‘Everybody forgets the old during Covid. They should look after them’
CHRISTOPHER Biggins, one of the cheeriest chaps you can hope to meet, is outraged.
Covid-19 rules that leave the elderly hiding away for months without seeing family or friends, have really wound him up.
He can’t bear the thought of people in their twilight years missing out on life and believes the frustration over the confusing rules will come to a head at Christmas.
The grand dame of panto is 71 and while not facing the festive season alone, will certainly be without his fans. Jack And The
Beanstalk at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford, Kent, has been cancelled and it will only be the third time in 44 years he hasn’t been involved in Christmas slapstick.
“It is appalling what is happening,” says the former Celebrity Patron of Age UK. “Everybody seems to forget the old and in this particular climate they should be looking after them a bit more.
“It is all very well saying you can’t do this, you have to be isolated but they are at the end of their lives in many cases, they want to be with their children and their grandchildren. I just think there should be a little bit more sensitivity to the elderly and they should be looked after more.”
Christopher, who won I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2007, adds: “The Rule of Six is totally arbitrary. I don’t know what is going on or who is making these rules and I think the Government don’t know what’s going on.”
He stays in touch with Scott Mitchell, husband of close friend Dame Barbara Windsor, who has Alzheimer’s and moved into a care home. Christopher, who lives in Hackney, east London, with partner Neil Sinclair, still likes to dresss outrageously. He takes the title role in a video for the single Aunty Mabel by pop act Kitten Pyramid.
It was released on World Mental Health Day, with 50 per cent of profits going to Age UK.
“I was very flattered at 71 to be asked to do a pop video, so I said yes instantly,” he says.
He’s not lost his panto jollity. “It would have been funny to do Jack And The Beanstalk with social distancing, the pair in the cow would have been so far apart the udders would have dragged on the floor.”
And the pantomime will go on – Christopher will star in an extravaganza for ITV’S This Morning.
Aunty Mabel is on digital and streaming outlets. The video is on Youtube. To donate to Age UK visit kittenpyramid.co.uk