Celebrity Interview – Steve Orme Interviews KYM MARSH
Kym Marsh is going through a stellar phase of her career, what she calls her “villain era”. And she’s about to undertake possibly her most challenging role to date. After playing Alex Forrest in a stage tour of Fatal Attraction – the character can alternatively be described as a villain or a victim – she took on the role of Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians: The Musical which toured the UK and Ireland last year. Now she’s really excited to be appearing in Single White Female, an updated version of the 1992 thriller which “blends psychological tension and eerie intimacy, creating a chilling portrait of obsession and identity”. Kym came to prominence as a singer with the band Hear’Say who won the television talent show Popstars in 2001. After pursuing a solo career she went into acting, appearing in Coronation Street for 13 years. On stage she’s been in musicals as well as dramas. So why did she want to be involved with Single White Female? “Who wouldn’t want to? What an absolute classic. It stemmed from when I was in Fatal Attraction. I got such a buzz from playing the villain. The idea of Single White Female was floated and it’s finally coming to fruition. “It’s never been done on stage before. It’s been rewritten and reimagined by Rebecca Reid who’s a fantastic author and it’s been updated so we’re seeing it more in the modern day. The way it adapts to now is actually really brilliant.” Kym reveals she didn’t have to audition for the role – the producers wanted her in the show because of her performance in Fatal Attraction. She explains that the way audiences view stories now is very different to how they looked at them in the 1990s. “We live in a very different world, a different place. We don’t speak the same language. With Fatal Attraction it was very much a man’s world at that point and the woman was the villain of the piece. But actually the man was just as culpable in a lot of ways. He still had a part to play in what happened and yet he walked off into the sunset and everything was fine for him. “I think the characters I play are very damaged individuals, shall we say, and I think it will be the same with this one.” Kym explains the plot of Single White Female: “Allie is a recently divorced woman, she’s a single parent, she’s trying to get ahead in the world but she’s struggling for money, so she advertises for a lodger. “In walks my character Hedra (also known as Hedy) who comes in to save the day, or so it would seem. Life becomes intertwined and things get complicated. “Hedra is certainly a very multi-faceted individual. I’m looking forward to playing that part because there are lots of layers to peel back.” Kym who has been married three times and has three children is quick to dispel any thoughts that she brings plenty of her own life experience to the role. “I’m nothing like Hedra at all! There’s not much similarity in me and her. I think that’s the beauty of playing these characters that are so far removed from you – you have to dig deep and try to find ways in which you can empathise. “There are obviously lots of sides to her that are nowhere near me. It’s going to be a challenge, that’s for sure.” When Kym saw the film Single White Female in the cinema she was “totally gripped” by it and didn’t imagine she would be appearing in the world premiere of the stage production. Fans of the film will be delighted to know the stilettos which played such a prominent part on the big screen haven’t been booted out. More than 30 years after Jennifer Jason Leigh played Hedra in the film, Kym is able to play the character in a fresh way. “The actual story is different. What Hedy does for a living in the movie is not what Hedy does for a living in the play. So there are only certain aspects of the character that I can bring, which is why it’s so exciting because there’s a clean slate for me. It’s a great opportunity to be able to bring something new.” The tour of Single White Female will start in January and the second venue will be the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. At the moment the tour is scheduled to continue until the middle of June, something that’s not fazing Kym. “I’m used to touring. I’ve toured for the last three years with one thing or another. This is probably the longest thing I’ve done on a tour. But I wanted to do the whole tour because it’s something I’m quite passionate about. “Living out of a suitcase is always a challenge. But I’m away for five days and at home for two, so there are a lot of similarities with ordinary, everyday life, I guess. And I’m never that far away from home. No matter where I am I could get back if I wanted to. “I’ve also got a very supportive family network. My daughter will come and stay with me when she’s on school holidays. She’s nearly 15 now. “There are also a lot of venues where I can commute from home, so I’ll be staying at home when I can.” Kimberley Gail Marsh was born on 13 June 1976 in Whiston, Merseyside. She went to stage school in Liverpool before becoming a session singer. When she auditioned for the show Popstars she was chosen with Danny Foster, Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Noel Sullivan to be in the group Hear’Say. Their first single Pure And Simple went to number one. After less than two years the band split up. Kym made her television acting debut in 2005 in an episode of the BBC One series Doctors and also appeared in the Channel 4 soap
Celebrity Interview – Griff Rhys Jones: The Cat’s Pyjamas
‘The jokes come faster than the rapids on the River Tay’ The Guardian Multi award-winning comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter Griff Rhys Jones is set to embark on a national stand-up tour this autumn with the second leg of his sell-out 2024 show ‘The Cat’s Pyjamas’. Sharing witty observations and rambling comic stories, Griff’s funny anecdotes have covered an astonishingly diverse range of subjects: from TV travel, his childhood, Welsh family, age, fraud, late night trains and nostalgia to the TikTok generation, crocodile smuggling, and opal noodling in Australia. Questions and improvised interaction with the audience mean the show varies from night to night. And takes him from adventures, holidays, dog sitting, burning boats, drink and anger-management, to meetings with rock celebrities and royalty. Wherever his associations wander. GRIFF RHYS JONES: THE CAT’S PYJAMAS What can fans expect from the show? It’s the fourth show I’ve done where I tell stories from my life – about myself and things I’ve been involved in. Trouble is, some of the stories get longer and longer and longer. I start out with list of about 20 and end up with a list of about two. If you come to see me early in a tour you tend to get all the stories. If you come late in the tour, a lot of them have gone by the wayside. There was one show on one tour where I was on stage at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, talking about my family and things like that. I looked into the wings and my stage manager was tapping his watch signalling the end of the first half and I hadn’t even properly started the show at all by that point. What’s the significance of the title The Cat’s Pyjamas? I just like the sound of it. Funnily enough my daughter said ‘You can’t call it that’ and when I asked her why not she said ‘Because it means you have to be good!’ But as I say, I like how it sounds. Also ‘the cat’s pyjamas’ is a very interesting phrase and I might talk about how it started in the 1920s in New York. Apparently there was a famous society hostess who used to take her cats for a walk along Fifth Avenue and she would wear pyjamas when doing so. But really what I’m saying at the start of the show is that it’s you the audience who are the cat’s pyjamas. I start with egregious flattery of my audience. After all these years, do you still get nervous before going on stage or indeed during a performance? I get nervous in the early stages because I’m wondering what I’m going to be saying once a tour starts. It’s never a walk in the park. It’s fun if it’s more of a walk on a tightrope. I did work with one stage manager who said to me ‘It’s amazing because what you do, Griff, is different every night’. After one show he told me ‘You left out the big punchlines tonight’. Some nights I’d be so keen on moving on to something else that I never got to the resolution of the very first story that I started, which left people wondering what on earth was supposed to be happening. Some people go on stage and they perform exactly what they’ve written every night. I’m sure that would be a much better way of doing it but I don’t always do it myself. I get sidetracked by talking about things like what happened to me in the car park on the way to the theatre. I once had a Birdman moment where I went to get a shirt out of the car and I couldn’t get back into the theatre unless I walked in with the audience. A woman turned to me and said ‘I hope you’re going to be good tonight’ and I replied ‘Well, I’ll do my best!’ Isn’t throwing it open to audience questions asking for trouble? Not really because I put up a list of topics for people to ask me about, although I don’t know if I’ll stick with it. That’s in the second half of the show and often it starts with people asking me about Not The Nine O’Clock News, which was so long ago can’t I can’t remember it, let alone answer questions about it. And if you play a really big theatre you have difficulty actually hearing the questions and you have to clamber down off the stage to find out what the question is. But I do put up a list which I scribble out in the dressing room before I go on and it’s a list of things that are currently on my mind. Is there a question you definitely don’t want to be asked? Probably but I don’t know quite what they’d be until I’m asked them. But it’s unlikely because what I usually do is sort of sidestep it by saying ‘I can’t answer that question’. Sometimes it might remind me of something else and off we go. One time I got into talking about Africa with the intention of moving on to killer bees. I got so bogged down in the story of the railways in Africa, which is the story of colonialism. When I looked at my watch I realised I’d taken the entire second half of the show just trying to explain colonialism. I’d been wondering why I hadn’t been getting as many laughs as usual. Is comedy harder in the current woke climate? I get asked that a lot and the honest answer is I don’t know because I don’t play the comedy scene. I don’t go to Edinburgh and all that stuff. So I honestly have no idea. It’s never affected me in any way whatsoever. With the idea that I might be canceled, for the most part my audience probably don’t know what being canceled means. I do tell quite a lot of jokes but
Celebrity Interview – Mark & Lard
by Steve Orme Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to 2004. Now they are on the road with their show Carry On – An Evening With Mark and Lard which is basically a series of clips from their afternoon programme. They will stop off at both Buxton and Nottingham over the next few months. Mark and Lard, both northerners, first teamed up in 1991. Radcliffe was a radio producer who began presenting specialist shows. Riley, formerly a guitarist with post-punk band The Fall, was a record plugger and tried to get Radcliffe to play his records. Radcliffe eventually took on Riley as his sidekick. Marc reckons getting kicked out of The Fall was the best thing that’s happened to him in his working life. “Being in The Fall was quite hard work. It was an honour and a privilege and I absolutely loved the band. But if I hadn’t got kicked out, then none of the rest of the things that have happened to me over the last 30 years would have happened. “The Fall was a massive thing for me. I’m still very proud of it but if I’d been in there for 20 years I think I would have been an emotional and nervous wreck instead of being on the radio to ten million people.” When Mark and Marc presented Hit The North they were allowed to play their own choice of records. They were snapped up by Radio One and given “the graveyard shift”, as it’s known in the industry – broadcasting from 10pm until midnight. Again they picked all the music which featured the likes of Oasis, Blur and Nick Cave. That led to their being given the breakfast show on Radio 1 after the departure of Chris Evans. They lasted only eight months – the shortest of any presenter in that time slot. “It was a massive culture shock,” says Marc, “because not only was the audience massive and not really used to us, we weren’t used to working at that time of day. It was awful for everybody. “We also had to play nothing but anodyne music that we didn’t like at all. It was a well-paid job, the profile was very high but we failed. “Then we went to the afternoon show which was hugely successful which is how we’re in the position now to be able to tour the country and get big audiences who basically want to see the afternoon show. The tour has to fit around the anarchic duo’s other work. Mark Radcliffe presents the Folk Show on Radio 2 on Wednesdays and a two-hour show with Stuart Maconie on 6 Music on Saturdays and Sundays. Marc Riley hosts an evening show on 6 Music from Monday until Wednesday which features sessions by artists that he chooses. Their live show has proved popular, with several dates selling out. “We start the show off by recounting the fact that we’re treading the same boards as Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin,” says Marc. “It’s mind-blowing really, an absolute privilege to be able to play those places.” Mark Radcliffe tries to put his finger on how the live gig works: “It’s not a resumption of the show, it’s the resumption of a friendship between Marc and I which isn’t to say we fell out. “We went on our separate paths for a long time but what we’re doing live is more akin to conversations we would have off air and in the pub.” Marc Riley adds his thoughts: “You don’t need two people to present a radio programme – it’s just largely music. But the relationship we had on air was largely about making each other laugh. “That’s what the audience are coming back to see and hear. A lot of them know the clips that we play in, they’re aware of the characters and the punchlines but they still laugh like an open drain at the end of it. We’re having a good laugh. Not every show is the same.” As well as presenting, Mark and Lard created a spoof rock band called the Shirehorses who released two CDs. Mark turned down Marc’s suggestion that they should resurrect the band – but when Marc pointed out it was the 20th anniversary of Mark and Lard’s last show, they agreed to do a couple of gigs. It soon became clear there was a big demand for their live show. So why has it taken them 20 years to stage this tour? Mark Radcliffe points out they were doing other things. When they started Mark was single while Marc Riley was married but didn’t have children. “We were very different people then in a different world,” says Mark. “We went to the pub and talked about things and made each other laugh. By the time the show finished I was married, we both had children and we didn’t live as close to each other. “I got to the point where I didn’t want to do it any more. You change as a person. A new Mark and Lard show could only be disappointing for fans of the old one. A lot of it was stupid and puerile. “We started together 30 years ago. I just don’t think it’s credible for two blokes in their sixties to be those people. “It’s a very different thing going on stage and talking about it in retrospect. Looking back and celebrating it, we do call the show an exercise in celebration, nostalgia and pension pot enhancement. That’s honest but accurate.” Mark Radcliffe will turn 67 at the end of this month and Marc Riley is 63. Neither is worried about the BBC being ageist and getting rid of them. “I don’t think you could accuse Radio 2 of being ageist,” says Mark. “Tony Blackburn’s on and he’s in his 80s. “I’ve been working in radio since 1979 so I can hardly complain about anything. “Mark and Lard
Celebrity Interview – Mark Benton
He’s one of the most recognisable faces on television, appearing in the comedies Shakespeare and Hathaway and Early Doors as well as strutting his stuff on Strictly Come Dancing. Now Mark Benton is returning to Nottingham in a new play which he describes as “one of the maddest things I’ve ever done”. He says some of the things he has to do in Village Idiot, which will have its première at the Playhouse, are “bonkers”. And he’s hoping audiences find it as funny as the cast have during rehearsals. The play is set in a village in north Northamptonshire which is about to be transformed by the high-speed railway HS2. “That’s the basic plot but it’s much more than that,” says Mark during a break in rehearsals. It’s a completely mad night out at the theatre.” Village Idiot, written by Samson Hawkins, is the first original play staged by Ramps on the Moon, an organisation which puts deaf and disabled artists at the centre of their work. The cast features Faye Wiggan who has Down’s syndrome and Maximillian Fairley who has autism and is hard of hearing. Mark thinks it’s “wonderful” that Ramps on the Moon employs deaf and disabled people. “It adds a whole different layer to the rehearsal period. There’s a whole different atmosphere. As an actor it makes you look at yourself and go ‘am I taking care of my fellow actors? Am I looking after everybody?’ I’ve really enjoyed the experience.” Mark describes his role in Village Idiot: “I play Kevin. My character has sold up to HS2 and wants to go to Thailand with his Thai bride. He wants to take his daughter but she wants to stay with her boyfriend. There’s a bit of a Romeo and Juliet thing going on. “There’s some nice stuff about parents letting go. It’s hard to describe the play because it’s almost two plays within a play. You’ve got the linear story of what happens to them but you’ve got this kind of village fete too. It’s a very odd and interesting play. “The stuff I have to do is bonkers. The most important thing hopefully is that it’s going to be hilarious. We’ve been laughing from day one.” Mark will be reunited with director Nadia Fall. They worked together on Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice at the open-air theatre in London’s Regent’s Park in 2014. “She’s just wonderful. I read Village Idiot and I thought ‘what is this?’ I love the fact that you’re doing a play and you’ve no idea what it’s going to end up like. It’s one of the maddest things I’ve ever done, that’s for sure.” Mark initially came to Nottingham in the early 1990s to play Charlie Hardiman in nine episodes of the ITV drama Boon which featured Michael Elphick. He appeared at the Playhouse in 2010 in Peter Nichols’ A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and has been in touring productions at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal including Hairspray in 2013 and Glengarry Glen Ross six years later. “I like to do theatre. I’d do a show every year if I could. It’s where most of us started as actors and you keep going back to it. Sometimes I find myself going ‘why on earth have I put myself through this hell?’ But I think it’s a muscle that as an actor it’s important to exercise.” Mark Benton was born on 16 November 1965 in Guisborough, Yorkshire. He trained at RADA and since then has hardly been out of work. That’s probably because he’s one of the most amiable people I’ve ever come across who’s warm, accessible and clearly wants to help others. Does the fact that he has a recognisable face help? Mark isn’t sure and says that’s not for him to answer. “I’ve been an actor for 32 years. I’ve made some really dear friends over that period of time, directors and people I work with again and again. “I’ve always maintained it’s as much about getting on with people and having a good time.” Why does he think he’s had such a varied career? “I think you hit the nail on the head when you said varied. I’ve always tried to do different things, maybe surprising things or things to stretch myself. “I’m proud to be a character actor. For me, that’s what acting is. I’ve done comedy, drama, theatre, reality telly with Strictly. I’ve tried to keep things going and be nice to people.” A story that Mark tells is that his stint on Strictly Come Dancing came about following discussions in Nottingham. “I’d always said I didn’t want to do any reality telly. I was on tour in Nottingham with Hairspray. They (people from Strictly) said they wanted to meet me so they came up on the train and I met them in the Pumpkin café on the platform at Nottingham station for a cup of tea and a chat. “I like to do theatre. I’d do a show every year if I could. It’s where most of us started as actors and you keep going back to it. Sometimes I find myself going ‘why on earth have I put myself through this hell?’ But I think it’s a muscle that as an actor it’s important to exercise.” “Then I went back to work and they went back on the train to London. So Nottingham is where it all happened.” As usual, Mark just wanted to have fun while on Strictly. He was partnered with world dancing champion Iveta Lukosiute and got to week 10 before being eliminated. “I’d hurt my knees so it was a bit of a struggle physically. But it was a wonderful experience and I really had a sense of achievement.” For the past five years Mark has played Frank Hathaway in four series of the daytime television series Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators alongside Jo Joyner who plays Luella Shakespeare. Will there be a fifth series? “Who knows? We want to
Celebrity Interview – Les Dennis
After an amazing year in which he made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut, the all-round entertainer is preparing for a season in panto and he can hardly wait to return to Nottingham, a city that has so many fond memories for him. When we spoke on the phone Les held nothing back as he told me what made him go into the business in the first place, how he credits Ricky Gervais with reviving his career and how he’s determined to return to Stratford to do more serious theatre. Les is relishing coming back to Nottingham where he will appear in the Theatre Royal’s festive feast Cinderella. “I know Nottingham really well. I did panto at the Theatre Royal in 1987, Babes in the Wood. I was also there not long ago when we did The Addams Family musical and then of course I did Family Fortunes from Lenton Lane (Central TV’s studios) for many years. I used to spend at least three weeks a year in Nottingham. “I love the city. I love the atmosphere there. It’s a beautiful theatre to work, intimate and lovely.” In Cinderella Les will be reunited with his Coronation Street nemesis Connor McIntyre. In the soap Les played former convict Michael Rodwell while Connor was Pat Phelan, regarded by some people as “the ultimate soap baddie”. They will team up again in Cinderella as the Ugly Sisters, with their characters renamed Phelina and Michaela. “It works great,” says Les. “The Uglies aren’t dames – it’s men in dresses but they’re the villains. Of course when you get two villains there’s always one badder than the other one and that certainly has to be Phelina.” The pair were in Cinderella in Manchester last year. Now the same show is coming to Nottingham. The only difference is that Sooty and Richard Cadell who plays Buttons have been added to the bill. Les can hardly wait to work with Connor again: “When we were in Corrie we shared a dressing room and when I knew that the end of Michael was going to be at Phelan’s hands, I was delighted. I thought I would rather that than go off in a taxi to the airport. “Michael was his first victim. In a way it was crueller than the others because he didn’t kill me – he let me die, which is in some ways sadistic and weird. But it was great to work with him.” Last year’s Cinderella was Connor’s first panto: “He said ‘I’m completely in your hands’,” says Les. “He let me explain exactly how a gag will work. Once he started he took to it like a duck to water. I should imagine this year he’ll be teaching me a few things.” Les agrees with my assertion that panto is really hard work: “It’s two shows a day every day. I’ll have a holiday in January. “You have a responsibility in panto because the kids are seeing theatre for the first time. You’ve got to get it right and you’ve got to make them want to come back again.” Leslie Dennis Heseltine was born on 12 October 1953 in Garston, Liverpool. When he was 17 he went on a school trip to Stratford to see Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and thought “Oh, I really want to do this.” But he’d already started playing working men’s clubs as a comedian and an actor’s life seemed out of reach when he won the ITV talent show New Faces. He joined Russ Abbot on his television show before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee which ended with Gee’s unexpected death in 1986 at the age of 43. Les then hosted Family Fortunes for 15 years. He’d been divorced from his first wife and during the quiz show’s run he married actress Amanda Holden. While they were separated Les appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. Although he finished runner-up he had what the press perceived as a breakdown live on television. Afterwards the phone didn’t ring for a while. Then Ricky Gervais offered him a part in his series Extras as a washed-up, middle-aged television star who is cuckolded by a younger man. “People kept saying it was a brave move but it gave me a chance to show that I’ve got a sense of humour about myself. I took it with both hands and it’s opened me to a whole new demographic. “There was a poll recently about which was the best episode of Extras and I’m in the final. Which is amazing when you consider you’re knocking out Kate Winslett, Samuel L Jackson and people like that.” He worked with Gervais again on the series Life’s Too Short with Warwick Davis, Keith Chegwin and Shaun Williamson. Then, in 2014, it was announced that Les was joining Coronation Street where he stayed for two-and-a-half years. “It was brilliant and I loved it. But it got to the stage where I wasn’t allowed to do other things that I wanted to do because you’ve got to commit to Corrie. In the end I thought it was time to move on. “When I did leave I went straight into The Addams Family and then into other theatre jobs that I really enjoyed. “I think if you’ve got a name before you go into a soap, you’re not defined by that soap when you come out.” In 2014 Les showed his acting prowess at Derby Theatre when he played Victor Smiley in Peter James’ play The Perfect Murder. Then earlier this year Les was cast by the Royal Shakespeare Company in two Restoration plays in its smaller Swan Theatre. He played a corrupt senator in the tragedy Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway, acting alongside his niece Jodie McNee. He was also in John Vanbrugh’s comedy The Provoked Wife. “It was a real bucket list job,” says Les. “I had a ball there and worked with some amazing directors and actors. It’s like a kitemark
Celebrity Interview – Sue Holderness
Should you find yourself in Mansfield over the winter season and you see Sue Holderness walking down the street, don’t be afraid to shout “Marlene!” at her. The actress who’s playing the Wicked Queen in the town’s pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs won’t be insulted that you still think of her as Marlene Boyce from Only Fools and Horses, described by Sue as “the biggest tart in south east London”. ue spoke to me as rehearsals were starting for the panto and told me how playing Marlene changed her life, how she’s frightened of getting dementia and what she’ll be doing next year on her 70th birthday. Sue and Marlene could hardly be different. Sue comes over as charming, educated and well-spoken, talking quickly and enthusiastically about life and her career. The character of Marlene was supposed to be in the television sitcom for only one episode. Del Boy and Rodney were to look after the Boyces’ dog while they were on holiday and Marlene delivered the animal to the two brothers. “John Sullivan wrote such a wonderful scene for my handing over the dog that a couple of weeks later he rang up and said ‘we’ve decided we like Marlene and she’s coming back’. So thank you John Sullivan because it’s been a joy.” Sue played Marlene from 1984 until the final episode of Only Fools and Horses in 2003. She and on-screen husband John Challis – dodgy second-hand car dealer Boycie – then starred in the spin-off ‘The Green Green Grass’ which ran for four series and three Christmas specials. Hardly surprising that people still address her as Marlene – yet she says she loves it. “If John Sullivan were still around and writing, I would like to be playing Marlene until I shuffle off this mortal coil or am staggering around on my zimmer frame because he wrote wonderful lines for us.” She explains the enduring popularity of Only Fools and Horses: “None of the characters swear, they don’t drink and drive, they don’t take drugs – it’s proper family viewing that’s just fun. There’s not very much of that about.” Only Fools and Horses was life-changing to such an extent that Sue never has to audition for a part. “Aren’t I lucky? I haven’t had to audition for many moons thanks to Marlene. When I got the role in 1984 I thought it was just going to be one day’s work. Now I seem to be able to do plays and pantomimes and not have to audition simply because they can say ‘Sue Marlene Holderness’ and think people might come along. “I’m going to be 70 next year, still working, and that can’t be said of an awful lot of actors my age because it’s hard out there. There are an awful lot of us who really don’t want to retire but there aren’t enough parts for us all, so I’m lucky that I keep getting offered them.” Susan Joan Pringle Holderness was born on 28 May 1949 in Hampstead. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London and has worked consistently in theatre, radio, film and television. Her first taste of pantomime came in 1974. She took a break for about 14 years while her children were growing up but couldn’t wait to return. “I came back with a vengeance and you can’t stop me now! I love it. Some people are scathing about pantomime and I don’t know why. You can’t get away with pantomime if you can’t do the work. You’ve got to be able to sing and dance and remember your lines. “The wonderful thing about pantomime is you get the reward all the time from the audience. If you don’t get it right it’s quiet. If you’re getting it right they’re booing and hissing.” Sue thinks Snow White is one of the best pantos. She’s appeared in it nine or ten times because the character she’s playing is “gloriously wicked”. She adds: “I think it’s a particularly good pantomime for little ones because the story’s so sweet. We’ve got a very adorable Snow White. I instantly hate her and decide to get rid of her. There’s a very handsome prince and I love him and decide I’m going to have him.” What can people expect from Sue’s Wicked Queen? “They can expect to be very, very scared. But I hope she’s a little bit funny too. I like Snow White because it’s a story that everyone knows. Obviously there’s going to be the odd double entendre in there for the grown-ups but basically the jokes and the fun are aimed at kids. “I just think it’s a terribly good way to get everybody into the holiday spirit. The kids have got to be frightened of me, they’ve got to know there’s a chance I’m going to kill Snow White. So you’ve got to have certain skills to get out there and do it.” Sue will appear at Mansfield Palace Theatre for the first time. The punishing schedule means she will perform 62 shows in just over a month. “I do a lot of stuff with Alzheimers for various reasons and I’m terrified that I’m going to lose my mental capacity. We’re all frightened of Alzheimers and dementia, aren’t we? So I think learning lines is very good for keeping that at bay. “My mum suffered from dementia and it’s quite a big part of my life now. The battle has to go on to raise more money to try to find a cure.” This year will be strange for Sue because it will be the first time she has not spent it with her children. Harriet is 33 and teaches yoga and massage on a beach in Ibiza. Freddie, 31, is head of history at a school in West Sussex. He and his wife have given Sue her first grandchild, eight-month-old Max. “They couldn’t be more different,” says Sue of her children. “One is bohemian,
