Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
MY LOVE LETTER TO YORKSHIRE
She’s cruised the world, but Jane Mcdonald says there’s no place like home in her new series
Jane Mcdonald travelled the world filming seven series of her Baftawinning TV show Cruising With Jane Mcdonald, taking in Alaska, Australia, South America and the Caribbean among other far-flung destinations. But there was one arguably less exotic location that often got a mention as she sailed the seven seas – Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
‘It’s where I’m from,’ explains Jane. ‘I love it, I miss it when I’m not there and I’m fiercely proud of it. No matter where I was, I always tried to get in a mention of Wakefield – or Wakey as I call it – somewhere because I wanted everyone to know about my beautiful home city and the county of Yorkshire beyond.’
Now Jane’s finally getting the chance not only to talk about Wakey, but to showcase it to us in a new series. Jane Mcdonald: My Yorkshire is an autobiographical six-part trip around the singer-cumpresenter’s home county, taking in the coastal towns of Bridlington, Scarborough and Whitby, as well as Wakefield, Holmfirth and Knaresborough. The Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors National
Park are also on the itinerary, with celebrity guests popping up on the journey.
Frazer Hines, who played Joe Sugden in Emmerdale, puts in an appearance in one episode, while in this week’s opening show Jane rolls back the years to spend time with an actor from her favourite childhood sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine when she visits the show’s home town, Holmfirth.
‘When I was growing up, the whole family would squeeze on to the sofa at 7.30 on a Sunday night and laugh ourselves silly at it,’ says Jane. ‘It ran for 37 years and is still remembered and celebrated for its wonderful combination of warmth, beauty and sheer silliness.’
Sadly, its stars Bill Owen,
Brian Wilde and Peter Sallis – who played Compo, Foggy and Clegg respectively – are no longer with us, but Jane tracks down another Summer Wine stalwart, Jonathan Linsley, who played ‘Crusher’ Milburn, the stocky dogsbody at Sid’s Café. The pair enjoy a drink and share memories outside the real-life café that was used in the show.
Across town, Jane has a look around the terraced house that was home to Nora Batty (the late Kathy Staff), who was famous for her curlers and wrinkled stockings and being the object of Compo’s unrequited desires. It was from the steps outside her famous front door that he would declare his undying love for her. Now a holiday let in a town that remains a mecca for fans of the show, owner Loretta Skelton jokes, ‘If I had a pound for every time somebody’s had their photograph taken on these steps, I’d be a millionaire!’ Back in her hometown, Jane is disappointed to find that her pavement plaque on Wakefield’s Walk Of Fame is in need of a little TLC. So she whips out the Brasso to polish it. In Wakefield Cathedral, she tries her hand at bell-ringing and hears the hymn For All The Saints, composed by former Bishop of Wakefield William Walsham, sung by the cathedral choir.
‘I also get the chance for a reunion with Vicky, the woman
who first spotted me singing in a nightclub and got me on to the cruise ships all those years ago, changing my life in the process,’ says Jane, who shot to fame in BBC1 documentary series The Cruise in 1998 before topping the charts for three weeks with her debut album.
‘The whole series is both a love letter to Yorkshire as well as a highly personal journey for me, a chance to rediscover the places and people I loved as a girl. The producers even got me a 1970s Vauxhall Viva to drive around in, the same model as my very first car!’
The vehicle is a charming nod towards nostalgia but not necessarily easy to drive. ‘I know we’re mollycoddled when it comes to driving modern cars, but I really did miss power steering when I was in the Viva. However, it was a great experience being at the wheel. Like your first love, you never forget your first car.
‘This show is the best thing I’ve ever done, I hope we get another series,’ says Jane. ‘And I hope it inspires people to visit Yorkshire. It’s a beautiful place – nowhere holds a candle to it.’ ■
Tim Oglethorpe Jane Mcdonald: My Yorkshire, tomorrow, 9pm, Channel 5.