Robin Hood at the London Palladium review: panto royalty Julian Clary remains peerless

Charlie Stemp, Julian Clary and Tosh Wanogho-Maud in Robin Hood - (Paul Coltas)

“I do like a warm hand on my entrance,” purrs Julian Clary on his first appearance as an outrageously overdressed Robin Hood. The classic innuendo sets the tone for this latest Palladium panto, where the smut is as OTT as the sets, costumes and effects, and no one cares too much about the plot. Maybe they rein in the fellatio gags for family matinees. Then again, this is Clary: so probably not.

He has a lot of men to keep merry, he confides: “It’s a miracle I can walk!” But he has a nice bungalow in Sherwood Forest they’ve decorated for him: “Friar Tuck had a hand in my back passage.”