I was well up for the wrestling.. it’s fun to be physical and fortunately no onegot hurt
actress reveals how she revelled in her latest film role with its crazy clobber
YOU might have forgiven Jill Halfpenny for refusing the chance of slipping on a leotard and leggings to wrestle with a gang of sweaty men – in front of a camera.
But she jumped at the chance to learn the half-nelson for a bit of grunt and groan in the ring in her latest movie – even adding a glittery peacock tail to her slinky costume.
She said: “I like being physical. You don’t get to work with your body very much when you do a lot of film and TV work. It’s fun to me to be physical.”
Brit flick Walk Like A Panther – also starring Liverpudlian actor Stephen Graham – is a sort of Full Monty but with way more spandex.
Former Byker Grove star Jill plays Lara Anderson, the single female in a gang of past-their-sell-by-date wrestlers. Faced with the closure of their local pub, the lads try to save it by resurrecting their glorious wrestling heyday – reminiscent of ITV’s World of Sport on Saturday afternoons with legends such as Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. Lara’s the “glamour” attraction. Jill, 42, laughed like a drain at the mention of the peacock tail, which appears in one scene when she’s trying on her crazy wrestling clobber.
She said: “The brilliant thing about my character is she thinks she looks amazing.
“No one else has to think that. You don’t put a costume on and think, ‘Do I look amazing or not?’ It’s
The older you get, the less important work becomes and the more fun you have with it
about her thinking, ‘I am it.’” That attitude definitely helped Lara in the ring, and Jill loved it too. They clearly make them tough in Byker Grove country – the kids’ TV drama in which she famously launched her career aged 13, alongside Ant & Dec and Donna Air. Even wrestling training with real-life wrestlers didn’t faze Jill. She said: “I loved all that, absolutely loved it. They could have given me more and more and more – I was well up for all the wrestling. “A couple of people might have had a few twinges here and there but thankfully none of us got injured.” The snug costumes didn’t make Jill nervous either. She said: “It’s just fun to wear things like that. It’s play. It’s literally like having a fancy dress box. “You get a perspective on life as you get older and you know what is important and what isn’t. “If someone doesn’t like what I’m wearing or how I look, that’s fine, that’s their opinion.” She added: “Ageing is going to happen – it’s happening. I have got signs of ageing all over my body, all over my face, my hair, my hands. It is what it is. “I’m not going to run around screaming, ‘I’ve got a grey hair.’” Jill, who was 17 when she moved to London after Byker Grove, has never been short of work. In recent years she’s starred in Babylon, In The Club and gritty real-life drama Three Girls.
She’s also had roles in Coronation Street and EastEnders, as well as musicals Chicago and Legally Blonde. And she won the Strictly Come Dancing glitterball in 2004.
In the past, she didn’t say no to the odd sexy shoot, either. She insists they never made her feel awkward.
She said: “They approached me, I thought it sounded fun, I did it. That’s it, really.”
Jill has a nine-year-old son, Harvey – she got divorced from his dad actor Craig Conway in 2010 – and becoming a mum helped her to be more laid-back about her career.
She said: “The older you get, I think probably the less important work becomes and the more fun you have with it. And there is a freedom in understanding that it’s just a job, a bit of fun.”
Jill has found she hasn’t worked any less since reaching her 40s and now gets more varied roles.
She said: “I feel like I get to do more interesting things now.”
A career in the States never beckoned, because “I never thought it was the ultimate thing”. And it might have proven tricky with her young son.
She admitted: “There are times when it’s like, ‘Oh no, I have to put him in after-school club because I have an audition’, but my mam helps out loads.”
Having grown up in a “normal, working class” family in Gateshead – she lost her dad aged four but her mum remarried – acting was out of the ordinary on her estate, let alone landing the Byker part.
She said: “It was the best four years ever. I’d skip to work, I’d be so excited.”
She’s still on friendly terms with some of her co-stars and regularly lunches with Donna, who recently lost the Dancing On Ice skate-off.
And it looks like the next lunch will be on Jill, judging by the toll she inflicted on the movie set.
She revealed: “There were some injuries to a few wallets. The blokes didn’t stand a chance in shove ha’penny between takes.
“We would play games between scenes, like where you push a coin along a table and it has to land in a certain area. So we all put a quid in – I won about 50 quid.” ● Walk Like A Panther is in cinemas now.
Byker Grove was the best four years ever. I’d skip to work, I’d be so excited