"Expect the unexpected" says TV legend Su Pollard ahead of shows in Lancashire next week

Actress Su Pollard is heading to Lancashire twice next week with her latest one woman show ‘Su Pollard: Still Fully Charged’.

The 75-year-old -best known for her roles in Hi-de-Hi!, You Rang, M’Lord and Oh, Doctor Beeching!- will be performing at the Blackpool Grand on February 17 and the Lancaster Grand on February 19.

Ahead of her arrival in Lancashire, Su sat down for a chat with our celebrity reporter to talk all about her new show, her career over the years and her memories of Lancashire so take a look at what she had to say...

Q) How are you feeling about kicking off your latest tour?

“Well I've already done one tour which we really liked. We’ve now honed it a bit and hopefully tried to make it into a 110% show. It's basically what we call a variety extravaganza - although there's only two people in it, there's myself and my accompanist, Steve. But we tried to incorporate everything that I've done in my 50 years of being a performer. You can't, sadly, include everything, but we've tried to do what we might consider the best bits. For example, there's a voice service, like when I did the character called Penny Crayon- she was an animated cartoon - as well as Hi-de-hi’s Peggy Ollerenshaw that makes an appearance, and lots of clips from various things like the Royal Variety Performance. So, you know, we tried to bring a mixture of things that I've done and hope that the audience enjoy it.”

You're opening the show in Blackpool, is there any particular reason for that?

“I think it was because I've been to Blackpool many times over the 50 years that I've been in showbiz, and I think the producer was probably inspired by that although mainly, I suppose, because the theatre was free at that particular time! So you've got all sorts of elements that fall into place, really and I can't wish for anything better, because it's a fantastic theatre. The audiences are usually marvelous. They're very devoted to that theatre, it's got a great following, and so I'm really happy to be there, to be honest.”

So you have performed at the Grand before?

“Oh, yeah, loads of times. One of the great seasons we enjoyed was with the Hi-de-Hi stage show. This has got to be about 40 years ago and it was a whole summer season at the time when everybody went to Blackpool because it was considered to be a fabulous holiday place. It still is but nobody does summer seasons anymore. You were there for about six months so you really got to know the place. You had a lovely flat while you were there. It's got everything going for it, Blackpool has, but I think, like most theaters now, they mostly do weekly shows like musicals, and obviously pantos. No, it's a great place, Blackpool, all together.”

Whilst you're up in Blackpool again, have you got any plans?

“Well, yes, what I am going to do is see a great friend, stay with him. I can't travel on the Sunday on the train now, sadly, because of the strikes so that's a bit of a nuisance. But never mind, I will go with the production team in the van, with all this scenery, which I love, actually, we’ll have such a great time together. We'll stop off at the theatre, go into the hotel, and then they'll unload the van with the set and I can go and stay with my friend for a couple of nights, because we're going to get there a bit earlier. I will be planning to go to Funny Girls, which is a fantastic club, as we know. And then I should go to the Mardi Gras, because I just love all the bars in Blackpool, they're marvelous, and the Flying Handbag with Basil. So I’m a very, very gay club queen, I love them.”

Are you gonna go up on any of the stages?

“The Flying Handbag might ask me to draw the bingo. So I'll probably end up going ‘all the threes, 33!’ But it’ll be lovely, I don't mind. I'm just gonna go there, have a good time, get settled in and then I shall look forward to the show on Monday, which will be great.”

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You're in Lancaster two days later as well, how are you feeling about going up to Lancaster as well.

“I think it's absolutely marvelous. I went there once, I think for a one night show again, and I went to a lovely pub afterwards, which was right near the castle. Iit was so marvelous, everybody was so welcoming. Members of the public were there just having a pint, and they were so welcoming-some had been to see the show, some hadn't- and it was just a very, very nice couple of hours spent in the pub with the locals. So I'm looking forward to it again.

So you're going go back to that pub?

“Yes! I wonder if the same people will be there, Aimee, that would be great, wouldn't it? But anyway, I have great memories of Lancaster, so I'm looking forward to it.”

What can audiences in Lancashire expect from the show if they've never seen you on stage?

“Well hopefully they’ll at least know what I look like because they’ve seen me on TV but then they will get to understand that I started my career in musicals because there's quite a few songs in it, and I'm just hoping that they can say ‘oh, she's done quite a few different things that I didn't know she'd done’. So I would like them to expect the unexpected, and so hopefully they'll just come to it and - I always call it VSM, which means value for money- that's what I hope they get! They have a lot to look at, it's a great set, and they will go home thinking that they've got value for money. They will also get home before the last bus goes so that's always good!

The show is celebrating your 50 years in showbiz so can you summarize what those 50 years in showbiz have been like?

“I would just absolutely like to say very eclectic. I've been very fortunate to do some fantastic comedies that have been well received but also I've been in Romeo and Juliet, so in a way, very diverse, but absolutely always marvelous fun, and that's what I try to portray on stage.” Yeah.

Can you pinpoint a low point and a highlight of those 50 years in showbiz?

“There have been several low points, not in terms of what I have done, but the friends that I've lost. Like Shanie [Paul Shane] and lovely Ruth Maddock, who went two years ago. So I would say that they were low points, but mostly I've had some absolutely fantastic high points, and that's what I'm prepared to remember.”

Last time you were on the Fylde Coast was for a pantomime so how different does it feel being on stage with an ensemble like that versus you on your lonesome?

“I understand what you're saying. You sometimes do get great comfort from the other artists around you. We comfort each other because you've got people you rely on and if something goes wrong, we help each other out. So there is that aspect of not having your comfort blanket but by the same token, there's only yourself to rely on in a one-woman show so you can plow through it, knowing that no one's seen it before. They don't know what to expect so you can get away with all sorts of things. If things go wrong, you just soldier on and muddle through. I don't mind it actually. I think as long as you've got confidence in your material, then hopefully the audience are going to enjoy it anyway, whether it's with people or not.”

What about you as a performer? Is it nice to be yourself as opposed to a character?

“Oh yes, although Simon Cadell used to say as myself in Hi-de-Hi, the difference between Sue and Peggy is the Berlin Wall! But no, it's lovely to be able to go on stage as yourself if you have got confidence in your material and you're genuine, then you’re just hoping that people enjoy listening to you. So that's what it's about basically just having the freedom to be yourself.”

Final question, why should people who read this article get those tickets to see you in Blackpool?

“Simply because I'm hoping that what I'm offering them is a great experience of somebody's life as it were, and they might learn things that they never would have known because we get to do a Q and A as well, and they're all given the chance to write a question on a card as they come in.

“I just want them to come and feel ‘oh god, that was a great show. I laughed, I cried. I'm glad I went’. That's what I'd like to achieve with this show.”