Qdos Pantomimes, the UK’s largest producer of Christmas productions, has been acquired by private-equity backed global production company Crossroads Live, in a move hailed as an “evolution” for pantomime production in the UK and abroad.
The acquisition – terms of which have not been disclosed – marks the end of Nick Thomas’ association with Qdos Pantomimes, which is part of his Qdos Entertainment Group, and follows the sale of his HQ Theatres earlier this year to Trafalgar Entertainment Group. Despite the sales, The Stage understands the Qdos Entertainment Group brand will continue, with Thomas saying the company “will be embarking on new adventures”.
The purchase of Qdos’ pantomime arm follows Crossroads Live’s acquisition of David Ian Productions in 2019 and Australian production company the Gordon Frost Association in 2020. Crossroads Live is backed by private equity firm Raven.
Ian, who is chair of Crossroads Theatrical Group, will helm the new pantomime arm – Crossroads Pantomimes – alongside Michael Harrison, who was managing director of Qdos Pantomimes and who becomes chief executive of the new company. Harrison will also continue to produce independently under his own brand, Michael Harrison Entertainment.
Previously, Harrison was joint owner of Qdos Pantomimes, taking a 50% stake in 2019, but he told The Stage the new entity was wholly owned by Crossroads Live.
Explaining the move, Harrison said he and Ian had worked together on many non-pantomime productions, and “have a great relationship, both in terms of business and friendship”.
“Nick [Thomas] was looking to sell and thinking it was time to go on to new things, and if I was to stay around it was important for me that it was with someone I’d want to do it with everyday, as it’s 29/30 shows a year and it’s big and intense and you have to have someone wth you you like dealing with,” he said.
Ian described it as “business as usual” for the former Qdos Pantomimes brand, and said Harrison would produce and direct the shows, while he would handle the business side.
Harrison added that all the staff from Qdos would remain, and would say in the same London office.
“The people the artists are used to dealing with are the same faces,” he said, adding: “Inevitably, you want to find opportunities to tweak things, and the pandemic taught me a lot about how I produced before. But there is a combined ambition here to deliver the best shows we possibly can.”
This year, Crossroads Pantomimes aims to deliver 29 productions, a slight drop on the 31 staged by Qdos before the pandemic.
“My view is that you don’t want to be overstretched and there were a couple of venues we decided, for them and for us moving forward, that it was best we parted company, on very amicable terms. We still take shows to them the rest of the year,” Harrison said, adding: “I want to do the ones we have got brilliantly well and that is really important.”
Ian described Crossroads Pantomimes as “a natural development” of his long-time producing relationship with Harrison.
“We look forward to creating something very special for the UK theatre industry while staying true to the great tradition of British pantomime,” he said, adding that he believed pantomime would play a big part in theatre’s recovery this year.
In addition, Ian revealed conversations were taking place about opening pantomimes in Australia, through Crossroads Live’s connections there.
Harrison added that the London Palladium pantomime would return this year, but stressed that his focus was on work outside of London.
“Everyone talks about the Palladium, but it is important to me we are a regional theatre producer primarily. The Palladium is hugely important to what we do, but so are Manchester and Aberdeen. We have two shows in Glasgow, and Edinburgh is one of our most successful shows,” he said.
The latest accounts for Qdos Pantomimes show that the company made an annual profit of £2.8 million for the period ending February 29, 2020, and that its annual revenue over the same period was £41.3 million, up by 2% from £40.6 million in 2019.
In 2016, Thomas and Harrison brought pantomime back to the London Palladium after a 30-year absence, with a new production of Cinderella. The 2017 production of Dick Whittington won an Olivier award for best entertainment and family production.
Message Thread
« Back to index