ICE cool Britt Ekland relaxed with a refreshing mineral water. Earlier she had dazzled the cameras wearing a devilishly lavish red and gold costume.

The famous Swedish star is the one everyone will direct their boos and hisses at in the Theatre Royal's forthcoming pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The show opens in December but in theatreland it is never too early to announce the panto stars.

So the delightful Miss Ekland did her duty and posed as a particularly stunning, wand-waving Wicked Witch. 'I can be very wicked,' she teased a cameraman. 'But I'm not going to show you now. You will have to buy a ticket and see the show!'

She was joined by popular children's TV presenter Dave Benson Phillips who will play Muddles and Rhodri Williams from Animal Hospital as the Prince.

After the photo session the sun-tanned Miss Ekland reappeared in a summery cotton jacket for a chat.

'You meet a great bunch of people and you get close for that period of time. I like the camaraderie with the cast and interaction with the audience,' she says.

Britt finds playing the Wicked Witch infinitely more fun than being a sugary Good Fairy.

'Being the bad person or the bitch is always a very alluring thing to be. It's fun because you can do much more with the part.'

She believes many of her fans are people that have 'grown up' with her since she came to England. But these days Britt has also gained a new younger audience because of the release of the Bond films on video.

She hardly ever watches her own film work saying she is too judgmental. It is only recently she has seen Get Carter, the film she starred in with Michael Caine which has now become a cult classic.

With one family in Los Angeles and the other back in Sweden she feels living in England places her neatly in the middle.

Would she change her life if she could?

She says everything that has happened is all so interlocking that to have changed one thing would have affected another.

'I never go back because there is no point. If you start unravelling your life you have nothing.'

She has led a rich and glamorous life which has spanned theatre, film, television and writing.

Her interest in health and physical fitness led to the exercise video Britt Fit. This was based on her personal fitness regime and her philosophy of achieving goals while maintaining a balance of daily life.

'I come from Sweden where you are born and bred fit because it is an outdoor country.'

She says over there you do everything outside — in the winter and the summer.

'I have been standing in 20 degrees below watching my boyfriend play ice hockey while the car lock would freeze up and you had to have a match to burn the lock to turn the key!' she says.

She loves travel and sees no reason to stop now. Britt loves airports and airplanes but finds it hard to come to terms with some in-flight food which she finds less than appetising.

'I think there is a gypsy in me. I have to move. I don't think it is up to me — it's something that drives me on. I never plan anything. I have never planned a holiday in my life.

'The longest period of my life I spent in one place was last autumn when I broke my ankle in six places and I couldn't move.'

Dave Benson Phillips has been entertaining children for as long as he can remember and loves every minute of it. Panto simply means he can be a big kid himself.

'You have to go out there and say some lines for the plot but most of the time I can do my own thing which is fantastic.'

It was watching John Inman in Mother Goose when he was a child that made him want to be in panto.

'It was one of those defining influences — I knew I wanted to do that.

'Panto is a difficult way to work because with TV everything is so enclosed and you can be intimate — but when I'm on stage I do go large because I want to talk to everybody and be friends with everybody!'

He says with two performances a day it is important to pace yourself.

'You have to get through the season but you want to give 200 per cent at each show. Performers all have their different ways — some chill out between shows, others eat particular foods — I play a lot of white thrash metal!' he laughs.

Dave comes from a West Indian background. He says his parents came to see him in panto last year because he was sharing the bill with Julian Clarey. This year he anticipates his dad will have a season ticket — because he is a great Britt Ekland fan!

Rhodri Williams will be forsaking his part in Animal Hospital with Rolf Harris for what will be his second panto season. A seasoned all rounder his a well-known face in the world of TV journalism.

'Every panto show is different despite it being the same script,' he says.

'I'm from Wales so I have a licence to sing!' adds Rhodri who promises to exercise his vocal chords with a tune or two.

'Moving to London people pull my leg for being Welsh.

' Some people get upset about sheep jokes but I find them hilarious. If someone makes fun of you that means you are different — and that has to be good. They can call me Boyo — I love it!'

Although as the Prince he has to play it straight he promises plenty of laughs.

'You have to take it seriously because the kids are so interested in the story. I cannot wait for Christmas!'