Gregory’s Girl... all grown up
38 years on, star of iconic film recreates pose that set teenage boys’ pulses racing
THE hairstyle and fashions have moved on, but there is something unmistakable about the pose.
Or there is, at any rate, for those old enough to remember the last time Dee Hepburn had a football at her feet.
The star of the 1981 hit film Gregory’s Girl yesterday recreated the now iconic image from the coming-of-age movie as she made a rare public appearance at a golf tournament.
And, after decades away from showbusiness, she said she could be tempted back for the right role.
‘I fancy doing a Blind Date-type show for mature people or similar,’ she said. ‘That would be a laugh and very satisfying, too. There are too many lonely people as we are all living longer. I could be a Scottish Cilla Black perhaps. Loose Women looks fun, too.’
The former actress, 57, whose last job was selling hoists to the elderly and disabled, withdrew from the limelight in 1989. By then, she was living in fear of stalkers, one of whom sent disturbing letters and made a rape threat.
She said the disturbing effects of ‘social media’ were the reason she had not attempted to revive her celebrity career.
Miss Hepburn added: ‘I can see how hard it is for performers out there trying to deal with the constant scrutiny and criticism of cowardly people in society, individuals who have the power to negatively affect lives.’
The mother of two said she was particularly appalled by a malicious online campaign against the 2013 X Factor winner Sam Bailey. ‘[She] was reported wrongly to social services a few times and was terrified they would take her kids. As a mother, I know how unthinkable that situation would be,’ she said.
Miss Hepburn shot to fame playing Dorothy in the Bill Forsyth film alongside John Gordon Sinclair and Clare Grogan. She later spent four years as receptionist Anne-Marie Wade on the ITV soap Crossroads.
There was a brief comeback in 1996 when she appeared in The Bruce, starring Oliver Reed, but Miss Hepburn has otherwise kept a low profile.
She turned down several films in the 1980s – including the female lead in the British movie Castaway – because they involved nudity and sex scenes.
Appearing at the Tony Hadley Golf Classic in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, yesterday, she expressed dismay at the sexualised content of much of today’s drama, saying: ‘Most shows seem to have a sexual content. I think they fear they’ll lose viewing figures unless it contains it.
‘I remember playing a scene in Crossroads where I was in bed supposedly naked, but not, and the man playing my partner had to be sitting on top of the covers fully clothed before the network could air it. How times have changed.’
One role she looks forward to playing in future is that of grandmother. Her son Stephen, 28, works for Apple, while 27year-old daughter Cassie is a cabin crew member with British Airways. She said: ‘Both kids are in lovely relationships and I just want them to enjoy life.’
Miss Hepburn’s children are from her first marriage, which lasted four years. For the past 14 years she has been married to Dewar Docherty and the couple, who live in her native East Kilbride, play golf together.
‘We play as many days as the Scottish weather allows,’ said Miss Hepburn, whose present handicap is 18.
‘Golf is my fitness as well as my hobby. I would like to have a little place in the sun by the sea and a golf course, probably in Spain, so I can easily travel to and fro. Apart from that, I am just excited to see what life brings. I am a great believer in fate.’
‘In bed supposedly naked, but not’