Never mind almost killing myself when I fell off a beanstalk.. I broke my back pulling my socks on
Krankies star Janette Tough has revealed she did the whole of last year’s panto season with a broken back.
The pint-sized actress took a tumble while pulling on a pair of socks on the opening night of the SECC’s production of Peter Pan.
Believing she had just pulled a muscle, Janette, 69, battled through all 37 performances of the hit panto in Glasgow before a trip to the doctor led to the discovery of a fractured vertebra.
The showbiz trouper, who was almost killed in a horror fall from a mechanical beanstalk during a panto in 2004, said: “It was opening night and I was back stage getting changed. I had my foot up on a chair and was pulling on my socks when I tipped over and fell on to my back. “On the way down, I hit the wooden bit on the settee.
“It was really sore when I stood up but, believing I had just bruised myself or pul led a muscle, I never gave it another thought and just got on with the show.
“My back troubled me throughout the whole panto but, with two shows a day for three weeks, I didn’t have time to get it checked out.”
Janet te, who is starring in the new Ab Fab movie, added: “After the panto was over, I went to the doctor, who sent me straight for an X-ray. I had broken my back. He could not believe I had managed to do three weeks of panto with a fractured vertebra.
“I just told him a broken back was no big deal after you had already fractured your skull, broken ribs and your collarbone, damaged your chest wall and perforated an eardrum all in the name of panto.”
Janette, who has spent more than 50 years playing cheeky schoolboy Wee Jimmy Krankie alongside her husband and comedy partner Ian Tough, admits it must have been the adrenalin that kept her going.
She said: “Looking back, I have no idea how I got through all 37 shows but I suppose it was the adrenalin that kept me buzzing.
“When you are on stage, you have to concentrate so hard on what you are doing that you forget about everything else and, with two shows a day, you just had to get on with it.
“Ian and I were playing the Smee Brothers in Peter Pan, with Baywatch star David Hasselhoff as Captain Hook, and we were on for most of the second half.
“At one point, I was dressed up as Pamela Anderson and was wiggling about on a surfboard. How I didn’t do more damage, I will never know. It has all healed now and I only get the odd twinge when I reach up to put something on the counter in the kitchen. “I’ve been very careful getting dressed ever since.”
Janette, who had to take a year off performing after her 10ft plunge off a beanstalk at the Pavilion in Glasgow in December 2014, is sad not to be returning for the SECC panto this year.
The Krankies are gearing up to star in Dick Whittington at the Birmingham Hippodrome alongside pal John Barrowman and EastEnder Steve McFadden.
She said: “We can’t wait to be back on stage with John. We have great chemistry and spent five wonderful years with him at the SECC in Glasgow.
“Although the Hoff was great, we really missed him last year.
“We are sad not to be doing panto in Scotland this year but are looking forward to seeing what Birmingham make of us. We haven’t performed there since we topped the bil l in 1982.”
The 4ft 5in entertainer, who appears as male Japanese fashion designer Huki Muki in the new Absolutely Fabulous film, admits she loved being in the movie, even though it sparked a racism row. In a Twitter rant, Korean actress Margaret Cho claimed casting the Scot as an Asian was “racist”.
She tweeted: “Have some respect. Hire Asian actors for Asian roles. I’m disgusted.”
This prompted movie bosses to turn Janette’s silent role into a speaking part.
The Krackerjack legend, who grew up in Queenzieburn, Lanarkshire, said: “After the whole racism row kicked off, the film-makers decided to have me talking as myself, to show I am not really Asian.
“People will be left in no doubt
Doctors couldn’t believe I had done three weeks of panto with a fractured vertebra