Coronation Street's Nigel Pivaro to Star in the Grimsby Auditorium Panto

/ Grimsby Auditorium/

The Grimsby Auditorium are delighted to announce that one of Weatherfield’s most famous bad boys will be appearing at the venue this Christmas in their spectacular family panto Aladdin.

Nigel Pivaro, AKA Terry Duckworth, will be playing the wicked and powerful magician Abanazar in the show which opens on Friday 9 December.

Nigel has appeared in more than 400 episodes of Coronation Street since he first joined the show back in 1983 as the son of the legendary Jack and Vera Duckworth and is one of soapland’s most popular baddies. In fact the character of Terry Duckworth was depicted as the second best TV baddie of all time in the programme The Ones We Love to Hate.

Nigel says “I think the key to any baddie is to have a certain amount of charm. The character of Terry, despite everything, has a lot of charm and I think that it is important than Abanazar has charm as well - after all he has to persuade Aladdin to go in to the magical cave to retrieve the lamp for him. I have also heard that Widow Twankey takes a bit of a ‘shine’ to my character as well.”

“I love panto as I have many fond memories of panto from my childhood and I think the message you take away from the show is that of good triumphing over evil. It is a universal and timeless message and one kids can identify with. I also love the way audiences drive the show  as there are few types of performance which have so much audience participation, and that is something you can feed off and respond to as a performer.”

Nigel trained at the prestigious RADA and has appeared in numerous stage plays including The Tempest, A Taste of Honey, What the Butler Saw, Funny Peculiar, Bouncers and A View From the Bridge and won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival with No Further Cause for Concern, and has appeared in over twelve pantomimes.

As well as acting Nigel is also a highly respected journalist with a passion for current and foreign affairs and has reported from the Ukraine, Turkey and Syria.

Steve Boden, Managing Director of Imagine Theatre who produce the pantomime says “we are delighted to have Nigel on board for Aladdin this year. Abanazar is probably the most famous panto baddie and who better to play the role than one of television’s best known baddies.”