O Kim all ye faithful
Girls Aloud singer and Strictly Come Dancing finalist Kimberley Walsh will be helping to spread some festive cheer in the Midlands. She talks to ROZ LAWS
SINGER Kimberley Walsh is known as Mrs Christmas to her family, so starring in a festive show in Birmingham is her ‘‘dream job’’. Not only will her home be packed with decorations, food and guests, but she reveals that Father Christmas has already been playing a big part in her house for weeks.
The Girls Aloud star has been using Santa to make sure her eldest son Bobby behaves.
“Father Christmas has been helping me out a lot,” she laughs. “I’ve been getting in early and using him as a bribe. I say that Santa is watching him all the time, that he’s magic and he won’t bring presents if Bobby is naughty. It’s working a treat so far.”
Bobby is four while Kimberley’s other son Cole is 13 months old.
“Bobby kind of got what was going on last Christmas but this year he’s really excited and engrossed in the magic of it all,” she says. “It’s great that I’m in a show he can watch.”
Kimberley, 37, is starring in a Christmas Spectacular at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, with performances in the afternoon and evening of December 15. Brummies get to see it first before it plays the London Palladium and Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
A full show band, West End vocalists and the Jingle Belle Dancers will entertain with music, dance, lights and a snow-filled finale. Expect all your favourite Christmas songs, from Winter Wonderland and Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Merry Christmas Everyone and All I Want for Christmas is You.
Kimberley says: “I’m really excited to be doing such a fun, family show. It’s about as Christmassy as it gets, which is a dream job for me as I’m known as Mrs Christmas.
“I’ll be doing a few solo numbers, big group numbers and a duet with Tim Howar. Kerry Ellis is also starring.”
Christmas round at Kimberley’s sounds lively and loud. She’ll be celebrating not just with Bobby, Cole and her husband Justin Scott but with up to 15 members of her family, including aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews.
She describes what happens on December 25: “I’m used to having lots of people around at Christmas. I usually host and I love having a busy house full of noise and fun.
“I put stockings on the boys’ beds with little presents, as I had that growing up. They open them on my bed, to buy me a bit of time after a busy Christmas Eve doing all the present wrapping!
“Then we go downstairs and open all the presents under the tree. We have a big family breakfast with Buck’s Fizz, then the kids play with their toys while we make dinner.
“We eat a traditional meal about 3pm of turkey with all the trimmings – and I mean all! People get upset if I miss out their favourite so I throw everything on there, a million different types of vegetable, potatoes and stuffing.
“Then we chill out and get everyone in the mood for some games about 6pm. We love a late snack of cheese and crackers.”
When asked to name her favourite Christmas film, Kimberley makes an unusual choice. Uplifting classics like It’s A Wonderful Life and Love Actually aren’t for her – instead she opts for Santa Claus the Movie.
The 1985 film starring Dudley Moore as an elf and David Huddleston as Santa has been much maligned. It was mauled by critics, with many citing it as one of the worst Christmas movies ever made.
But Kimberley stands up for it, saying: “I know it’s not the best film, but I love it because I watched it as a kid every Christmas Eve and it’s a family tradition I’m trying to push onto my children.
“It epitomises Christmas to me. I think the Santa looks like what Santa should look like!”
As for her favourite song, Kimberley just can’t choose. “It’s hard to pick, but I like the classics from the 1970s and Eighties when I was little, like The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York and I Wish It Could be Christmas Every Day by Wizzard.
“I like Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas but it doesn’t give me the same magical feelings of nostalgia.”
Kimberley, from Bradford, shot to fame in 2002 as one of the winners of Pop Stars: The Rivals. Girls Aloud had 20 consecutive top 10 hits, including four number ones, and five BRIT award nominations.
She’s acted in the Horrid Henry film and Channel 4 drama Ackley Bridge, starred in the West End in Shrek The Musical, tried TV presenting and was a finalist in Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 with Pasha Kovolev.
“I still watch Strictly every week,” confides Kimberley. “If you take part in the show you become a crazed fan and have to follow it afterwards.
“It’s tough to choose a winner. I always support Pasha and I do love Ashley, but I also love Stacey and I’m really warming to Faye.
“I know how Ashley must have felt being the dance-off, even though she’s so good. It happened to us in week six, ironically in my best week. I’d had the best comments and a high score of 34 for my Viennese Waltz, and I think people think they don’t need to vote for you if you’ve done well. It was just awful, standing there with the red light on us, thinking we might be going home.”
Although she’s an accomplished dancer, Kimberley wouldn’t call herself an expert, which is why she’s unsure she could do what her former bandmate Cheryl Tweedy has been doing in Birmingham.
Cheryl is a dance captain and judge on Simon Cowell’s new Saturday night TV show The Greatest Dancer. Filmed at the ICC and due to air in January, all kinds of dancers compete for a £50,000 prize.
“If I was to be a judge, it would have to be the right show to give my expertise on. I’d have to feel I’m qualified to do it. Maybe something like Britain’s Got Talent, about all-round entertainers.”
It’s been nearly six years since Girls Aloud split but we could see them following the Spice Girls and getting back together.
Kimberley says: “I’m really excited about the Spice Girls reforming because there aren’t enough girl bands out there. It does make me feel nostalgia for Girls Aloud, and I think a reunion could happen, but it would have to be at the right time. We haven’t been apart for that long.
“I’d love to see the Spice Girls in concert but I didn’t spend ages on the phone trying to buy tickets. I really hope I can blag some. Surely there’s a girl band code where they have to give us tickets!”
●●Christmas Spectacular is at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on December 15. For tickets, ring 0121 780 3333 or go to thsh.co.uk.
It was just awful, standing there with the red light on us, thinking we might be going home. Kimberley Walsh on Strictly