I said no to Kranky gran role ‘JIMMY’ HOLLYOAKS SNUB
WEE Jimmy Krankie snubbed a role in the TV soap Hollyoaks because she didn’t want to ruin her image. Show bosses were desperate to get 69-year-old Janette Tough on board to play a villain. But she turned them down over fears the Channel 4 soap would wreck the Krankies’ family-friendly reputation. Pint-sized Janette and husband Ian have confessed in the past to being sex swingers. But she said: “They wanted me to play an old granny who was terrible and evil. “And I thought, ‘I can’t play an old granny who is evil and then go into a panto. The kids would hate me’. So I turned it down. “If they asked another time, I still wouldn’t do it. I don’t think so. Our lives are really only about panto. And we go to Australia for three months of the year.” Janette featured in last year’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie as a male Japanese fashion guru called Huki Muki. And Ian said: “I think maybe they saw Janette in the Ab Fab movie and thought she TV Editor wanted to do more straight acting. But she doesn’t.” Janette added: “I am a soap fan. But I’ve not seen much of Hollyoaks. “We’re working with Steve McFadden from EastEnders in panto and he’s a lovely man. We’ve been getting on really well with him.” Telly bosses regularly offer Janette and Ian big money to do reality shows. But Ian said: “We knock them back, every one. We don’t do things like that. We’re not interested in reality TV.” Janette added: “We don’t do jungles or cooking shows.” The couple – rated among the country’s top panto stars – are appearing this year in Dick Whittington at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Janette said: “The secret to a good panto is hard work, energy and enthusiasm.” Ian added: “If a panto doesn’t have energy it won’t work. When we do a show it always has bags of energy.” Meanwhile, stars including Paul O’Grady and Amanda Holden are thrilling audiences in Cinderella at the London Palladium until January 15.