SNOW White at the Alhambra is Paul Chuckle’s 53rd panto - and his second one without brother Barry.

As the Chuckle Brothers, Paul and Barry delighted generations of youngsters. Their first Alhambra panto was in 1972. “It was a year of strikes and we had to wait a few minutes for the lights to come on before the performance. Barry and I had to dash on stage to keep the audience entertained until the show was ready to go,” recalls Paul. “Our last panto here was in 1999/2000 with Lisa Riley.”

Paul and Barry were a double act for 55 years. Over a year since Barry’s death, in August 2018, Paul is walking on stage alone. “Last year was my first panto without Barry, it felt strange to be solo,” says Paul. This year, playing The Henchman, he has Billy Pearce for company, and the pair are going down a storm with Alhambra audiences.

“I know Billy from Royal Variety shows in the early 90s, and we’ve shared a dressing-room at charity gigs, but this is the first time I’ve worked with him,” says Paul.

With just 10 days rehearsal, it’s hard work putting on Yorkshire’s biggest panto. “You just fall into it,” says Paul. “When we did Chucklevision we didn’t learn scripts. We did so many episodes, it was a case of going at it a page at a time.”

Despite coming from a performing background - “Dad was a comic and did panto every year. Our older brothers did it too, I’ve been in dressing-rooms or in wings as long as I can remember,” says Paul - showbiz wasn’t his own ambition. “I wanted to be a professional footballer. I played for Rotherham Boys but when I was 14 I got a bad injury and was told I’d never play again. I was devastated,” says Paul.

So it was that in 1963, aged 15, he joined Barry as a double act. They won Opportunity Knocks and New Faces and worked the summer season circuit but it wasn’t until 1984 that they got their break, with TV series ChuckleHounds. It led to the hugely popular Bafta-nominated Chucklevision, which lasted over 20 years. Paul and Barry also had their TV game show, To Me, To You, named after their legendary catchphrase, and toured live shows, including Barry Potty and His Smarter Brother Paul in the Chamber of Horrors. In 2013 the pair appeared in a David Walliams sketch for Comic Relief, and later TV’s Walliams & Friends.

In 2019 the Chuckle Brothers were voted the greatest CBBC series of all time. “Our show meant a lot to generations of kids - now their children watch us on You Tube. People say, ‘The kids won’t go to sleep until they’ve watched you’,” says Paul. “Wherever I go, the reaction is amazing. I do a lot of nightclub meet-and-greets and the love that comes across is really touching. People say they grew up watching us. We did 295 episodes of Chucklevision. The TV you watch as a child has a lasting effect - I loved Bill and Ben and still remember it.”

Adds Paul: “Kids loved us because we acted like them. We took on different jobs and approached each one as if we were kids. We never looked down to children; we were on their level.”

Paul recently shot a cameo role in a short film called My Bad, alongside Will Mellor, Richard Blackwood, John Thomson, Jake Canuso and Sally Lindsey. He also appeared in BBC soap Doctors. Would he like to do more acting? “I’d love to get on Emmerdale, that would be a dream job” he says.

For now, he’s happy treading the boards with Billy and co: “Audiences love slapstick, it’s good to see it thriving in panto. It’s comedy that has been around since Roman times. There’s something primal about laughing at someone falling over - as long as they’re okay.

“There’s nothing else like live theatre; it’s great seeing children having so much fun, not staring into screens. It’s a couple of hours of 1,500 people having a lovely shared experience.”

l Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is at the Alhambra until January 26. Call (01274) 432000.

Emma Clayton