The fairy dust has barely settled and the boos and hisses are still floating in the air so imagine our surprise then, to receive a panto announcement for next Christmas in the first month of 2017. Is it too soon? Or was the fun behind you far too quickly?

Watersmeet Theatre has announced Beauty and the Beast as their 2017 seasonal show, whereas Harpenden Public Halls have declared they will be performing the story of Dick Whittington, declaiming that tickets are “already selling fast”.

The star-filled cast is yet to be revealed. We are more used to this sort of thing happening during the summer, for which actors and celebrities put their glad rags on for photos and press launch days, often sweating in their silks and satins in blisteringly hot conditions.

We at the Watford Observer are divided over when it is polite to blow your panto trumpet. What do you think?