Is Brian Britain's highest-paid panto star?

The high-profile entertainer, who is playing Buttons in Cinderella at The Mayflower from December 19, was rumoured to be one of the highest-paid panto stars this Christmas, raking in more than £10,000 a day for the show's five-week run.

But Conley's employers, pantomime production company Qdos Entertainment, categorically denied the reported wage bill - the equivalent of a top Premiership footballer.

A spokesman said: "Brian is certainly not earning that much for Cinderella. It is a complete fabrication."

She refused to confirm how much the TV and West End star was making from the show. Conley himself also refused to comment.

Conley, who leapt to fame in the early 1990s in his own series on ITV and went on to win critical acclaim in the musical Jolson, is one of the biggest panto stars to appear in the south this winter - overshadowing the likes of Ruth Madoc at Bournemouth, Sandra Dickinson at Poole and former punk star Toyah at Basingstoke.

Paul Lewis, head of marketing at The Mayflower, said he did not know how much Conley would be paid for the panto, but thought the performer was worth every penny.

"We are not privy to how much the production company pays its artists. All we know is that they take the bulk of the box office money - what they do with the money is a matter for them," he said.

The Mayflower pantomime is traditionally one of the theatre's biggest sources of revenue for the year.

"There's a direct correlation between the name on the bill and the success of the pantomime," said Mr Lewis.

"Whatever Brian Conley earns, so long as he brings in the money at the box office, is worth it.

"We expect to attract anything up to 100,000 people to our pantomime. In order to attract those kind of numbers, we have to have big names."

Mayflower managers are expecting Cinderella to pull in up to 25 per cent of its income this year, with more than £1.5m in ticket sales.

For more on the show, see our special panto magazine in next Saturday's Daily Echo.