Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we loved you

The words of Jeremy and Jemima Potts when their father Caratacus restores an old racing car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to its former glory.

They also describe Gadoc's Easter production of the musical, which opened on Saturday to a sell-out crowd. What a cracker of a show.

Director Lisa Johnston said it would be a challenge to follow the success of last year's Les Miserables, but she and the production team have surpassed themselves with Chitty.

We were promised a flying car and wow, did we get one. The audience broke into spontaneous applause when Chitty took to the skies.

It wasn't just the car that turned in a fantastic performance. This was as slick as any West End production.

They say never work with children or animals and Lisa Johnston broke both rules to fantastic effect. From young actors Jeremy and Jemima Potts, brilliantly played by Joe Andrijasevic and Poppy Cochrane, down to scene-stealing Eddison the dog, played by Joe the Labrador, their performances were absolutely spot-on.

The adult members of the cast were also fantastic, from Matthew Judge, who played Caratacus, and Martine Wallbridge, who played Truly Scrumptious, to David Foote as Grandpa and Dennis Burns, who was Coggins and the Toymaker.

Josh Gabriel and Tom Cheshire were hilarious as Boris and Goran the Vulgarian spies, while Tim Langlois and Michelle Redhead were wonderfully entertaining as the Baron and Baroness Bomburst. Nathanial Eker was genuinely creepy as the Child Catcher, earning boos and hisses from the audience.

See today's Guernsey Press for Rosie Allsopp's full review