THIS year’s panto at Greenock’s Beacon Arts Centre was just the ticket — after attracting a record attendance of more than 16,000.

Bosses at the waterfront theatre are celebrating the success of the venue’s fifth professional pantomime, Snow White, after audience numbers peaked at their highest level to date.

The production, starring Mark Cox and Jane McCarry from TV’s Still Game, was watched by 16,232 people during the three-week run from December 8-31.

The 2017 attendance figure was up by 1,775 on the previous record set in 2016.

Theatre chiefs also saw numbers soar at their bar and restaurant and say it sets them up for the next 12 months.

Raymond Jack, chair of the company’s external affairs committee, said: “Everyone at the Beacon is absolutely delighted with the success of Snow White.

“We’ve achieved our biggest audience figures since we opened, and, along with four and five star reviews and increased footfall in our Bar and Kitchen, we are entering our fifth year of operation in very good shape.”

Panto attendances have gone up each year since the Beacon opened in 2013.

The 2017 instalment saw the cast perform in front of several full houses.

Starring alongside Jane, who played baddie ‘Queen Sadista’, and Mark, as her assistant the ‘Duke of Bogston’, were Stephanie Falls in the leading role of Snow White, Prince Charming Blair Robertson and the hilarious double act of panto dame Jimmy Chisholm, as ‘Nurse Mattie McBatty’, and Lee Samuel, who played her son Muddles.