Essex reality star Rylan has shared his praise for Rob Rinder after watching him star in the Cliff's Pavilion's swashbuckling Peter Pan pantomime.

Criminal Barrister and TV’s Judge Rinder steered the Jolly Roger as villain Captain Hook at the Westcliff theatre, alongside "panto royalty" Joe Pasquale who played Smee, throughout December.

The adaptation of the J M Barrie adventure has received rave reviews from theatre-goers, including Echo sports reporter Chris Phillips.

Among those impressed were Stanford-le-Hope's Rylan Clark, who headed to the Cliffs to see the show alongside his beloved mum Linda Clark, as he shared a snap with Rob on his Instagram page on Friday.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by RYLAN (@rylan)

He captioned the post: "Went to see Hook do his thing. Well done Rob xxx"

Fellow theatre-goers commented sharing their delight at seeing Rylan at the panto. One user said: "Was lovely to meet you and have a photo together, you're such a lovely man and glad to see your mum, loved the panto made me laugh so much."

Earlier this year Linda had suffered a bad fall while on her first holiday in ten years, resulting in her having to have surgery.

The pair have been a returning presence on Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox with stand-out moments including Clark mocking his mother for her pronunciation of tzatziki and naan bread.

Rylan, who originally found fame on The X Factor in 2012, wowed BBC One viewers as he rang in the new year on the channel's New Year’s Eve Rocks programme alongside music legend Rick Astley.