Whitehouse attacks 'Viagra' panto

Mary Whitehouse accused the panto of "corrupting children"

Veteran decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse has criticised a Christmas pantomime which includes a reference to the anti-impotence drug Viagra.

Comedian Roy Hudd wrote the offending production

The 90-year-old founder of the National Viewers and Listeners Association said the production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was "corrupting children".

In the show, written by comedian Roy Hudd, the audience is asked to shout out "Viagra" to raise the gates of a castle.

But Mrs Whitehouse, who lives in neighbouring Essex and has not seen the panto, fumed: "It's corrupting their innocence and doing it at Christmas time as well. I think it should be dropped."

I don't see anything naughty in it - it's only people like Mary Whitehouse who can see something smutty in it

Roy Hudd

Theatre managers are insisting they will not change the script, saying they have received no other complaints.

A Theatre Royal spokesman said: "It's a joke that's meant for the parents and it gets lots of laughs. I have no doubt that it goes straight over the heads of children.

'Mild sexual innuendo'

"As in all pantos, there is a bit of mild sexual innuendo in the script. They are jokes aimed at the adults in the audience.

Roy Hudd's star characters

Jack Parsnip

Bobby Beetroot

Fairy Lettuce

Rosie Radish

Baron Broccoli