A KENT based amateur pantomime company has been forced to cancel its Christmas run of Dick Whittington due to what it calls "insurmountable production issues".

King Pantomimes was to have performed the shows at The Avenue Theatre, Sittingbourne, from December 16 to January 7.

A joint statement was issued by producer/director Robert King and production co-ordinator Tim Hammond.

It said: "King Pantomimes sadly and reluctantly announce the cancellation of Dick Whittington due to a number of insurmountable production issues.

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the cast and crew for their dedication and hard work to date and thank all those individuals from outside the production company who have assisted us in numerous ways with this production.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this announcement has caused. We would like to thank The Avenue Theatre for all their support during this venture and wish them every success in the future."

Garth Spann from the theatre stressed that the cancellation had nothing to do with them.

He added: "We have had very successful pantos staged here since we opened in 1989. The Avenue Theatre will see another panto being staged next year and we hope to see this being well-received by the public as all other previous years have done."

Gary Telfer, managing director or rival pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is being staged at The Swallows Leisure Centre just yards away, said: "We are very sorry to hear that this amateur production has been forced to cancel because there is nothing wrong with competition.

"We are already getting bookings from groups like Brownies who were going to see Dick Whittington."