stories that formed such powerful connections with millions, but especially those of us in Yorkshire, I think we should be proud to share the same home as them.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

Any pantomime, at any theatre in the county. Of course, I have a bias toward the one I’m in, but please, get out there, and just let yourselves go, Be a kid again, be daft, shout, laugh, singalong. Just have fun. Make it a Christmas to remember.

Aladdin, Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, until Sunday January 4, 2026. Box office on 0114 2496000.