Hundreds of lit lanterns hanging above the audience at the Old Vic, with musicians in top hats and long coats playing on a wooden stage between the seats

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Christmas Shows and Pantomimes in London 2026

Every Christmas show in London for 2026: the pantomimes from the Palladium to Stratford East, both Nutcrackers, three Christmas Carols, The Snowman, and the shows for under-fives, with dates, prices, running times and age guidance.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: For a proper panto, the London Palladium’s Cinderella has the stars (Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders as the Ugly Sisters, with Julian Clary) but is not for young children, and nobody under four gets in. Stratford East, the Lyric Hammersmith and the Hackney Empire cost less, with seats from £10 at the Lyric and the Hackney Empire. The Snowman at the Peacock (from £18, 90 minutes) and Little Angel’s two shows (£8.50 at some weekday 4.45pm performances) are the ones for under-fives. English National Ballet’s Nutcracker is at the Coliseum from 17 December. The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol, for eight and over, opens on 10 November. For three to eight-year-olds, Wundrful World of Christmas at ExCeL is a timed walk-through to Santa’s grotto from 13 November. Every Christmas show we list is at the bottom of the page.

Pantomimes

Cinderella, London Palladium

The London Palladium's gilded proscenium arch and stage boxes, lit by chandeliers, with a bare stage in blue light

The London Palladium.

5 December 2026 – 10 January 2027. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders play the Ugly Sisters, together on a West End stage for the first time in 17 years, with Julian Clary, wand in hand.

Read the age advice before booking. The theatre says the show includes playful innuendo and cheeky jokes and is not tailored for young children, and it doesn’t admit anyone under four. Book on the Palladium’s site. Also sold by London Box Officead.

Robin Hood and the Merry Mandem, Stratford East

The red and gold auditorium of Theatre Royal Stratford East, with a curved circle, stage boxes and a safety curtain painted as red drapes

Theatre Royal Stratford East.

21 November 2026 – 2 January 2027. Rated suitable for all ages and running about two hours plus an interval. Ticket prices rise as the theatre fills, so book early. Access performances: BSL 11 December, captioned 18 December, audio described 19 December, relaxed 2 January. Dates and tickets.

Cinderella, Lyric Hammersmith

14 November 2026 – 3 January 2027, from £10. Written by Joel Horwood and directed by Robin Belfield. Young Lyric members get two £5 tickets, and under-16s pay £30 in Band B and £20 in Band C. Children under 18 months don’t need a ticket. Access performances: relaxed 1 December at 10am, audio described 10 December, BSL 11 December, captioned 16 December. Dates and tickets.

Jack and the Beanstalk, Hackney Empire

The Hackney Empire's auditorium from the stalls, with gilded and painted boxes either side of the stage and chandeliers in the ceiling

The Hackney Empire.

21 November – 31 December 2026, £10 to £48. Directed by and starring Olivier winner Clive Rowe. Children aged three and under can sit on a lap; everyone from four up needs a ticket. Dates and tickets.

Potted Panto, Apollo Theatre

6 December 2026 – 3 January 2027. Seven classic pantomimes in 70 minutes. Also sold by London Box Officead and Ticketmasterad.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Tower Theatre

3 – 19 December 2026, £5 to £8. £8 standard, £7 concessions and £5 for under-18s online; tickets bought at the door usually cost £2 more. Book online.

Christmas plays

A Christmas Carol, The Old Vic

Hundreds of lit lanterns hanging above the audience at the Old Vic, with musicians in top hats and long coats playing on a wooden stage between the seats

A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic.

10 November 2026 – 9 January 2027, £19.50 to £91.50. Matthew Warchus’s production of Jack Thorne’s adaptation. It runs about two hours including a 20-minute interval, and the Old Vic suggests it for ages eight and up. Previews (10–23 November) top out at £81.50. Access performances include audio described and BSL on 12 December and captioned on 14 December, and there’s an access rate of £23.50–£26.50 at every performance. Dates and tickets. Also sold by London Box Officead.

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, Wyndham’s Theatre

18 December 2026 – 23 January 2027. Mischief, the company behind The Play That Goes Wrong, turn the Dickens story into a disaster, with the cast feuding over who plays Scrooge while the set comes apart. Also sold by London Box Officead and Ticketmasterad.

Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas, Alexandra Palace

The theatre at Alexandra Palace, with rows of orange seats in the stalls and circle, bare peeling walls and an ornate plaster ceiling lit in orange

The theatre at Alexandra Palace.

24 November 2026 – 17 January 2027. A Christmas Sherlock Holmes mystery. It runs two and a half hours with an interval and is recommended for 10 and over: the theatre warns of moderate language, innuendo and gunshot sound effects. Captioned 3 January, audio described 12 January. Dates and tickets.

The Little Match Girl, Wilton’s Music Hall

Wilton's Music Hall in blue light, with fairy lights along the balcony fronts, twisted columns beneath and a wooden stage under a high arched ceiling

Wilton’s Music Hall.

3 December 2026 – 2 January 2027. 80 minutes including an interval, at Wilton’s in Whitechapel. Full price £16 to £35, under-12s £8 to £27. Dates and tickets.

Circus, dance and adult Christmas shows

Gandeys K-Pop Dragon Circus, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

19 November 2026 – 3 January 2027. New for 2026: a big-top show of dragons and circus acts set to K-Pop music and dance, inside Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. It runs 55 minutes, has no age restriction, and the organiser asks you to arrive 20 minutes before the start. Tickets are for a set performance and cost less booked in advance than on the day. Circus details and tickets

Scrooge: Cirque Extravaganza, ExCeL London

23, 24, 27 and 28 December 2026. A Christmas Carol told with aerialists, acrobats, a trampoline wall and fire breathers, in the ICC Auditorium at ExCeL, with the East Entrance and Prince Regent DLR station about two minutes away. The organiser calls it a family show and warns of water effects, audience participation, loud noises, strobe lights and pyrotechnics. One seat number is drawn at every performance, and its holder wins £1,000 cash on stage (school matinees excluded).

Performances: Wednesday 23 December at 6pm; Thursday 24 December at 11am and 3pm; Sunday 27 December at 1pm and 6pm; Monday 28 December at 1pm and 5pm. Seats are sold in price bands. On the organiser’s site, Christmas Eve’s Band A is £124.99 and Band B £94.99, each £25 cheaper per ticket for a group of four or more. Dates and tickets.

Cirque Alice, Royal Festival Hall

12 December 2026 – 3 January 2027. The European premiere of an acrobatic Alice in Wonderland from the creators of Circus 1903: aerialists, contortionists and puppetry to reworked classical hits, in a two-hour show the producers describe as suitable for all ages. On-stage seating is sold alongside the stalls. Dates and tickets.

Cinderella, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Sadler’s Wells

1 December 2026 – 17 January 2027, from £15 plus a £4 transaction fee. The 30th-anniversary revival of Bourne’s Cinderella, set in London during the Blitz, with Prokofiev’s score and a wartime romance between Cinderella and an RAF pilot. It runs 2 hours 20 minutes with two intervals and is recommended for ages eight and over. Audio described, with a touch tour, on 9 January at 2.30pm. Dates and tickets.

Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party, Underbelly Boulevard Soho

13 November 2026 – 10 January 2027, from £30 including the booking fee. Circus and comedy at a party where one audience member is picked each night to be Sophie, the guest of honour. Age 16 and over, 1 hour 30 minutes including an interval, at 6 Walker’s Court. The 9.30pm “Sophie’s Lates” run 70 minutes without an interval. Dates and tickets.

Christmas concerts and carols

Handel’s Messiah, Cadogan Hall

Sunday 6 December 2026, 6pm, from £19.50 including the fee. The English Chamber Orchestra and the VOCES8 Foundation Choir, directed by Nicholas Kraemer. About 2 hours 40 minutes including an interval, for ages seven and over. Dates and tickets.

Bach Collegium Japan: Handel’s Messiah, Barbican Hall

Tuesday 15 December 2026, 7pm, from £24 including the fee. Masato Suzuki conducts. Dates and tickets.

Carols at the Barbican

Three evenings in the Barbican Hall, in Raymond Gubbay’s Christmas season. Christmas Carol Singalong is on Saturday 19 December (about two hours, with the London Concert Orchestra) from £27.50. Christmas with King’s College Choir, with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the City of London Choir, is on Monday 21 December at 7.30pm from £27.50. Candlelit Carols with the Mozart Festival Orchestra is on Tuesday 22 December at 7.30pm from £27. All prices include the fee. Tickets: Singalong, King’s College Choir, Candlelit Carols.

A Ceremony of Carols, The Sixteen, Cadogan Hall

Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 December 2026, 7.30pm, from £26.50 including the fee. The Sixteen at Cadogan Hall, on Sloane Terrace. Dates and tickets.

West End Musical Christmas, Lyric Theatre

One night only: Monday 14 December 2026, 7.30pm, from £20. A surprise cast of West End performers, a live band and dancers, with the audience singing along. About two hours including an interval, suitable for all ages. Dates and tickets.

The Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert, Eventim Apollo

Saturday 28 November 2026, a 2pm matinee. The film shown on screen while an orchestra plays the score live, at Hammersmith. Dates and tickets.

Nutcrackers

Nutcracker, English National Ballet, London Coliseum

The London Coliseum at night, its tower topped by a lit globe, with an audience going in under a pink-lit entrance canopy

The London Coliseum, at night.

17 December 2026 – 10 January 2027, from £27.25 including fees. Tchaikovsky’s ballet, two hours including one interval. Under-16s get 25% off. The age guidance is five and over, and under-fives are only admitted at the family-friendly matinee on Saturday 9 January. Audio described 19 December, with a touch tour; relaxed 7 January. Dates and tickets. Also sold by London Box Officead.

The Nutcracker, Soho Theatre

22 December 2026 – 3 January 2027, from £15. A 70-minute Nutcracker for ages five and up. Prices include Soho Theatre’s £2 restoration levy and £2 booking fee. Dates and tickets.

For young children

The Snowman, Peacock Theatre

The Peacock Theatre's entrance, with its name in gold letters above a canopy of bare bulbs and glass doors beneath

The Peacock Theatre’s entrance.

21 November 2026 – 3 January 2027, from £18 plus a £4 transaction fee. A new production for 2026, Will Tuckett’s staging of Raymond Briggs’s story. An hour and a half including a 20-minute interval. Suitable for all ages; children two and over need a ticket. Family tickets are £150 for three and £200 for four. Relaxed 2 December, audio described 12 December. Dates and tickets. Also sold by London Box Officead.

Wundrful World of Christmas, ExCeL London

13 November – 24 December 2026, on selected days. A timed walk-through for ages three to eight and their adults, in Immerse LDN on ExCeL’s waterfront, about three minutes’ walk from Custom House (Elizabeth line and DLR). A lift to the North Pole, an Enchanted Forest, the Elves’ Workshop, Mrs Claus’s Kitchen and a meeting with Santa, with a photo taken at the end. The walk-through takes about 50 minutes, followed by the Elves’ Playground, an indoor festive village with light installations, gentle fairground rides and Christmas food stalls. Allow at least 90 minutes in all.

Peak and off-peak sessions are priced differently, so check the booking page. Every child needs a ticket, babies included. Santa photo prints, rides and food are paid for separately, and the venue is cashless. Pushchairs are not allowed inside the walk-through, but there is a pram park. Dates and tickets.

Pinocchio, Shakespeare’s Globe

28 November 2026 – 3 January 2027. A musical by Charlie Josephine and Jim Fortune, directed by Sean Holmes, staged in the Globe Theatre itself, for ages five and over. It runs 2 hours 10 minutes including a 20-minute interval. Seats are £29 to £89 including a £3 per-order fee and a £1 per-ticket restoration levy, standing tickets are £10 or £5, and under-16s pay half price for seats; they must sit next to an adult. Dates and tickets.

Peppa Pig’s Big Family Show!, Theatre Royal Haymarket

4 December 2026 – 3 January 2027, from £10. About 1 hour 20 minutes including an interval. Babies under 12 months sitting on a lap don’t need a ticket; everyone else does. Only pushchairs that fold down can be left in the cloakroom. Dates and tickets.

Room on the Broom, Lyric Theatre

27 November 2026 – 3 January 2027, from £10. Tall Stories’ adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s book: 60 minutes with no interval, for ages three and over. Under-18-months and babes in arms are free if they stay on a lap. Dates and tickets.

The Snowman in Concert and Paddington Bear’s First Concert, Cadogan Hall

Sunday 20 December 2026, 1.30pm and 4.30pm, from £24.50 including the fee. The film of The Snowman is shown on a big screen while the Mozart Symphony Orchestra plays the score live, in a programme that also includes Paddington Bear’s First Concert. Dates and tickets.

Disney On Ice presents Discover the Magic, The O2

24 December 2026 – 3 January 2027. An ice show built around the search for Tinker Bell, with scenes from Coco, Moana, Beauty and the Beast and Frozen, in The O2 arena. Doors open at 12pm and 3.30pm on Christmas Eve and at 9.30am and 1.30pm on 2 and 3 January; The O2’s page lists every performance in between. Dates and tickets.

The Snowflake, Little Angel Theatre

Children and adults on wooden pews at Little Angel Theatre, a few feet from a small stage with a painted puppet booth, under a rig of stage lights

Little Angel Theatre, Islington.

21 November 2026 – 23 January 2027. About 50 minutes, for all ages, on chairs and soft blocks round three sides of the stage, with up to 75 in the audience. Child tickets are £16, and every seat is £8.50 at the 4.45pm Thursday shows and £12 at the 4.45pm Friday ones. Relaxed 17 January, BSL 16 January. Dates and tickets.

Scruff’s Christmas Adventure, Little Angel Theatre

28 November 2026 – 3 January 2027. Aimed at three to six, about 35 minutes, and not designed for under-threes. Child tickets £16; every seat is £8.50 at the 4.45pm Wednesday shows and £12 at the 5pm Friday ones. Relaxed 12 December, BSL 19 December. Dates and tickets.

Santa’s First Christmas, Unicorn Theatre

14 November 2026 – 3 January 2027. From Mac Barnett and Sydney Smith’s picture book, told mainly through dance and music, for ages four and up, about 50 minutes. Dates and tickets.

The Gingerbread Man, The Albany

5 – 24 December 2026, £15, or four tickets for £50. A 50-minute show for ages three to ten at the Albany in Deptford. Babies under 18 months don’t need a ticket. The 11am show on Saturday 12 December is both BSL-interpreted and relaxed. Dates and tickets.

Stick Man, Bloomsbury Theatre

3 December 2026 – 3 January 2027, at UCL’s Bloomsbury Theatre on Gordon Street.

Every Christmas show in the listings

Every show below comes from the venues’ own box offices and Ticketmaster, updated twice a week, so it includes carol concerts, Messiahs and Christmas comedy nights as they’re announced. For carols in churches, including the free ones, see the carols section of our Christmas guide.

Each show at its next date, updated 12 November 2026. Follow a title for every date and the booking page.

Thursday12 November

Friday13 November

Saturday14 November

Sunday15 November

Thursday19 November

Saturday21 November

Tuesday24 November

Friday27 November

Saturday28 November

Sunday29 November

Tuesday1 December

Thursday3 December

Friday4 December

Saturday5 December

Sunday6 December

Monday7 December

Tuesday8 December

Wednesday9 December

Thursday10 December

Friday11 December

Saturday12 December

Sunday13 December

Monday14 December

Tuesday15 December

Wednesday16 December

Thursday17 December

Friday18 December

Saturday19 December

Sunday20 December

Continue planning your London trip

Prices change as performances sell, so check the booking page.

Common questions

Which London panto is best for young children?

Stratford East's Robin Hood and the Merry Mandem is rated suitable for all ages, and the Lyric Hammersmith's Cinderella has a relaxed performance on 1 December. The London Palladium's Cinderella is the one to think twice about with small children: the theatre says its humour includes innuendo and it isn't tailored for young children, and nobody under four is admitted.

What's the cheapest Christmas show in London?

Little Angel Theatre in Islington charges £8.50 for every seat at its 4.45pm Thursday shows of The Snowflake and its 4.45pm Wednesday shows of Scruff's Christmas Adventure. Among the pantos, the Lyric Hammersmith and the Hackney Empire both start at £10.

Is there a Nutcracker in London at Christmas 2026?

English National Ballet's Nutcracker is at the London Coliseum from 17 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, from £27.25 including fees, with 25% off for under-16s. Soho Theatre has a 70-minute Nutcracker for ages five and up from 22 December to 3 January, from £15.

Can under-fives go to the Nutcracker?

At the Coliseum, only at the family-friendly matinee on Saturday 9 January 2027: English National Ballet's age guidance is five and over, and under-fives aren't admitted to other performances. The Snowman at the Peacock is suitable for all ages, and children aged two and over need a ticket.

How long is The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre?

An hour and a half, including a 20-minute interval. The 2026 production is new, directed and choreographed by Will Tuckett, running from 21 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, from £18 plus a £4 transaction fee.

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