I remember my first time at a pantomime very well.

I was six years old and I was very excited because, the day before, my teacher at school had told me I’d won the school’s Aladdin colouring competition (I’d had to colour in a picture of the genie and I’d employed a devilishly complicated pattern of crosses and dots that had left the other lower infants eating my dust) and that I would have to go up on stage during the panto at Watersmeet and collect my prize.

When Wishey Washey announced that I was the winner, I was up on that stage before my mum could even get out of her seat, collecting my £5 book token and bowing to my public. My artistic career never really took off, but I’ve never forgotten that moment.

Panto really is an unforgettable time for a child, something that former G4 singer Jonathan Ansell, who plays Prince Valiant in Sleeping Beauty this year at Watersmeet, is all too aware of.

“I love pantomime,” says the 31-year-old.

“It’s traditionally the first exposure that many children have to theatre and it was definitely an inspiration when I was a kid. We used to go to Wimbledon Theatre and watch the big panto there every year on Boxing Day. To be part of that memory for young children myself now is great.”

Jonathan is therefore delighted to return to Watersmeet, where he played Prince Charming in 2011’s Cinderella, and is enjoying the chance pantomime gives him to ‘take the mick out of myself and be a bit silly’.

Jonathan rose to fame on X Factor in 2004 with G4, the pop opera boy band he formed with three schoolmates from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in which he was the high tenor and with whom he achieved worldwide fame.

They split in 2007 and Jonathan began his solo career, releasing albums and touring extensively, and has recently moved into musical theatre, starring in Whistle Down the Wind, Lark Rise to Candlewood and Beauty and the Beast.

Musical theatre then inspired his move in to pantomime – where his little daughter, Siena, three, now gets to see her daddy on stage.

“She’s been coming to see me in panto since she was just one,” Jonathan laughs, “she shouts back and forth and gets really animated. She tells everyone at nursery that Daddy’s a prince, they think she’s just being sweet but they don’t know she’s actually telling the truth!

“It’s lovely that I’m going to be the first memory of pantomime for my own daughter. It’s a special thing to be part of, and to have her out there in the audience is magical.”

Sleeping Beauty is at Watersmeet, High Street, Rickmansworth from December 6 to 31. Details: 01923 711063, watersmeet.co.uk