Say Hi-de-Hi to life:
Su Pollard talks life after a hit TV series.
Some actresses fade into obscurity after they leave a hit TV show – but Su Pollard isn’t one of them.
The 68 year old, who is best known for her role on comedy series Hi-de-Hi!, in which she played lovable chambermaid Peggy, was labelled a ‘national treasure’ in a British newspaper last month and is usually photographed wearing brightly coloured attire.
When she spoke with TV Guide, Pollard was looking forward to visiting Birmingham for a guest role in British soap Doctors.
“Myself and Ruth Madoc (who plays Gladys on Hi-de-Hi!), we’re both in love with the same chap,” she says of her Doctors storyline.
This year Pollard, who has kept in touch with Madoc since their Hi-de-Hi! days, appeared in a reality show called Last Laugh In Vegas. She is currently gearing up for her Edinburgh Festival debut in which she appears in the play Harpy.
Here in New Zealand, Jones! is screening repeats of Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang M’Lord. The latter stars Pollard and her Hi-de-Hi! castmates Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland.
Both shows were written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who
also
“A lot of people are in the darkness too much. They want to be bright but they are always a little bit too shy and hesitant.”
– Su Pollard
penned Dad’s Army and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.
Hi-de-Hi!, which is set in a British holiday camp, was inspired by Perry’s real-life experience working for Butlin’s, a chain of camps throughout the UK.
The TV show was a hit not only in the UK but also in New Zealand where viewers warmed to the motley collection of camp staff.
“They hadn’t carved a great success out of themselves so they decided they wanted to be the best they could at this holiday camp,” says Pollard of the characters.
“They were never probably going to be a great success. And I think a lot of people at home identified with that. They watched them and thought, ‘Oh bless them. They are just people, ordinary people trying to do their best’.
“New Zealand, I think, has such an affinity with the UK. I suppose because a lot of UK people have settled in New Zealand as well.
“To me, it’s got traditional British values as much as it’s got its own country’s values.”
Set in the 1950s-60s, Hi-de-Hi! ran for nine seasons and Pollard, who enjoys watching repeat episodes, has happy memories of her time on the show.
“The great moments (that) stand out for me, seriously, (were) when you first get the scripts through the door – none of this email,” she says.
“It was always big hard copies. You’d get all the series (episodes) in one great big envelope. They’d weigh a tonne. You’d read them because you wouldn’t know what the scripts were before you got them. You’d be going, ‘Oh that is so funny. That’s hilarious’. Just knowing that we’re going to spend the next three or four months laughing your head off every day.
“And, of course, seeing it earlier tonight, because it’s on here about six o’clock, it was so nice to see lovely people like Simon Cadell who sadly passed away. He played Mr Fairbrother ... There are only about four of us left. “Sadly (most of them) have all gone. So it’s lovely to go, ‘Oh I remember that scene and didn’t Barry look handsome there and didn’t so-and-so look great’. They were great days.”
Acting aside, Pollard can also sing and in 1986 her single Starting Together reached number two in the UK pop charts. Four years ago, she spent time in New Zealand playing Miss Hannigan in the musical Annie. Back then news reports frequently referenced Pollard’s unique sense of style.
An internet search reveals Pollard’s outfits are often described as ‘quirky’ or ‘wacky’.
Pollard says she has always been a fan of dressing in bright colours.
“A lot of people are in the darkness too much,” she says.
“They want to be bright but they are always a little bit too shy and hesitant. But, to be fair, a lot of people are in quite staid jobs where they have a strict dress code whereas if you’re in the theatre or in the entertainment business, to a certain extent, you can vent your personality.
“But you know, I don’t know whether people say ‘quirky’, ‘eccentric’, ‘off the wall’, ‘wacky’ – I just think I’m normal.”