A quick run-through of some of the 20th-century icons that Su Pollard has met. Paul McCartney? \u201cAbsolutely fabulous,\u201d Pollard says. \u201cHe was sat leaning against a wall, next to Linda.\u201d She does a great impression of McCartney\u2019s accent. \u201c\u2018Hey Su, how are you? Love the show. Can I have your autograph? For my mother.\u2019\u201d The show was, of course, the hugely successful BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, set on an Essex holiday camp and for which Pollard, playing chalet maid Peggy, will for ever be best known.<\/p>\n
Queen Elizabeth, after a Royal Variety Performance? \u201cShe was absolutely marvellous. What struck me \u2013 I\u2019ve always said this \u2013 was her skin. I was drawn to her skin. It was all peachified. And beautiful smile, her own teeth. Very regal, very straight-backed, not very tall, and quite a voluptuous bosom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diana, Princess of Wales, did a little tap-dance with Pollard at a function. \u201cI found her very charming. Although she was classed as quite shy, I don\u2019t think she was. She was very open to meeting people, but perhaps it was a slow burn with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
double quotation markThe queen was\u00a0marvellous. She\u00a0had quite a\u00a0voluptuous bosom<\/p>\n
At a club in Earl\u2019s Court in London, Pollard was \u201chaving it large\u201d, she says, when a man approached her and asked if he could join in. \u201cI went: \u2018Stop! It\u2019s never you, is it?\u2019\u201d It was \u2013 Queen singer Freddie Mercury. She does an impression of him too, overbite protruding. \u201cHe went: \u2018I could be anybody, dear.\u2019 His teeth were fantastic. Another wonderful smile. His friend took a picture of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
At various Downing Street functions, Pollard met Margaret Thatcher \u2013 \u201cmarvellous, but it was very fleeting\u201d \u2013 and Theresa May. \u201cShe went: \u2018Hi de hi.\u2019 I said: \u2018Ho de ho.\u2019 She was fabulous \u2013 I liked her. She was very warm. Getting on with the job the best she could.\u201d Tony Blair? Gordon Brown? No, she says. \u201cBut I did see Tony and Gordon in \u2026 what\u2019s that lovely restaurant?\u201d Might it have been Granita? (Blair was a near-neighbour at the time in north London.) Pollard looks astonished. \u201cThat\u2019s it! How do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I was the luckiest person in the world at that time\u2019 … Pollard, far left, with Simon Cadell, Michael Knowles and Ruth Madoc in Hi-de-Hi! Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Granita was, you may remember, the venue of the 1994 pact, where Brown agreed Blair would run for the Labour leadership. \u201cThat\u2019s the first I\u2019ve heard of that,\u201d says Pollard. \u201cGod, I feel a shiver. That\u2019s what they were talking about!\u201d I mean, we don\u2019t know that\u2019s what they were discussing at that precise moment, but let\u2019s go with it. \u201cI gawked at them through the window and waved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much has been written about that fateful night, and to it we can perhaps now add the mental image of Pollard \u2013 wearing, I like to think, bright owlish glasses, maybe a feather boa, and manic grin \u2013 excitedly waving at the two serious men, history in their hands, through the window. \u201cThey just kind of went\u201d \u2013 she gives a harassed smile \u2013 \u201cand then hurried back to talking. I bet they thought: \u2018It\u2019s that Hi-de-Hi! person.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
We meet in London at the Club for Acts and Actors, the social and support organisation of which Pollard is president, in a room surrounded by old portraits of stars and posters for shows. Pollard, 76, has just written her memoir, Fully Charged, hoofing through her 52-year career, which has spanned theatre, musicals and TV. She is such funny company, and her book \u2013 which one can\u2019t help reading in her throaty Nottingham accent \u2013 has some gems. On changing her name from Sue to Su: \u201cI can\u2019t prove it, but I maintain that losing that vowel gave me some kind of momentum.\u201d And on spotting a pop superstar, not known for his sense of humour, at the infamous 1987 It\u2019s a Royal Knockout TV event, which she co-hosted: \u201cI saw a sight I never expected to witness \u2013 Cliff Richard dressed as a leek.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was \u201clovely\u201d, she says, to write the book (with her friend and collaborator Paul Boyd), \u201cbecause it reminded me, and gave me time to reflect, going: \u2018God, that was funny.\u2019 Then it makes you think, \u2018I\u2019ve had far more ups than downs\u2019, and that\u2019s what you\u2019ve got to be in life, I think \u2013 positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infamous \u2026 Pollard and Les Dawson in It\u2019s a Royal Knockout, 1987. Photograph: Kevin Holt\/ANL\/Rex\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
It has been an extraordinary life. Pollard grew up in Nottingham, an only child until she was eight. Her parents both worked in a cigarette factory, but Pollard discovered an interest in the stage while taking part in her school nativity. She was playing an \u201cassistant\u201d angel and when she stood to deliver her lines, on a cardboard box that had been taped together, she fell through it. The audience laughed and Pollard was hooked. When she was about 14, writing a school essay about where she hoped to be in 10 years, \u201cI wrote: \u2018I see myself at the Palladium.\u2019 And funnily enough, I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
What did her parents make of her? She laughs and does an impression of her mother, Hilda (she started calling her by her name as a teenager, \u201cbecause I was a hippy\u201d and she thought her mother deserved more than to be identified only as \u201cMum\u201d). \u201cSu, if you don\u2019t mind, do you think you could walk behind me?\u201d<\/p>\n
She thinks she was wearing a full-length fur coat that day, but it could have been any number of outlandish outfits. Clothes had become her costume, and gave her a sense of permission to be bold, visible and fun (today she\u2019s wearing a black sequined dress, sparkly red waistcoat, maroon specs, beads and a portrait of Frida Kahlo around her neck, with a pair of miniature Ferrero Rocher chocolate packets for earrings). \u201cI was creating my own style, albeit I looked like a morris dancer at one point because I had scarves round my knees and ankles. No wonder my poor mother \u2026\u201d She laughs. \u201cIt was fabulous. What I\u2019m saying is, just be yourself in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Just be yourself in life.\u2019 Photograph: Alicia Canter\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Sometimes people would stare at her so hard and so long they\u2019d walk into a lamp-post. People would comment but it never bothered her. \u201cYou think: \u2018Why are you so pathetically feeble-minded? Just because you\u2019ve seen something different.\u2019 And then you think: \u2018Oh, it\u2019s not their fault \u2013 forget it.\u2019\u201d Her headteacher reprimanded her for wearing her school coat \u201clike an opera cape\u201d but also, recognising her \u201ctheatrical leanings\u201d, as Pollard puts it, introduced her to a friend who ran the local amateur dramatic group.<\/p>\n
Pollard was off \u2013 in am-dram roles, and performing in local working men\u2019s clubs. In 1974, she appeared on the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks, but came second to a \u201csinging\u201d jack russell (she alleges the owner would insert a finger into its bottom to make it howl on cue). \u201cI\u2019ve never liked jack russells ever since,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI cross the road to avoid them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her first big professional job was in a touring production of Godspell, produced by a young Cameron Mackintosh, who would go on to become a titan of theatre. Did she ever feel out of place as a working-class actor? \u201cNo, funnily enough, because I met several that were very similar to me.\u201d Now, she says, \u201cthere\u2019s more privately educated people, perhaps, than there are from comprehensives. But I didn\u2019t feel out of place, whether I was with my peers or with people that had been to \u2018radar\u2019.\u201d She hoots at herself. People would assume she was so uneducated that she didn\u2019t know how to pronounce Rada, the acronym for the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. \u201cIt used to make me laugh. I used to do it, just for fun. To me, it never matters where you come from, as long as you\u2019re a good team player, you\u2019ve got the discipline and the passion for it. And reliability \u2013 I always believed in a work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Impostor syndrome never plagued her. She was lucky, she says, to have been supported by her parents and teachers. \u201cYou didn\u2019t feel that you weren\u2019t good enough. I tried never to get above myself, but I thought: \u2018Su, you\u2019ve got enough talent, just as much as anyone else.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
double quotation markA lot of producers think it\u2019s time for you to go. No! I\u2019m too young<\/p>\n
Pollard had been working in theatre for five years and approaching 30 when she got the role in Hi-de-Hi! (She had appeared in another sitcom just before that, Two Up, Two Down.) \u201cI was just beside myself. I was the luckiest person \u2013 we all were \u2013 in the world at that time.\u201d Did they know it would become so big? \u201cNo, but we had an inkling that it was on the right track when we did the pilot and the whole crew were killing themselves laughing.\u201d The humour, she says, hasn\u2019t really dated. \u201cIt\u2019s adults looking ridiculous and silly situations. Mostly slapstick stuff \u2013 that\u2019s what I loved about it because I like physical humour.\u201d (It remains big in Hungary.)<\/p>\n
She still loves talking about the show, she says, and never feels resentful about being asked about it, especially by fans. \u201cPeople have loved it and you have to respect that you were part of somebody\u2019s life. I think it\u2019s rotten to disrespect your audience.\u201d The cast, or at least those that are still around, continue to get together. \u201cWe call ourselves \u201cthe Undead\u201d, the ones that are still here. We go: \u2018Weren\u2019t we lucky to have brought people all that joy?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I tried never to get above myself, but I thought: you\u2019ve got enough talent\u2019 \u2026 pictured in 2007. Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Boyd brings her a cup of tea and Pollard rummages through her handbag \u2013 it\u2019s decorated with all the names of her shows on it \u2013 looking for something to fish the teabag out with. Has she got a tomato in there? (Appearing on the TV panel show Would I Lie to You?, Pollard revealed she never went anywhere without a tomato, to jazz up restaurant salads, and a party blower, to jazz up \u2026 life). No tomatoes today. \u201cI don\u2019t put them in there now because people started pinching them.\u201d A party blower? Again she rummages in her bag, and brings one out and toots it. \u201cSometimes, suddenly on the train \u2026\u201d She blows it loudly and laughs. \u201cPathetic. Honestly! I\u2019m in my 70s. It just makes me laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1984, Pollard married Peter Keogh, whom she met when he was working as a stagehand on the Hi-de-Hi! musical. She knew that he\u2019d had boyfriends, but when the tabloids found out, it unleashed years of homophobic coverage. \u201cIt\u2019s not a very nice thing [to be hounded by reporters], especially when you\u2019ve got to work,\u201d she says. There were constant stories alleging he had continued to have affairs with men.<\/p>\n
It was also around the time of the HIV and Aids crisis, which made the tabloids even more rabid. Pollard, a longtime ally of the gay community, watched with horror as friends started becoming ill. She remembers doing an early fundraiser at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the iconic London LGBTQ+ venue. \u201cI didn\u2019t know enough about it at the time; I don\u2019t think anyone did. People were great, giving money. But then, of course, people I knew started dying. One of the first was a friend from Godspell. That was a really tragic thing \u2013 he was amazing. Then a very close friend. It was devastating, really.\u201d She would hear about friends of friends. \u201cThere was no real consolation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m not going to be waiting for the phone to ring\u2019 … Pollard in the Benidorm Christmas Special in 2010. Photograph: Tiger Aspect\/ITV<\/p>\n
Pollard is still great friends with her ex-husband \u2013 they divorced in 1992 \u2013 and his husband. \u201cYou can\u2019t regret things in your life. You might feel sad that things didn\u2019t turn out the way you initially hoped, but no grudges, no regrets.\u201d She had another long-term relationship. \u201cBut since then, I can\u2019t be bothered. I\u2019m more passionate about showbiz than a man.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the reason she never wanted to have children. \u201cWhy would I want to be a mother? How can I learn my lines if I\u2019m going: \u2018Stop that, Carol \u2013 eat your dinner.\u2019 I don\u2019t know how people do it, darling.\u201d It\u2019s hard enough for women who choose to remain child-free now; was she judged for it in the 80s? \u201cNo, because I think people knew better than to actually be \u2026 And you know the greatest thing? Hilda and me dad never once said: \u2018When are we going to be grandparents?\u2019\u201d Jean, her sister, also didn\u2019t have children. \u201cIt was not at all because of bad parenting \u2013 they were marvellous \u2013 we just never thought to go down that route. No thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 25 years ago, when Pollard had just turned 50, she had a bit of a career lull. \u201cAt the time, you think: \u2018Oh, flippin\u2019 \u2019eck, here I am, middle-aged.\u2019 I thought: \u2018I\u2019ve got to make a concerted effort. I\u2019m not going to be proud, waiting for the phone to ring.\u2019\u201d She wrote to writers and directors, reminding people she was around and wanting to work. \u201cI wrote to Jonathan Harvey, who I liked.\u201d The playwright had been writing the BBC comedy Gimme Gimme Gimme, and offered Pollard a guest spot. \u201cThat sort of kickstarted my career again, so I was really fortunate. Then I got offered more musicals.\u201d She went into the touring production of Annie, and continued for many years. \u201cI think a lot of producers, and even writers, probably think, \u2018Well, they\u2019ve had a good innings\u2019, and it\u2019s time for you to go. No! I\u2019m too young. I never say the R-word.\u201d Camply, she stage-whispers: \u201cRetirement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve had far more ups than downs.\u2019 Photograph: Alicia Canter\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
This year, Pollard will do her 43rd panto, playing a fairy in Sleeping Beauty in Crewe, and she continues with her one-woman show. She has enviable energy \u2013 the work helps. \u201cIf you like the piece, you\u2019re energised by it.\u201d But she also does all the sensible things: walks a lot, sees friends, eats healthily, sleeps well. \u201cMy favourite sleep time is 2am till nine.\u201d What does she do until 2am? Read mostly, she says. Gone are the days of dancing in clubs, but only because London nightlife is so \u201cpathetic\u201d (she almost spits the word). \u201cSadiq Khan [the London mayor], God love him, he\u2019s doing his best trying to get the night-time economy back. Ever since Covid, it\u2019s the saddest thing. I can\u2019t believe, in a capital city of the world, there\u2019s nowhere open at midnight. You must be having a laugh. I\u2019ve been furious since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is so irrepressible; does she ever have down days? \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say down. I would describe it as dissatisfied. I\u2019m more likely to get irritable. But then I go: \u2018Oh, forget it, Su.\u2019\u201d She used to dwell on things, she says. \u201cI\u2019ve learned over the years you\u2019re better not to. I get sad for other people sometimes. I get very sad about losing mates. But then again, I still talk to them and say, \u2018just thinking of you, babe\u2019, and then that moment passes.\u201d<\/p>\n
To use the theatre cliche, the show must go on, of course. And I think \u2013 as she reapplies lipstick, grins and adjusts her sequin minidress \u2013 that to be Su Pollard must be like being in one glorious, joyful show that runs and runs.<\/p>\n