Coronation Street actors Mollie Gallagher and Beth Nixon are taking on a very different kind of villainy this Christmas. The pair will play the Wicked Stepsisters in Cinderella at The Loom in Oldham, bringing a recognisable Weatherfield connection to the venue’s first festive pantomime.
The casting was reported by BroadwayWorld on 29 October, with the production scheduled to run from 11 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. The Loom’s official ticketing listings also confirm the December performances, including an opening preview on Friday 11 December.
Mollie Gallagher and Beth Nixon trade soap drama for Cinderella
Gallagher is familiar to Coronation Street viewers as Nina Lucas, while Nixon played athletics coach Megan Walsh. For audiences who associate those performances with emotionally demanding television stories, their appearance together offers a clear change of register.
BroadwayWorld’s cast announcement identifies the actresses as the production’s Wicked Stepsisters and confirms that Cinderella will be Nixon’s pantomime debut. Gallagher, meanwhile, is also appearing as Clarice Starling in the touring stage adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs.
This is a theatre casting announcement, rather than a development in either character’s Coronation Street storyline. Their stage commitments should not be treated as confirmation of an unannounced soap exit, return or filming arrangement.
Another Weatherfield connection joins the company
The cast also includes Jeffrey Longmore as the Dame. SoaplandTV’s report notes that Longmore recently appeared in Coronation Street as Oscar Fyffe, adding another link between the Christmas company and the ITV serial.
His involvement brings a substantial pantomime milestone: this will be his 50th season in the genre. His association with Oldham theatre also stretches back decades, giving the production a local connection alongside its television names.
Kate Salmon will play the Fairy, Adam Parker Brown will appear as Buttons, Caitlin McNally takes the title role and Ryan Hall plays Prince Charming. Together, those roles establish the familiar framework of Cinderella without requiring audiences to know the actors’ earlier screen work.
Why The Loom matters to this Christmas production
The setting is part of the story. On its official website, The Loom describes itself as a new, flexible events space in central Oldham. The venue carries forward the gathering-place tradition associated with Queen Elizabeth Hall and forms part of the town’s regeneration programme.
The council-run venue’s name refers to the looms once central to Oldham’s cotton industry. That gives a seasonal entertainment announcement a wider local context: a traditional Christmas outing is moving into a new civic space with a name rooted in the town’s history.
The official venue information places The Loom at Parliament Square, Oldham, OL1 1AS, and notes access by bus, car and Metrolink. Visitors should use the venue’s current information for travel and accessibility arrangements rather than assume that details from an older Oldham pantomime still apply.
Performance dates and what to check before booking
The Loom’s TicketSource page lists the 11 December preview at 7pm, followed by performances on Saturday 12 December at 2pm and 6pm. Further afternoon and evening dates are listed across the Christmas period.
Those are individual performance times, rather than a single daily schedule. Anyone planning a family visit should select the exact date and time on the booking page and check the terms attached to that performance.
Editorially, the appeal for Coronation Street followers is the opportunity to see familiar performers work in a different theatrical form. Pantomime invites a broader, more playful relationship with an audience than a television close-up; that comparison is context, not a review of a production that has yet to open.
For now, the confirmed news is the casting and advertised run. How Gallagher and Nixon shape their double act will become clear when Cinderella reaches the stage this December.