Mark Williams has completed the line-up for the Seniors British Open in December, joining Ronnie O’Sullivan in an impressive field.

The event will take place at Vaillant Live in Derby on December 27-28 and features a high profile eight-player line-up.

Stephen Maguire will make his Seniors debut, with reigning champion Joe Perry back to defend the title he won by beating Jimmy White in last year’s final.

The Whirlwind will be in action again, as will Ken Doherty, Reanne Evans and Mark Davis in the tournament shown on Channel 5.

51-year-old Williams, who won the World Seniors Championship way back in 2015, but has not played on the circuit in recent years, is looking forward to a return and to raise money for charity.

‘It’s been over 20 years since I last played a tournament in Derby!’ Williams said. ‘I’m going to enjoy battling it out with the old boys and anything I win is going straight to the Hospice of the Valleys.’

On announcing O’Sullivan’s inclusion last month, World Seniors Snooker chairman Jason Francis stated that ‘over 4 million watched on Channel 5’ last year as the tournament was played from December 26-28.

With the additions of the Rocket and the Welsh Potting Machine, viewing figures are likely to be strong again in the slot between Christmas and New Year.

After significant changes to World Seniors Snooker, the likes of O’Sullivan and Williams are now eligible, as any player over 40 can compete.

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Previously top professionals were ruled out, but that is no longer the case and the Rocket made his World Seniors Championship debut this year, winning the event.

Speaking to Metro, Francis said of the Seniors British Open: ‘It’s a fabulous field and it will be great for Channel 5 and great for tickets.

‘Take Ronnie aside and the pros who have come into the Seniors tour have not found it easy at all. I don’t think Stuart Bingham has won a game on the World Seniors Tour!

‘You’re now seeing a mix, with players like Jimmy and Ken who can still do it over a best of seven. This idea that the pros will just come in and win everything just hasn’t stacked up.’

With the expansion of the Seniors field to include top professionals- with the likes of Bingham and Ali Carter also playing in the World Seniors Championship this year – a Challenge Tour has been created, only for non-professionals and those outside the top 16 in the Seniors rankings.

‘Seniors qualifiers are now getting the likes of Ryan Day, David Lilley, Craig Steadman at them,’ Francis explained. ‘Jimmy Robertson was at the last one a week after the semi-finals of the Shenzhen [Open], but he didn’t win it!

‘There are some very, very good amateur players out there. We created the Challenge Tour to help the amateurs who started the tour. If you’re in the top 16 in the world rankings you can’t play in these Challenge Tour events, if you’re a pro you can’t play.

‘So that’s our way of saying to the core of the tour that we understand you’re coming to Reading and you could play professionals, but here’s some other weekends for you.’

The UK Seniors Championship is returning to the calendar in February for the first time since 2022, although with a twist.

‘We’ve got Liverpool which is finally getting the Seniors UK Championship back. That’s under 900 rules to make that a bit different,’ said Francis.

‘So the Seniors is really buoyant at the moment. We know the profile that came from Ronnie playing and becoming our world champion has added a huge amount to our viewing figures, our ticket sales, our sponsorship interest and off the back of that we’ve got new tournaments.’