Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gobby like Eileen.. she but she’s never nasty
Star’s diplomacy with Hancock
SUE Cleaver is proving she is nothing like her gobby Coronation Street character as she keeps her cool with Matt Hancock on I’m A Celebrity, her husband has said.
Sue, 59, who campaigned for Labour, has stayed professional in her dealings with the Tory ex-health Secretary.
Unlike grumpy Eileen Grimshaw, who she plays in the ITV soap, she has managed to speak her mind to him without shouting or losing her temper.
She even talked Boy George into staying on the show when he threatened to leave after Hancock’s arrival.
Husband Brian, who has flown to
Australia to support Sue, said: “Her leanings are towards the Mirror readers’ side of things obviously.
“She has not been too nasty with him, she has been professional and doesn’t want to cause a ruckus between all the people in the camp.
“You’re seeing the Sue we know. She thinks before she speaks.
“She doesn’t dive in like Eileen would, as a gobby northern woman.
“Sue sat back and listened and sussed out everyone.” Giving Hancock his due, he said: “I have to hold my hands up and say he has done great in the trials.” Sue has built close friendships with campmates Mike Tindall and Owen Warner, and was dubbed “two ball Sue” when she won the chance to have a beach barbecue with Hancock and Jill Scott this week.
She has also spoken of being reunited with her birth mum in recent years, having been adopted.
Son Elliot, 24, who flew in with Brian, joked that his mum’s dealings with Hancock in the camp would make her a great politician herself. He said: “Her stuff with Matt Hancock was interesting – Prime Minister Cleaver 2025? Yeah, we’ll have to see what happens. She is very professional but she is still going to have some input on the situation.”
Elliot is also enjoying seeing his mum being her “true self ” on TV.
He said: “It’s strange for me, growing up and seeing her all the time on Corrie and never seeing her as herself on screen. It’s nice to see her in another light, being herself on screen.
“She’s doing well in the trials and hopefully she can relax and enjoy it.’”