Mia Overfield, star of the Fairfield Halls’ 2024-2025 panto, Snow White and the Five Dwarves, has been named as the winner of the Barbara Windsor Award for Best Principal Lead at this year’s National Pantomime Awards.
Winning performance: Mia Overfield picking up her Panto Awards gong on Sunday night
Overfield, who has a string of stage successes to her name, played Snow White opposite the Wicked Queen played by Croydon’s Kellie Shirley (EastEnders and Casualty) on stage at the Ashcroft Theatre through December and into January, in what is the biggest show of the year for the Croydon arts venue.
The “gloriously glittery” Panto Awards were presented on Sunday night in Woking, where UK Productions, the company behind the Croydon pantomime, picked up three awards.
Simon Sladen, the chair of the UK Pantomime Association, said: “Huge congratulations to all of the nominees and winners at The Pantomime Awards 2025. What a wonderful evening to celebrate excellence across the pantomime industry and salute the talent, skill, passion, craftsmanship and expertise that goes into each and every season.”
One of the award co-sponsors referred to how pantomime “is a cherished tradition that brings joy to audiences of all ages, and we are proud to support and celebrate the extraordinary creativity, talent and dedication that make this artform so beloved.”
Among the winners was Elaine C Smith, who was honoured with the illustrious award for Outstanding Achievement in Pantomime “for her exceptional contribution to the pantomime industry for many decades as one of Scotland’s best-loved pantomime legends”.
During the 2024-2025 pantomime season, the fourth year in which the awards have taken place, the awards’ 52 judges collectively visited 216 venues to see more than 496 performances. Oh yes they did!
It’s not known when the judges visited Croydon, where there was a seasonal dwarf shortage.
Some Croydon panto-goers felt a bit short-changed when they arrived at the venue to find a notice declaring that there would be only five dwarfs on stage for the performance. Hi-ho!
For the full list of award nominations, click here
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
