From Saturday 13th December until Wednesday 31st December, Steven Woodcock will be playing Father/Mr. Mayor in the Beauty and the Beast pantomime at The Cresset in Peterborough, alongside Vanessa Boland as his on-stage daughter Beauty, Mike Holoway as the Beast and Kim Taylforth as the Fairy, and he previously made his major pantomime debut as The King in Sleeping Beauty. Amongst Steven’s theatre projects, he was in the casts of Antony and Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew in Theatre Royal Haymarket in the West End with Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Dalton. As a screen actor, Steven joined EastEnders in 1990 as Clyde Tavernier, and during his time there, he worked on storylines including his relationship with Michelle Fowler and being framed for the murder of Eddie Royal, before leaving in 1993, and he played Jevon in Only Fools and Horses in the late 1980s. Towards the start of his acting career, Steven played Glenroy in Series 6 and 7 of Grange Hill and Marcus in The All Electric Amusement Arcade, and he was in the 1981 TV mini-series Walcott playing Melville Groves. Steven chatted to us about playing Father/Mr. Mayor in this year’s The Cresset in Peterborough’s pantomime Beauty and the Beast, his time in EastEnders as Clyde Tavernier and Only Fools and Horses as Jevon, and his early screen roles in Grange Hill, All Electric Amusement Arcade and Walcott.

How are you preparing for taking on the role of Father/Mr. Mayor in the Beauty and the Beast pantomime at The Cresset in Peterborough this festive season?

My preparation for the pantomime has started with my fitness. Whilst I am quite fit at the moment, there are levels of fitness, and with two shows a day, every day, it would be foolish to think I could simply go on stage for nearly two hours at a time, twice a day and not end up draining myself.

And, of course, there is the script to learn, which I think is wonderful and very inspiring.

What can audiences expect from your portrayal of the character?

My portrayal of the character is something I am still giving great consideration to. There are many ways to play a pantomime character and I will be playing about with it to see what fits. My personal aim is to have the funny bits funny and the more serious moments delivered in a sincere yet pantomimic way.

Overall, I am aiming to have fun!

How familiar were you with Beauty and the Beast as a pantomime before booking the role and what do you think it will be like telling the story?

I was not familiar with the story of Beauty and the Beast at all. Apart from long lost childhood memories. So, I bought a lavishly illustrated copy and read it from a book. This had me captivated and all the more wanting to see it come alive in the production that I am involved with.

I can’t wait to tell the story!

What has it been like reading the script and meeting the rest of the cast (which includes Vanessa Boland as your on-stage daughter Beauty, Mike Holoway as the Beast and Kim Taylforth as the Fairy) for the first time?

I was always looking forward to reading the script and, having received it and now done so, I was overjoyed to find it was so well-written and straightforward.

I had met Vanessa before at a costume fitting back in London in the early summer. I was also lucky to meet both Mike Holoway and Kim Taylforth, who were leaving having done their fittings.

We all had a great time in Peterborough in July of this year when we booked to do our press release stuff. On this occasion, we were all able to have closer contact and get the chance to be better acquainted.

I found everyone to be good, honest performers, all very skilled at their craft and no major egos, which can destroy a production.

What are you looking forward to for opening on Saturday 13th December and why would you recommend watching Beauty and the Beast at The Cresset, which is running until Wednesday 31st December?

The opening night for me will be a night of wonder. What to expect? Who knows? I would just love for a great rapport with the audience and hope that everyone who comes enjoys it to the fullest. My aim is certainly to make it so!

You made your major pantomime debut in Sleeping Beauty in Leeds in 2019, how did you find the experience?

I enjoyed playing the King in Sleeping Beauty back in 2019 in Leeds.

It was a great learning experience for me as I’d never done pantomime before and found that I really enjoyed it. So, this production will be even better for me.

What is it like interacting with the audience during a pantomime and seeing families getting involved?

Interacting with the audience is all what pantomime is about. Long established means of performing for pretty much the whole history of pantomime. Whole families get involved even amongst themselves as they participate with the on stage characters and everyone else in the auditorium.

It is truly an indulgent experience for everyone. We will also have two special shows – a BSL and relaxed performance, where a BSL expert will be with us on stage and the loud and disturbing noises will be cut and the auditorium lights will be kept on to provide reasonable light and security for anyone with a physical or mental condition.

So, pantomime is very inclusive!

In 2022, you were a contestant on Pointless Celebrities; what was your episode like to film?

Filming Pointless Celebrities was fun. I had never met the young lady I worked with until moments before we were due on set, which was quite peculiar, and I can’t remember her name even now, which is embarrassing. We also got voted off first, which was a shame. However, when you get voted off first, you get the chance to come back, but that never came to fruition. Great fun though!

What are some of your stand-out memories from being in the cast of EastEnders as Clyde Tavernier and how was it being part of a hugely-popular soap opera?

Many of my greatest memories are from working with my long-time friend and colleague Susan Tully. I worked with Susan on Grange Hill many years before EastEnders and we always worked well together.

An interesting, moving, and memorable storyline and memory was when we shot the episodes where Clyde is on the run, having been accused of the murder of Eddie Royal – the then-landlord of the Queen Victoria pub.

Driving with one hand while Susan’s changing the gears on the car made it great fun to do.

I have shot many high-profile programmes in the past so, for me, it wasn’t really a big deal. However, the way your life changes over the period of six weeks is quite remarkable. In my time of shooting EastEnders, the rehearsals and shoot were six weeks ahead of what viewers saw on screen, but the first night you go out on screen, your life will change forever from the very next day!

Though life is tough with such a profile, I love it!

And the thing is… I just love location work. It just turns me on!

What was Clyde like to play and how was it developing the character throughout different storylines?

Clyde was an easy character for me to portray, as much of what I came up with was in my life anyway. I used to be a boxer up until I was just turned 15 and was very interested in the martial arts. I trained a lot and my levels of fitness helped to make shooting EastEnders easier, both mentally and physically.

As far as storylines go, you take them as they come up. As you get more involved and respected in the programme, storylines may be discussed with you. Otherwise, you get a script and that’s all you have to play with.

This can bring on a lot of anxiety not knowing where your character is going but, unfortunately, it’s part of the job!

How was it getting into character as Jevon in Only Fools and Horses and what was it like on set?

The character of Jevon was, again, easy to play. I brought a lot of my own experiences into the programme, like how Jevon dressed – the wearing of a gold chain over his tie and shirt, which is tacky, but was how the ‘casual boys’ wore their garments back in the 1980s.

Your character would naturally grow on set as you would be dealing with a group of actors who knew their stuff. A programme you needed a sense of humour to make. And, with a cast that gelled beautifully, nothing was difficult. Hard work? Yes! But the togetherness made it work.

Towards the start of your screen career, you played Glenroy in Series 6 and 7 of Grange Hill and Marcus in ITV’s The All Electric Amusement Arcade, what do you remember most from filming both shows?

Grange Hill was the first major television programme that I had filmed. It was over a period of two years and, again, I enjoyed every minute of it and made some really good friends.

The All Electric Amusement Arcade was the first series that I shot. A seven-part series done by Thames Television. It is, in fact, while shooting The All Electric Amusement Arcade that I first met John Sullivan (writer of Only Fools and Horses). He was a grip at the time, and we used to talk a lot about writing, as John had come to the play reading of my play Jah Jah Reach the Top about a young bass player aiming to be one of the best bass players in the world.

I gained fantastic experience from both shows, and both shows allowed me to understand what I was letting myself in for when accepting the role of Clyde Tavernier in EastEnders.

We understand you have also performed in theatre productions including Antony and Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew, both at Theatre Royal Haymarket, can you tell us about some of your theatre roles?

Antony and Cleopatra and The Taming of The Shrew were the two and only two Shakespeare plays that I have done. They were both top-billed with Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Dalton, who were great to work with. I learned so much from them. Much of what I still use in theatre today. From Vanessa it was: rehearse in clothes that are as comfortable as you can find, even if you have to change when you get to the theatre. Timothy Dalton would work in the same fashion, and the energy was amazing all round.

Other stage productions that I have done include One Rule with the Black Theatre Co-operative and Scrape of the Black, in which I played the lead role at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. I performed in and wrote the music to Eden, directed by Alby James and performed at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. I also played the lead role in Blood Sweat and Fears, written by Maria Oshodi (who was partially blind at the time), and toured most of the country with that production. A very difficult part to play as it was about Sickle Cell Anaemia and required from me monumental leaps of emotion and… ‘pain acting’, ha!

Where does your love of acting come from and how did you originally get into it?

From being a very shy boy through my school years, particularly infants and junior school, I was to find myself after playing a very small role in the school play at Hackney Downs School where I went for my secondary education. I was fortunate to have a wonderful English and drama teacher, Frances Magee, who once asked me to get a group of boys together because there was a play at The Royal Court Theatre that she believed would interest us.

The play was a musical with contemporary performers and much I could relate to. So, after that trip to the theatre, I wrote the play Jah Jah Reach the Top, which was done as a play reading at The Royal Court Theatre (the play reading that John Sullivan came to). All part of the Young Writer’s Festival and part of the Activist Theatre Group.

An old school friend, Eddie Mills, wrote a play called Trouble In Brixton, all about the rioting times. In this play, I played the lead role – a character named Mugu. This play was performed in the upstairs theatre at The Royal Court and was a great hit!

That was it for me. I was seen in that play by a casting director named Sheila Trezise and was asked to audition for Wolcott, a four-part television series about a black detective. The character’s name was Melville Groves, and that was it. I had the bug and couldn’t stop myself. I have been in the business ever since and will pass all my days in it!

Do you have any favourite films, TV and theatre shows to watch?

One of my favourite films is Pulp Fiction. I enjoy action movies. As for theatre, it’s difficult to say as I haven’t been for a while and nothing immediately springs to mind.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Walking, playing the guitar (which I do professionally), scuba diving and listening to music.

What are you hoping 2026 brings for you?

My hopes for 2026 is to get the projects that I am working on out to the public. Particularly my music and writing. After all, it’s for sharing!