DANIEL CLARKSON

According to Wikipedia, Daniel is a “British comedy actor, playwright and director with two Olivier nominations and a Blue Peter Badge.” Graduating from Bretton Hall, Daniel is probably best known for being one half of the comedy double act “Dan and Jeff”, renowned across the globe for their “Potted” stage shows as well as an 18-month residence in the CBBC office as their in-house presenters. With four shows now under their belt (Potted Potter, Potted Pirates, Potted Panto and Potted Sherlock) they’ve received both audience and critical acclaim, having had sell-out seasons in both London’s West End and New York, and completed several successful international tours including a current residency of Potted Potter in Las Vegas where it won "Best New Production". 

Other writing credits include: The Crown Live (Kings Head, US tour) King Kong a comedy (The Vaults) The Pirate, The Princess and The Platypus (co-wrote; Polka) The Mr Thing Show (co-wrote; performed as Puppet Steve) Daniel has made regular appearances on BBC, ITV and Channel 4 - writing, performing and directing his unique brand of condensed comedy, and over lockdown he co-wrote and performed Judge Smudge in CBBC’s ‘Monster Court’ (BBC) filming the entire series in his dining room! He was also in ‘Coronation Street’ (ITV) a couple of times ... (he didn’t know how to fit that in but his mum said “he really should”).

Daniel’s thrilled to be back at Wilton’s and wishes everyone a wonderful Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year. Please follow him @Daniel_Veronica and help his ongoing quest to get more Insta followers than the Mayor of Watford.

JEFFERSON TURNER

Jeff met Dan nearly 20 years ago, and has worked with him for a large proportion of that time, racking up thousands of hours of stage time together. As a pair, they have enjoyed UK tours, Australasian tours, US tours, West End and Off-Broadway seasons and two Olivier nominations. This all culminated in Jeff’s life-long dream coming true, when he opened Potted Potter’s residency in Las Vegas - when it was finally time to come home, Jeff had to be dragged away, kicking and screaming (the show is still running there, and Jeff visits it whenever he is allowed, which isn’t nearly often enough, if you ask him, thank you very much)! Jeff wrote Potted Panto with Dan, as well as Potted Potter and Potted Pirates.

 Jeff has been allowed on TV with Dan far more regularly than seems sensible, on shows such as Blue Peter (BBC); Richard & Judy (C4); The Slammer (BBC); and Big Brother’s Little Brother (C4). They were even household names between 2008-2010, when they were the in-house presenters in the CBBC Office (BBC), messing around in living rooms Nationwide! A few years ago, Jeff thoroughly enjoyed training with Second City when they popped over to London, to develop and sharpen his improvisation skills, which is vital to do when one shares a stage with a performer as predictably unpredictable as a certain Daniel Clarkson… Having performed Potted Panto on many a West End stage over the past 13 years, Jeff was delighted to make the move east to Wilton’s in 2023. He was even more thrilled to be asked back for a third year; he must be doing something right and is still trying to work out exactly what that is! What an historic building to get to call home over the festive period! Speaking of which, Jeff would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Feel free to pop onto socials and say hi (do people still do that? Or is it all Zoom and LinkedIn these days…?)

TOBY HOLLOWAY

Toby grew up in the Highlands and developed a love for performing at an early age. He moved to Edinburgh in 2018 to develop his acting skills at university level, graduating with honours from both Napier and Queen Margaret University. Toby made his professional debut on tour in Trainspotting Live in 2022 and returned to the company for Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 and 2024. His other credits include The Way Old Friends Do at the Criterion Theatre in the West End, Birmingham Rep and on tour.

MATT TEDFORD

Matt Tedford is an actor, performer and writer. He studied drama at the University of East Anglia where he performed in plays such as Alfie, Angels in America, Faust and a regional tour of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. Since then he has written, starred in, received an Offie nomination for and won the award for Best Male Performance at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival for Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho. He subsequently reprised the role in the sequels Margaret Thatcher Queen of Gameshows and Queen of Club Nights to critical acclaim. His additional credits include the European Premier of Act of God, BBC’s EastEnders, and the film Freedom: Pride at 50.

RICHARD HURST

Recipient of the RSC’s Buzz Goodbody Director Award and short-listed for The Guardian Award, two Olivier Awards, RTS comedy writing award. Directing includes The Pirate, the Princess and the Platypus (with Daniel Clarkson); Potted Panto; Potted Pirates; Girl and Dean; Pegabovine; Moon the Loon; The Edinburgh Love Tour; Bill Hicks: Slight Return; The Art of Success; Hamlet; Women Beware Women; Phaedra’s Love; Twelfth Night; Ripley Bogle; The Tempest.

As a writer: Potted Pirates and Potted Panto (with Dan and Jeff); The Pirate, the Princess and the Platypus (with Daniel Clarkson); The Edinburgh Love Tour and Bill Hicks: Slight Return (with Chas Early); Hard Times and Ripley Bogle (adapted). For television: co-creator/writer of Bluestone 42 (BBC3), as co-writer Miranda (BBC1), The Rebel (Gold); as writer, three episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl (ITV2/ Showtime). 

SIMON SCULLION

Trained at Wimbledon School of Art and was a Theatre Design Finalist for the Linbury Prize. Most recent credits include: Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Apollo and tour), Showstopper! (Apollo) and Out There on Fried Meat Ridge Road (Trafalgar Studios). Other theatre credits include The Father (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), The Leisure Society (Trafalgar Studios), Potted Panto (Vaudeville), Murder on the Nile (UK tour), Alarms and Excursions (UK tour), Peppa Pig Live (tour), Lazytown Live (tour), Quartermaine’s Terms (UK tour), Quartet (UK tour), Larkrise (tour) and Elizabeth and Raleigh: Late but Live (Edinburgh Festival).  simonscullion.co.uk

NICKY BUNCH

Nicky trained at the Central School of Speech & Drama. Design credits include: The New Musketeers; Miracle on 34th Street; The Aliens That Stole Christmas​ (Trinity); The Little Witch (The Place); Egusi Soup (Bury St Edmunds & UK Tour); Fragile (Coventry Belgrade); Shiverman (503); When Did You Last See My Mother (Trafalgar Studios); Guys & Dolls (Cambridge Arts); Well (Apollo, West End); Frankenstein (Sheffield Crucible & Tour). She has designed many productions for leading drama schools including LAMDA, Laban, RCM, GSA and Mountview. nickybunch.co.uk

TIM MASCALL

West End credits include: Why The Whales Came (Pinter); Well (Apollo); Ruby Wax: Losing It (Duchess); The Vagina Monologues (Wyndhams); Potted Panto (Garrick and Vaudeville); Eric And Little Ern (Vaudeville); Derren Brown: Enigma (Adelphi); Evening Of Wonder (Garrick); Infamous (Palace); Miracle (Palace); and Something Wicked This Way Comes (Old Vic).

Other London credits include: Breakfast With Jonny Wilkinson, Ruby Wax: Out Of Her Mind, Fully Committed and Without You (Menier Chocolate Factory) The Importance Of Being Earnest (Regents Park Open Air) and Invincible (St James).

Further UK credits include: Lionboy (Complicite), Long Day’s Journey Into Night, A Taste Of Honey, Kill Jonny Glendenning and Faith Healer (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh), The Real Thing and Good Grief (Theatre Royal Bath), Pavilion; Orpheus Descending; and Lord Of The Flies (Theatre Clwyd).

Opera credits include: The Cunning Little Vixen (Garsington); Aida (Opera Holland Park); The Gamblers and Peter Grimes (Royal Festival Hall).  timmascall.com

TOM LISHMAN

Tom’s work in the West End has included Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, The Caretaker, Pete And Dud Come Again, Medea, I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, Brief Lives, Twelve Angry Men, The Gin Game, Taking Sides, A Letter of Resignation, Life Support, The Hothouse, The Rivals, Vita and Virginia, Hobson’s Choice and Rope.

He designed sound for Ashes to Ashes (Royal Court), The Great Game: Afghanistan, Not Black & White, Broken Glass, Women Power & Politics and Greta Garbo Came To Donegal (Tricycle), I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (Royal Opera House Linbury Studio), A Tainted Dawn, Bill Shakespeare’s Italian Job, A British Subject and Potted Sherlock and Shakespeare Untold (Edinburgh Festival), The Farm, Those Magnificent Men, The Falling Sky (New Perspectives), To Town Hall Cherubs (BAC), and five seasons of operas for Grange Park Opera, as well as productions for pantomimes and numerous repertory theatres. Tom has created almost 60 sound designs for Chichester Festival Theatre.

PHIL INNES

Phil is a composer, sound-designer and sound-artist working across multiple platforms. He is a BA Music graduate from Falmouth University. Credits include The Trench (Collective Arts); Barabas (Hall for Cornwall); Walk With Me (Kneehigh); Everyman (Tangle); The Magic Beanstalk (Light Theatre); Potted Potter; Potted Pirates; and Potted Sherlock; The Cold Truth; Poison; Enduring Lies; and Lonely Not Alone (Effervescent); Lonely Not Alone (Co-op Foundation). Phil is a member of the Ludi Electric Guitar Quartet. 

SAMMY JOHNSON

Sammy trained at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and ALRA. This is his second year on Potted Panto, and he is very much looking forward to returning to the show and performing at Wilton’s Music Hall. Theatre credits include Exile (Southwark Playhouse), Collapsible (Bush), Tinseltown (Theatre at the Mill), and Aladdin (Marina). Sammy has also appeared in EastEnders for the BBC, Cuban Fury on Film4, and performed on The X Factor (ITV) and for Take That.  

MARIE-CLAIRE WOOD

Marie-Claire graduated from Rose Bruford College in 2019 and has since worked across stage, feature and short films and voice over. She also writes plays, screenplays and poetry. Her first comedy play, Pamplemousse, was on at The Cockpit last year. She has also appeared in Lost Souls (Loosely Based), Prometheus in Chains (Finborough) Macbeth (Ethereal), and Safety Zone (Breadbin Theatre Company). Her film and shorts credits include One Life and My Sister's Bones, Eugene Needs the Loo, and The Sinking.

Marie-Claire’s audio credits include Invisible Borders: The Audiobook (Hypatia Trust), Click Click Boom Boom (Pink Nightmares), Postcards From Another World (Alternative Realities), The Victoria Files (Alternative Realities), Backdrop (Alternative Stories), and Under The Influence (Pink Nightmares). This is her second year joining the Potted team and she is delighted to be back for some more Christmas shenanigans!