After slapping numerous thighs and donning many a pair of tights as the panto principal boy, actress Kim Hartman, is happy to be garbed in something more regal for this year’s Watersmeet pantomime, as the wicked queen in Snow White, a role she previously played at the Playhouse, Weston-super-Mare, alongside Bernie Clifton, at Newark’s Palace Theatre, with former EastEnders’ star Andrew Lynford and, most recently, at the Harlequin, Redhill with CBBC’s Jez Edwards.

"When I was younger, I always played the principal boy in shows such as Dick Whittington and Aladdin. Then, the first time I was asked to play the witch I was slightly put out but since the panto didn't have a principal boy role I did it and had such a good time with the kids booing and yelling. I had them in the palm of my hand. I could make them cry if I wanted to. You get the best songs as the baddie and it's a great part for getting the frustrations of the year out of your system.

Best known for her portrayal of Private Helga Geerhart in ‘Allo ‘Allo, a character she created and played in 96 television episodes of the popular BBC sitcom, Kim says she was bitten by the theatre bug at an early age.

“I spent my first four years in Harrow and my relatives still live in that area,” recalls Kim. “Then we moved to Upminster so my first stage experience would have been the Hornchurch panto.

“My parents took me at five and I remember going up on stage at the end of the show and singing from the kids songsheet. Then, on the bus going home, a lady who had seen me said to my mum, ‘oh your daughter went up on stage’ and I was so pleased with myself and excited and full of adrenalin and although I was nervous there was a bit inside me that wanted to do it again.”

And so she did. Kim studied for a year as a student assistant stage manager (ASM) at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, before training at the Webber Douglas Academy, London. Her early work took her to the Chichester Festival Theatre, Harrogate and the Bristol Old Vic.

As well as the TV series, Kim also appeared in the ‘Allo ‘Allo stage show, which toured the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It also played for two years at the Prince of Wales Theatre and the London Palladium. Her other television credits include the BBC’s Grange Hill, as the eccentric science teacher, Mrs Rawlinson and parts in Miss Jones and Son, The Brittas Empire, Casualty and Fifteen Stories High.

Kim comes to Rickmansworth having recently completed a national tour of Daisy Pulls It Off alongside her daughter Miranda. She has also co-starred with son Tom in Dry Rot and with husband John Nolan in Double Double, among numerous theatre credits.

But panto is dear to her heart and for the duration of the run she will be relocating from her Cotswold home to Northwood.

“I’m moving there tonight and we start rehearsals tomorrow. Before it opens I’ll either be sleeping, eating or doing the show. I always manage to get back home for Christmas though. I’ve always had it in my head I have to be back for Christmas even though I make a rod for my own back trying to get everything ready and wrestling with the turkey in the small hours of the morning.”

Snow White is at The Watersmeet Theatre, Rickmansworth from Friday, December 11 to Sunday, January 3. Tickets: 01923 711063 (£8.50-£15.50).