00:00Hello, my name's Tom Worley and I'm Silly Simon.
00:04My name's Miss Rory and I shall be playing Rory in a...
00:07Trot.
00:08Trot!
00:09And my name is Matthew Wolfenden and I'll be playing Jack.
00:13And we'll all be doing that.
00:17Jack and the Beanstalk at Sunderland Empire this Christmas.
00:20From the 13th of December until the 5th of January.
00:24Until the tax bill's paid.
00:26Yeah, so why don't you two start by telling us about Rantel because this is your sixth year?
00:31Oh, it is, yeah.
00:33We just love, well, we love Pademans and we love Sunderland Empire.
00:37It's our sixth year here.
00:39Every year it just gets more and more and more magical.
00:42It's sort of, it's a massive part of Christmas in the city and in the North East, really.
00:48And it's great to share it this year with Matthew who's joining us from the Dales.
00:52And it's quite literally bigger than ever before.
00:54Like, literally it's giant. The Beanstalk is an actual giant and it's 3D.
00:59It is, it's 3D.
01:03Like that.
01:04Just like that.
01:05Just like that.
01:06Do you know what, I performed at the Sunderland Empire Theatre 22 years ago.
01:12That's when you both said, you don't look old enough.
01:15I was just thinking...
01:16You don't look old enough.
01:17I wasn't born.
01:20Yeah, so it's absolutely amazing to be back.
01:22It's such a beautiful theatre.
01:24And it's huge. It's like 2,000 people.
01:27Saying that though, we're selling out.
01:32Hundreds of people gathered around Keele Square and danced and sung along to the entertainment,
01:37which was hosted by Stephen Cavan from Hits Radio.
01:40Other entertainment included a Taylor Swift tribute,
01:43a performance from the Fantastic Panto Stars,
01:46and children's favourites Shrek and Fiona, Mickey and Minnie Mouse,
01:50and of course Santa Claus himself,
01:52as they all waited in anticipation for the phenomenal light switch on.
01:56After the countdown, the button was pressed
01:58and fireworks were set off above the Holiday Inn and around the screen,
02:01which displayed amazing festive animations before wishing everyone
02:04a Merry Christmas from Sunderland City Council and the Mayor of Sunderland.
02:14I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas
02:16and thank you so much for coming along this evening
02:18to Sunderland, the first day really of the Christmas festivities here in Sunderland.
02:22The city centre now has got so much to offer.
02:25As you can see, all the buildings coming up around you.
02:27We've got Culture House, we've got the lovely pups coming up,
02:30the muddler, the tail cabin.
02:32It's absolutely great.
02:34There's all sorts going on this Christmas as well.
02:36You've got the Reindeer Dash, which will be happening soon.
02:39You've also got Angelo's Ristorante.
02:43They're doing a Christmas market on Sunday.
02:46You've also got Sunnyside Market coming up as well in December.
02:49There's lots to do and see in Sunderland.
02:52And we really need people to come into Sunderland,
02:54support the local businesses,
02:56and see the absolutely amazing transformation
02:58that's going on around the city centre.
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