There is no traditional panto in Crouch End or Highgate this year. Jacksons Lane runs six children's shows from £10 and Ally Pally has 68 performances.

If you are looking for a traditional pantomime in Crouch End or Highgate, there is not one. No local venue has announced a dame, a beanstalk or an “oh no it isn’t” for Christmas 2026. What the area does have is a rolling six-show children’s season at Jacksons Lane, a Victorian murder mystery at the Alexandra Palace Theatre, and a skating Cinderella, which is the closest thing to a panto within walking distance.

All the details below come from the venues’ own booking pages, checked on 3 September 2026. Everything listed is on sale now.

Jacksons Lane: six shows, one a week

Jacksons Lane, at 269a Archway Road N6 5AA, does not run a single long panto. It programmes a different family show every week from the start of December to the first weekend of January, mostly circus, puppetry and physical theatre companies on tour.

Show Dates Ages Runs Tickets
The Elf Factory, Hikapee 1 to 6 Dec 5 to 9 45 mins £10.00 to £22.50
The Three Little Pigs, Stuff & Nonsense 8 to 13 Dec 3+ 60 mins £10.00 to £22.50
A Christmas Wish, Let’s All Dance 15 to 20 Dec 0 to 8 30 mins £10.00 to £20.00
Pinocchio, Indefinite Articles 15 to 20 Dec 4+ 60 mins £10.00 to £22.50
There’s a Monster in Your (Christmas) Show 22 to 28 Dec 3+ 50 mins £10.00 to £25.00
The Ultimate Bubble Show 30 Dec to 3 Jan All ages 65 mins £10.00 to £22.50

Source: Jacksons Lane.

Four things worth knowing before you book.

  • Two shows run in the same week. A Christmas Wish and Pinocchio both play 15 to 20 December, in different spaces and at different times, so that week you are choosing between a 30-minute ballet piece for under-8s and an hour of Pinocchio for over-4s.
  • The pattern of times is fixed. Weekdays are a 10.30am and a 4.30pm; Saturday and Sunday are 11am and 3pm. Pinocchio is the exception, running later slots up to 5.30pm.
  • Christmas Eve and New Year are covered. There’s a Monster in Your (Christmas) Show plays twice on Thursday 24 December, then goes dark for Christmas Day and Boxing Day and returns on 27 December. The Ultimate Bubble Show plays twice on New Year’s Eve and twice on New Year’s Day.
  • Every show starts at £10. That is the cheapest festive theatre in the area by a distance.

Jacksons Lane says the Bubble Show has “sold out both previous times” at the venue and is built to suit children and adults with additional needs.

Alexandra Palace Theatre: Sherlock Holmes, 68 performances

The Palace’s Victorian theatre has Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas, from Tuesday 24 November 2026 to Sunday 17 January 2027. It is not a panto, though WhatsOnStage, quoted on the venue’s own page, calls it a show that “brilliantly blends elements of the traditional Holmes detective tale with the craziness of pantomime”.

  • Age guidance 10 and over. The venue warns of moderate language, innuendo and gunshot sound effects, which rules it out as a small-children option.
  • Running time 2 hours 30 minutes, including an interval.
  • Previews are the first three nights, 24 to 26 November. Press night is Tuesday 1 December.
  • Access performances: captioned on Sunday 3 January at 13:00, audio described on Tuesday 12 January at 19:30. Those are the only two.

We counted the venue’s published schedule: 68 performances. Evening shows generally start at 19:30 with doors at 18:30; matinees vary between 13:00 and 14:30. The final performance is a Sunday matinee at 13:00 on 17 January 2027.

The dark days

Ten dates inside the run have no performance at all. Mondays are the usual dark day, but not all of them, and there is one gap that looks like a mistake and is not:

Dark date Day
30 November, 7 December, 14 December Mondays
17 December Thursday
25 and 26 December Christmas Day, Boxing Day
31 December, 1 January New Year
4 and 11 January Mondays

Thursday 17 December is the odd one. It sits in the middle of a week that plays on the 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th and 20th, and the Palace lists nothing on it. Note also that Monday 21 December and Monday 28 December both do have evening performances, so “Mondays are dark” is not a rule you can plan on.

Two rows in the venue’s own table print an end time identical to the start time, on 15 and 21 December, which is a data error rather than a 90-second show. Both are ordinary 19:30 evening performances.

No price is published on the Palace’s own page for this show. Ticket resellers list a starting figure, but we are not repeating a price the venue has not printed. Check the Palace’s box office (Alexandra Palace).

The nearest thing to a panto

Cinderella On Ice at the Alexandra Palace ice rink, 3 to 6 December, six public performances, skated by the rink’s own amateur company and billed for ages 3 and up. Times, the school-performance dates and the rink’s own prices are on our Christmas at Alexandra Palace page.

Be careful with one detail there: the Palace’s Christmas landing page still tells readers that “Sleeping Beauty” is “this year’s dazzling panto on ice”. That is last year’s show. The event listing on the same page says Cinderella.

Getting there

Jacksons Lane is on Archway Road at Highgate Tube, which is the easiest of the three by public transport and the hardest to park at. Alexandra Palace Theatre is reached from the East Court entrance, with parking charged at £2.20 an hour after a free first 30 minutes. Check parking in Crouch End for zone hours if you are driving from the N8 side, and the roadworks and travel page before an evening show.

For the rest of the season, see the Crouch End Christmas lights switch-on and the Ally Pally fireworks.