Time travel star's bumpy ride to city

HE may be a time traveller in Dr Who, but jet travel didn't suit John Barrowman as he headed for Birmingham Hippodrome to launch this year's Christmas pantomime.
John, who is best know as the time-travelling conman Capt Jack Harkness in both Dr Who and Torchwood series, joined forces with other cast members including Banzai's Masashi Fujimoto and The Grumbleweeds yesterday.
But John, who will take the lead role of Aladdin in the panto, held up the launch by an hour because he was feeling poorly after a supersonic flight.
"I am so sorry to be late," he said. "I was flying in a Hawker fighter jet to launch the RAF Tattoo and we were doing 360¼ turns and loop the loop.
"With the G-force it really hit me. When I got into the car afterwards I felt so sick I just collapsed flat."
And John confessed the event, flying from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and taking in most of the UK en route had also seen a reunion with Connie Fisher, winner of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? which John helped judge.
"She told them she didn't want to be sick so her plane was just flat," he said. "We kept looping round her to wave at her. But it was a great experience and I think I have seen the whole of England, upside down."
Also taking roles in the panto are Birmingham's Don Maclean as Widow Twankey, Lily McConigley as Princess Yasmin, Peter Gallagher as Abanazar and the Daleks from Doctor Who.
Tickets for the event went on sale before Christmas and sales figures are already well ahead of last year without the cast even being announced.
Theatre chief executive Stuart Griffiths said signing up Barrowman, who is currently filming a second series of the Dr Who spin-off Torchwood and judging television's hunt for Joseph in Any Dream Will Do, was a real coup.
"We are delighted that John, one of today's biggest stars from stage and television, will be heading the cast in what will be the theatre's 50th year of pantomime," he said.
Aladdin plays Birmingham Hippodrome from December 19-January 27, contact 0870 730 1234 or see www.birminghamhippodrome.com for ticket details.