If you fancy a night where you get the chance to Twist Again, Close Your Eyes And Count To Ten, Tell The Boys and become a Big Spender, then you could do no better than to head Downtown and spend a night at the Regent Theatre, Hanley, watching the brilliant new musical, SHOUT! which runs there until Saturday.

Starring Claire Sweeney, Su Pollard, Shona White and Donna Steele, this is one of those feel-good shows that leaves your troubles at the door. It's affectionate, funny, wonderfully put together and superbly presented.

In a nutshell, it's unmissable.

Like most musicals of this kind, it's the music that lies dominant to everything else, but it has to be said that SHOUT! has the whole package - and a little bit more on top.

Comprising three main girls and one man, the cast is exceptionally small but it's the familiar saying of 'quality not quantity' that keeps running through your mind as you watch it.

Heading the show last night were TV personalities Claire Sweeney, confident and edgy in her role as man-mad Ruby, and Su Pollard who impressed all as a Peckham hairdresser with a singing voice many didn't expect to hear.

But the contrasting characters, including the geeky Betty played by powerful Shona White, the aspiring showbiz star Georgina played by Donna Steele and Howard Jones's multi-talented 'Man' were reason enough to make the simple storyline of SHOUT! work really well - not to mention the costumes and set design of ex-Endon High School pupil, Morgan Large can take exceptional credit for.

SHOUT! is colourful and vibrant from start to finish with enough energy to keep you entertained throughout.

For those familiar with the era SHOUT! is an entertaining trip down memory lane, while for others it's a chance to take a look at a decade everyone seems to rave about.

Judging by the audience last night, those were certainly the days. Brilliant.

Looking forward to saying Hi-de-Hi! to Hanley next week, she talks to Tamzin Hindmarch about her new show Shout! 

At The height of the Yuppie era, when power dressing, shoulder pads, big hair and even bigger mobile phones were all the rage, Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum screenwriters Jimmy Perry and David Croft introduced BBC viewers to Hi-de-Hi! 

A programme set in a 1950s British holiday camp, it was the perfect 1980s' antidote to Madonna's material world when grown-ups wanted to settle down after dinner with their children, switch off from reality and switch on the TV.

Despite notching up countless stage performances after the programme won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984, Su Pollard doesn't need reminding that this is the show she is still best remembered for.

"It was written with family viewing in mind," she says, "and I think it was successful because it had all the elements in it that it needed - silly costumes, unusual props, nostalgia - and it was based on fact. Lots of people still come up to me today and say they knew someone like Ted Bovis where they worked.

"People still shout 'Hi-de-Hi!' at me too, and I just shout 'Ho-de-Ho!' back. I don't mind. In fact, I was in Greece on top of a mountain in the remotest village you could find when this man stopped me and said, 'Hi-de-Hi!'. He told me a relative of his owned a chip shop in Birmingham and while he'd been visiting him, it had been on television and he'd remembered it."

For her latest comedy performance, Su jumps a decade to the 1960s, to play Aunt Yvonne, or Vonney, to Claire Sweeney's character, Ruby.

When her young nephew Ruby and two friends come down from the North to make a name for themselves in the city, Yvonne takes them under her wing.

"The characters' stories are told through song," says Su, "and it's so nice to be touring in a new show which is being loved by everyone who sees it.

"It's called Shout! because that's the name of a new magazine that's out, and there are 1960s themes running through it, like Ban The Bomb, mini- and micro-skirts, and the pill. We do The Mashed Potato, and we are taught how to do The Twist. We also use words like 'fab', 'groovy' and 'swinging'.

"When we began rehearsing, it brought it all back to me. I remembered all the song lyrics, and I was able to help the other girls out with them. We've even added quite a bit to the script around some of the things I remembered myself.

"I went to my first disco in 1967. It was called The Apple and I would have been 17.

"I also remember that I had this wonderful green PVC mac and always used to be wearing these terrible Afghan coats smelling of patchouli oil. I had my first glass of wine the following year, as nobody really drank wine here until the 1960s, and I remember being 14 when I first heard the Beatles. I couldn't wait to switch on the radio whenever I had the chance.

"Everything mentioned in this show is right and true to the decade. It was a very exciting time."

Shout! can be seen at The Regent Theatre in Hanley from Monday, April 14, to Saturday, April 19. Call 0870 060 6649. 

Set in a hair-dressing salon, the audience are taken on a musical journey around swinging London, capturing the amazing fashions, liberation and sheer fun of the times.

The show features all the best loved pop anthems from this classic era including; Downtown, Son Of A Preacher Man, I Only Wanna Be With You, To Sir With Love, These Boots Are Made For Walking and many more.

Claire Sweeney first came to the public's attention in Brookside and Clocking Off. Since then she has forged a phenomenally successful career in musical theatre including starring West End roles in Chicago and Guys and Dolls.

Su Pollard returns to the Congress Theatre following her starring role in Annie but Su is perhaps best known for her portrayal of put upon chalet maid Peggy in Hi-de-Hi.

She has since has gone on to star in many West End shows with her theatre credits including; Godspell and Me & My Girl.

Tickets cost from £11.50-£22.50, call 01323 412000.

Shout! is proving to be a huge success and Su feels it's one of the best shows she has been involved with for a number of years. Many who have been in the audience, so far, seem to agree.

The Regent Theatre, Piccadilly, Stoke-on-Trent. ST1 1AP
Box Office: 0870 060 6649
www.theambassadors.com/regent/

AN infectiously feelgood and funny musical packed with some of the most memorable songs of the '60s and some top-quality singing.
It's no wonder there's hardly a ticket to be had to see Shout! at Worthing's Connaught Theatre this week. 

Star of the show, without any question, is the wonderful Su Pollard. Not only does she light up the stage, but what a singing voice she has. 
Her rendition of You're My World had to be the highlight of a staggering more than 30 numbers, belted out so relentlessly you hardly have time to breath in between. 

Goodness only knows how the cast achieved it but they did and with sparkling performances throughout the fast-moving show. It was so engrossing it seemed to be over before I knew it. 

Su plays Peckham hairdresser Yvonne, whose niece, Ruby, comes to stay, bringing with her some girls she met on the train. 

Ruby (Claire Sweeney) is the flirty, man-eating type, while Betty (Shona White) wants to settle down with soldier sweetheart Dave. 

Then there's naive Georgina (Donna Steele), who takes up acting lessons in the hope of becoming a star. 

Shout! follows a decade in their lives, largely through song, and also follows topics of the times through a magazine of the same name. 

This is where The Man comes in, the sole male in the show – and a chauvinist, of course. 

Howard Jones tells us what's in the latest edition, from The Beatles to the Pill, hair removal to drugs. These interludes are hilarious and beautifully carried through by Jones. 

But it's the songs the show is all about. Downtown, Wishin' and Hoping, To Sir With Love, Big Spender, great renditions of Alfie and Shout by Sweeney, Those Were the Days – they are all there and more. 

The small but perfectly formed cast of seven (with Louisa Maxwell and Julie Stark joining in as the ensemble), directed and choreographed by Bill Deamer, carry the show through to perfection. 

Backed with colourful period costumes and a set to suit all occasions, Shout! is sure to make it to the West End and what a coup to be able to see it in Worthing first. 

Shout! ends its Worthing run on Saturday. If there are any tickets left, they are £14.50 to £23.50 from 01903 206206 or www.worthingtheatres.co.uk 

Throw your head back and Shout... if this resembles anything of your memory of the 60s.
The same software that seems to shape a lot of these retro song and dance shows this time serves up around 30 of the decade's hits - that usually come on a CD that falls out of your Sunday paper.

Petula, Dusty, Lulu and Cilla are largely to the fore in a girls' night out that loosely follows three friends from Oop North, to the bright lights of Swinging London.

It's all good natured enough, and many of the powerhouse hits are delivered with convincing gusto.

But it's hard to avoid the feeling of a budget production, what with a cast of seven, no dance crew, and a set design that is never likely to create the same technical problems that have put Zorro - at the city's Opera House - back a night.

If Shout did not have Claire Sweeney and Su Pollard up front it would barely raise a whisper.

These two troupers, backed by the equal singing talents of Shona White and Donna Steele, give the show some pedigree. Pollard - as always comfortably playing Su Pollard - returns to the cast, and gives a standout performance of You're My World. 

She also carries the bulk of the postcard gags with natural aplomb. 
Howard Jones is equally adept at comedy, and mimickry, as the token bloke in the cast.

Claire Sweeney gives the impression this will do until something better comes along, but the statuesque image of her in a red leatherette mini-dress will last longer than anyone's memory of the show.

Connaught Theatre, Union Place, Worthing, West Sussex. BN11 1LG
Box Office: 01903 206206 
www.worthingtheatres.co.uk 

It proved more than fitting that we had our lunchtime liaison at the delightfully individual Odder bar, on Oxford Road. Su turned up wearing the pinkest outfit in Britain and combined it with a studded black dog collar around her neck and a single bright red hair extension on the side of her head.

Odd? You betcha!

But she's one of those great British eccentrics they should pass laws forcing us to celebrate annually with a street march or a day named after her. Perhaps they could erect a 10ft -tall pink statue in her honour in her home town of Nottingham.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way, what followed was the most hilarious lunchtime I have enjoyed in quite some time. I now realise why Su Pollard is so hugely popular - the woman is as mad as a box of frogs and happiest at her most deliciously deranged.

Talk about the class clown. There aren't the adjectives to do her fabulous peculiarities justice.

She's in town for a week as part of the 1960s nostalgia musical, Shout, which is on at the Palace Theatre. 

Best show 

"It's the best show I've been involved with for years," she tells me as we tuck into wild eggs and mushrooms on toast, plus a side order of wonderfully crisp Italian side salad and gorgeous chunky chips. Food for the soul as well as the tummy.

"When I die I want to come back as a gay man's dog," Su proclaims as we sit on old leather sofas, behind voile drapes in the red-coloured rear of Odder. "Those dogs are so pampered and they have Swarovski collars and fine-dining dinners. That's what I want next." Absolutely, cast-iron bonkers. 

There's a fondness for Su Pollard that comes from those days when she played the loveable holiday camp underdog Peggy Ollerenshaw in the hit 1980s sitcom Hi-de-Hi! And she still revels in that role.

"People still shout hi-de-hi at me in supermarkets and I still have the Peggy outfit. The neighbours' kids knock on my door at home near Kings Cross in London, and ask me if Peggy is coming out to play, so I dress up in it for them," she tells me as my laughter subsides just long enough for me to put a mushroom in my mouth.

Her quirkiness, seemingly cartoon fantasy, is far from veneer though. It's 100 per cent genuine. What you see is what you get. And you get a lot for your money.

But, by her own admission, she's not had the best of luck with men. She's been married once - "We split up because I didn't want to move to Australia and he didn't like England" - and her tales of the dating game are sobering to say the least.

"I once went on a date with a guy called Kevin (She should have known). We went to a disco and his false teeth fell out while we danced. We couldn't find them anywhere. But as we were leaving he found them in the turn-ups of his trousers. I only went out with him the once."

It's stories like that which make Odder's `wild' eggs seem positively tame.

Being a child of the Eighties, my knowledge of the Sixties only goes as far as Beehives and Mini Skirts. However this musical takes you swinging through each and every year and shows you that the Sixties really were something to Shout! about. 

Set in a hairdressing salon in Peckham, London, the story follows five woman and one man through the groovy times on the Sixties. It takes us on their journey's of sexual awareness, career choices and the fun times to be had in that decade. 

Claire Sweeney takes the lead role of Ruby, the flirtatious one. Shona White the role of Betty the naive one and Donna Steele plays Georgina the ambitious one. They all meet up on their way to London and stay with Ruby's auntie Yvonne played by the magical Su Pollard. 

Although the majority of the show is based on songs, the plot is told by the character aptly named The Man through teen magazine Shout! Howard Jones is the lucky guy with this role and is very funny as he plays several different characters along the way and mocks the advertisements of the era. 

Of course being set in the sixties it wouldn't be the same if we didn't hear the infamous songs such as "Downtown", "Shout", "I Only Wanna Be With You" and "These Boots Are Made for Walking", to name a few. All of which are timed to fit in with what is happening within the plot. 

Claire Sweeney gave an amazing rendition of "Alfie" but however for me the show was stolen by Su Pollard as she sang "You're My World", who knew the lady who once played Peggy in Hi-De-Hi could sing like that?! 

Despite there only being one set throughout, the costumes were perfect and the cast of just seven altogether, along with the band, seemed like they were having a blast. From the same producers as Fame and Footloose, even if you weren't from that era like myself, this musical will leave you wanting to Swing your way back there. 

Shout! The Ultimate '60s Musical is that kind of show and it is coming to Worthing's Connaught Theatre from April 7-12.

Starring alongside Claire Sweeney is Su Pollard, a performer absolutely in her element.

For the full story plus interview with Su Pollard and more arts, leisure and entertainment news, see West Sussex Gazette April 2

Perched on a cherry red 1960s Mini parked outside the Churchill Theatre, Su Pollard is having a whale of a time. A slightly bemused security guard, council workers and the odd commuter stop in their tracks to run the rule over the former Hi-deHi star and the cast of the musical Shout! 

Packed with classic soul and pop show tunes, this sparkling production offers a groovy glimpse into what made the era of Cilla, Dusty and Lulu such a gem. “This couldn’t be more different from my last show, which was Menopause The Musical,” laughs Su as we grab a coffee to chat about her latest venture. The larger-than-life comedy actress is relishing the prospect of playing auntie to a group of ambitious girls heading down from the North to swinging London in search of musical fame and fortune. Audiences can expect plenty of classic sounds, from Downtown and Son of a Preacher Man to These Boots are Made for Walkin’. Casting her mind back to her own youth, the stage and screen star recalls some memorable times growing up in Nottingham, where she was far from being a shy and retiring type. 

“I think it was a wonderful time. It was the first chance we had to go out to discos and I remember dancing round the kitchen listening to music by the Beatles and the Searchers. The fashions were all fabulous too – you could wear things like halter-neck dresses instead of crimpoline or uniform clothes. 

“Shout! is a real celebration of the 1960s, which was a time of real sexual revolution and the girls in the show really feel as if they are striking out to do their own thing.” Even at that point, the young Su had already developed a natural talent for entertaining which began with a mishap-filled appearance in a Nativity play. From there she continued to appear in many local productions and ended up singing in working men’s clubs as a teenager. While the 1960s were kind to her, the first few years of the following decade could have seen her turn her back on entertaining. A fateful appearance on Opportunity Knocks in 1974 would have prompted far less determined characters to give up. Performing a song from Oklahoma, she was beaten by a singing Jack Russell. 

“I’m not a great fan of Jack Russells now, the little sods!” quips Su. “That was back in the day when novelty acts were really popular, but I was determined not to let it get to me!” She went on to grace the West End and regional theatre success before being spotted by Jimmy Perry and David Croft for the BBC1 show Hide-Hi. Few could have imagined this gentle slice of seaside nostalgia would swiftly go on to become one of the most repeated programmes in British comedy history. As testament to its popularity it won a BAFTA best comedy award and still enjoys a global fanbase. It’s perhaps her finest hour as the eternally unlucky in love, yet eternally optimistic Peggy. 

“I could relate to Peggy. She never gave up and had that bulldog spirit about her. A lot of people have told me that she encouraged them not to give up themselves,” she said. “My favourite part of Hi-de-Hi had to be the excitement of getting the scripts for it through the letterbox, they were just so good. “We just laughed so much every single day we did it, I could not have hoped to have been doing anything better than that. Beyond her stint on the fictional holiday camp at Crimpton-on-Sea in Essex, Su went on to success with the follow-up series, You Rang M’Lord. She won the infamous title of Rear of the Year in 1989 before a host of cameos including another hit series with Perry and Croft, Oh Dr Beeching, during the mid 1990s. 

Since then the 58-year-old, who lives in London, has been much in demand on the stage and panto circuit. She was described as performing like she was “hooked into the national grid” for her turn as the wicked snow queen at Malvern last Christmas. Keeping busy is a priority, and she enjoys exploring London as well as a good night out. Although she admits that life hasn’t always been smooth, like her most renowned character she rarely loses faith. 

“I have been very fortunate to have had such a fantastic career and done a real variety of work. “I’m really looking forward to Shout! which has some great songs. “I want people to see it and go away feeling really good.”

Shout! is a joyous paean to the music of the 1960’s and the sixties music culture. It is well staged, well sung and has a young cast who appear to relate completely to a period when most of them weren’t even a twinkle in their mother’s eye.

I say most of them advisedly as the featured players, Su Pollard and Claire Sweeney, have a tad more experience and years although one would never know it from the vigour and enthusiasm of their performances.

I refer to them as featured players rather than the stars they are, as this is a perfect example of a talented team working together; both of them join the chorus when one of the others are having their solo moment, in truth they are both “one of the girls” which adds to the zest and fun of the evening. Of course each has their moment or two and their professionalism creates the backbone of the show, showcasing the younger and very talented rest of the cast .

The cast in fact comprises six ladies and one man, Howard Jones, who adds the spice of contrast to the heady female brew. His function is to narrate the fragments of dialogue linking the songs and to announce the years within the decade and outline their significance. He sings and dances as well, bringing a welcome touch of humour from time to time to dispel the potential monotony of an evening songfest.

Su Pollard is Su Pollard, but although she too brings humour to the proceedings she does not overdo it although the zany touches she brings to her performance are a delight, as indeed is the pathos with which she tinged some of her solo numbers.

Claire Sweeney on the other hand gives a belt and zing to her numbers and to the ensemble when she steps back to give the others a chance. She does not hog the limelight but her personality is such that one cannot help but notice her even when she is being self effacing. She handles her numbers superbly giving the old warhorses a new shine and lease of life.

As do Shona White and Donna Steele as the featured members of the ensemble which comprises them with the back up of Louisa Maxwell and Julie Stark who give sterling support.

As I have said, it is a team effort and in a sense it is invidious to single out songs and singers as everyone contributes in one way or another to the success of each individual number and of the evening as a whole. For this credit must be given to the director and choreographer, Bill Deamer, who has welded his talented cast into a magnificent whole (or seven!) and recreated successfully the spirit and feeling of the era. I was avid in my praise of his Babes in Arms at last year’s Chichester Festival and this production only amplifies my admiration for his taste and skill.

There is virtually no setting, just banner screens and some props such as chairs which are brought forward from time to time, but the whole effect is none the less pleasing and is the work of Morgan Large who also was responsible for the costumes which successfully evoked the period without over emphasising it.

This production is presently on tour but I understand that it is destined for London later this year. Whether or not you are an aficionado of the sixties, this show is worth catching for the performances and the merit of its staging. It is in short a worthwhile “Shout”

Shout! The New Swinging 60's Musical completes its Glasgow run tomorrow and heads for a week of shows at the Manchester Palace next week.

Palace Theatre, Oxford Street, Manchester. M1 6FT 
Book Tickets: 0844 847 2328 (24hours)
www.manchesterpalace.org.uk

NB: Su would like to thank everyone who has sent emails about Shout! They are all very appreciated and we assure you all messages sent to david@supollard.co.uk are passed directly onto Su.

INTERVIEW: Su Pollard on Shout!

"I remember in 1966, when I was 16, there were all these bright, new, coloured clothes and those wonderful big wedgy shoes and everything... 

"I ended up in hospital about four times through falling off those wedgy shoes..." 

The smell of patchouli oil, afghan coats, funny wigs – these are Su Pollard's memories of the 1960s and she's reliving them all again now in the musical Shout! 

"It was marvellous – a great era and there was much more freedom of choice for girls with the introduction of the Pill. It started to put women on a more equal footing to blokes." 

All these things and a bucket-load of music from the time, like Petula Clark, Lulu and Dusty Springfield, make up Shout!, a groovy new show heading for Worthing. 

Su plays hairdresser Yvonne, who runs Best Cuts, "a play on words as her husband is also a butcher". 

Her niece Ruby (played by Claire Sweeney) heads to London and meets some other girls looking for a new life on the way. 

Yvonne puts them all up in the flat above the shop and the audience follows their story as the narrator (the only man in the show) reads from the magazine Shout! introducing "new" bands like the Beatles.

"Each section of the script takes you into another song," said Su. "And there are the revolutionary happenings of the time like the Pill in there, too. 

"It covers a decade from about 1960 to 70 – how fashions evolved and how the girls got on with their journey, like Donna, who wants to be a star but everything goes wrong for her." 

The tour has been running about 10 weeks now and Su said the audiences were very diverse, including kids as young as six or seven. 

"People stand up and sing and dance in the aisles and there is a megamix at the end when everybody is up and excited. 

"Afterwards, people come up and say they really enjoyed themselves and it was well worth going along and that's fantastic." 

Su is very much looking forward to heading back to Worthing, a regular venue and where she was once in a record-breaking season of Sweet Charity at the Connaught Theatre, playing Bunny Byron opposite Matthew Kelly. 

"That must have been about 20 years ago," she said. "It was a show that struck a chord with people. 

"I love Worthing. It has a special place in my heart. It's oldy world somehow. And the theatre crew are great there." 

Su got the call from the producer about being in Shout! while she was in panto in Malvern and had three days off before starting on it. 

Straight from Broadway, it has been de-Americanised and the cast added their own input and gags. 

It tours until mid July and then starts going round the country again in September. "I'm hoping it has a long shelf-life. We all really enjoy it and it keeps you fabulously fit with the choreography of the '60s. I've gone down a dress size already. 

"The idea is it heads for the West End but they have to make sure they have the right sized venue and get a vacancy. It can't be too massive as it's quite an intimate show." 

A TV sketch show has also been offered to Su and she hopes to do the two as she loves the variety. 

"I've been very lucky and been offered some lovely stuff. If I feel I can be good at a part or give it my best shot I don't usually say no." 

What she would most like to do is sing a duet with Barbra Streisand at the Albert Hall. "She is a legend. Star is a word that was made for her." 

And the highlights of her packed and varied career? The West End farce Don't Dress For Dinner and playing the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. 

"I thought I'll give old Will a run for his money. Actually, it's very ordinary dialogue, which is easy to decipher but it's just so flowery. 

"I made her a bawdy character – based on pub landladies. She's a well-meaning soul but I made her run a bawdy house not a boarding house." 

And, of course, there's Hi De Hi. "That brought everything I could've hoped for and it's nice to think people are still getting enjoyment out of it now. 

"Miss Cathcart was such a wheeze. Everybody had their own take on her. They wanted people to imagine her. 

"To me she was a very, very strict wirey woman, slim, like a whippet and ran the place with a rod of iron. No wonder poor Peggy was so scared!" 

Full of funny stories, Su said she was in Bombay when she saw Hi De Hi on a TV in a shop window. "It was dubbed in Indian. You should've heard the way Gladys was speaking!" 

Shout! is at the Connaught Theatre from April 7 to 12 at 7.30pm and with matinées at 2pm on Wednesday and 2.30pm on Saturday. Tickets are £14.50 to £23.50 from 01903 206206 

Oh and on the offchance you aren't familiar with Estelle, she is currently Number One on the UK Top 40. This story has been reported all over the media, online and in print, including NME no less.

Talking Shop: Estelle

Are you excited about your new single, American Boy, doing so well?
I'm extremely excited. I didn't know if it would work, so I was really nervous, but I'm happy that people seem to be loving it. 

It's much more like dance music than your other singles. What was the inspiration behind it? 
We were messing about. I said: "I'm going to make John Legend [producer] like house music, whether he likes it or not." And he started to like the beat and came up with the hook idea. It was good stuff. 

You sound like you were having fun - there's a little giggle in your voice when you sing the chorus.
Yes! The whole point was that I would sing it in the most ditzy voice ever. Like Peggy in Hi-De-Hi! Su Pollard was my vibe for the whole song! 

You should have dressed up like Peggy for the video. 
I was thinking about it but my stylist wouldn't let me. 

Can you imagine you, Kanye West and John Legend in a Butlins holiday camp doing a Hi-Di-Hi remake? 
That would be extreme! I should try and find the theme tune and make a mash-up of that and American Boy. Hi-De-Hi! 

Ho-de-Ho!

Su has still got plenty to shout about by Brian Beacom

It's hard to describe a chat with Su Pollard. The actress doesn't simply speak, she launches herself right at you, all five foot four inches of uncontainable energy and enthusiasm.

And before you know it you're pinned down, helpless, looking up at her.

And still she keeps on talking.

But don't think for a minute that being trapped underneath Su Pollard, figuratively speaking, is anything less than a pleasant, funny experience.

The sheer brio of the woman makes you smile as much as her ability to speak for half an hour without apparently drawing breath.

That's not to say that the volume of words she produces is without substance. Far from it. It took a clever woman to play a ditsy chalet maid in Hi-De-Hi.

And it takes a clever woman to last over 40 years in the business, to go from playing clubs at the age of 16 to her current stage show.

And Pollard is certainly smart enough to get the plugs in early for the new stage show, the swinging Sixties musical, Shout.

"The show is fantastic," she enthuses.

"We've had great audiences so far. And it appeals to everybody, from kids to those in their eighties. And the tunes - songs from Dusty (Springfield) and Petula Clark - are fantastic.

"The show is not complicated, you can sing-a-long, and there's narration to take you through the key moments of the time."

Without so much as a breath she continues: "I play a hairdresser called Yvonne and Claire Sweeney plays Ruby, my niece who comes down to London to try her luck and meets two other girls on the train with the same idea.

"And I take them under my wing and we have our own little journey."

The actress from Nottingham offers up lots more superlatives to describe the musical. But to transcribe them all would take up more space than you'd find between the ears of a sixties LSD tripper.

It's enough to say the show is an affectionate, high-energy, musical reminder of the period, with references to hippies, sit-ins, short skirts, beehives, the Beatles and Carnaby Street - with great songs.

"Look, darling, the show is not Ibsen. You come in you pay your money, you sit back and you go ome, refreshed," she says.

"Let me tell you, one lady who who'd been to the show grabbed me one night and said Oh, thank you so much. I was really in a terrible mood before the show. I need to have a new hip, I've got diabetes, high blood pressure, my knee is gone. But now I feel great.' And I thought Poor cow' but it's marvellous, don't you think, that theatre can make people feel so wonderful?"

She's being rhetorical, of course. And in any case there's not much time to answer because she's off again.

"The audiences can be so funny. Listen, babe, I overhead some saying recently That Su Pollard . . . she must be well into her sixties . . .'" It's notable she's laughing at this tale. (She's 58).

The actress, of course, doesn't take herself too seriously. But then she never has. This is the lady who once turned up for a Hi-De-Hi interview wearing a bowler hat with a feather in it and scarves tied around her wrists.

Her stage debut in a school nativity play saw her fall through the box she was standing on as she announced the arrival of Angel Gabriel - a sign of things to come.

In her first television appearance, on Opportunity Knocks, she came second to a singing Jack Russell. Oh, and her ex-husband proposed to her while she was dressed as an insect, filming an episode of Hi-De-Hi.

In short, she's off her chump. But wonderfully so. And it doesn't really matter that you don't have a conventional conversation.

It doesn't matter either that she's not controversial. She won't bite the showbiz hand that's fed her so well over the years - and continues to feed her so well - although she does have a laugh about Worcestershire town of Malvern - famous for its water.

"I did panto in Malvern," she says, excitedly. "And it was a fabulous place, a great quality of life there but SO dull. The only people you see are the audience.

"But in daytime, it's like a scene from the Borrowers. You don't see anyone at all. And you think that everyone lives underground."

She almost pauses while she chuckles, but not quite.

"I'm so fortunate, babe. I love work. And it keeps on coming. There are talks at the moment about a sketch show for TV.

"And there's Shout, too. You know, I'm almost 30 years older than most of the cast. But I don't care. The cast are great and it's great to be around younger people. And after all this time, I know how to pace myself."

There's a hint of lung taking in oxygen, but only a hint, and she's off again.

"The other day, darling, I was watching the news and then this show Diagnosis Murder or something came on. And you know, I almost sat down to watch it."

She adds, laughing as she speaks; "But listen darling, I stopped myself just in time."

Afternoon telly isn't you at all Su, you manage to squeeze in. You need to keep moving.

"I know it, babe. I know it. And I don't feel I need to get the Sanatogen out at all. It's marvellous."

And so is she.

Tuesday 25th - Saturday 29th March - Theatre Royal, Glasgow - 0870 060 6647 
www.theatreroyalglasgow.com 
Monday 31st March - Sat 5th April - Manchester Palace - 0844 847 2275 www.palaceandoperahouse.org.uk 
Monday 7th - Saturday 12th April - Connaught Theatre, Worthing - 01903 206 206 
www.worthingtheatres.co.uk 
Monday 14th - Saturday 19th April - Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent - 0870 060 6649 www.regenttheatre.co.uk 
Monday 28th April - Friday 2nd May - Congress Theatre, Eastbourne - 01323 41000 www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk 
Monday 5th - Saturday 10th May - Birmingham Alexandra - 0870 607 7533 
www.alexandratheatre.org.uk 
Tuesday 13th - Saturday 17th May - Bradford Alhambra - 01274 432000 
www.bradford-theatres.co.uk 
Tuesday - Saturday 24th May - Grimsby Auditorium - 0870 060 2331 
www.grimsbyauditorium.org.uk 
w/c 26th May - Richmond Theatre - 0870 060 6651
www.richmondtheatre.net 
Tuesday 3rd - Saturday 7th June - Princess Theatre, Torquay - 08702 414120 
www.princesstheatre.org.uk 
Monday 9th - Saturday 14th June - Hall for Cornwall, Truro - 01872 262466 
www.hallforcornwall.co.uk 
Monday 16th - Saturday 21st June - Cheltenham Everyman Theatre - 01242 572573 www.everymantheatre.org.uk 
Monday 23rd - Saturday 28th June - Bristol Hippodrome - 0870 607 7500 
www.bristolhippodrome.org.uk 
Monday 30th June - Saturday 5th July - Nottingham Theatre Royal - 0115 989 5555 www.royalcentre-nottingham.co.uk 
Monday 7th - Saturday 12th July - Brighton Theatre Royal - 08700 606 650 www.theambassadors.com/theatreroyal 

Loose Women : ITV1 - Tuesday 18th March : 12.30pm
Loose Women : ITV1 - Wednesday 19th March : Times vary
Lunchtime's loosest ladies return with another helping of fiery non-stop chat.

The first ever UK tour of Shout, a musical which takes you back to the fabulous, hazy days of the swinging 60s starring west-end and TV celebrity Claire Sweeney and everyone’s favourite Su Pollard, takes to the Palace Theatre stage from Monday 31 March-Saturday 5 April. Confidential has three pairs of tickets up for grabs.

Five gorgeous woman and one lucky man will twist and shout, shimmy and shake while belting out classic, timeless hits including Downtown, Son Of A Preacher Man, I Only Wanna Be With You, To Sir With Love and These Boots Are Made For Walking. The soundtrack is full of terrific pop songs which made big stars out of Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Lulu and Dusty Springfield. 

Set in a hair-dressing salon, the audience are taken on an incredible musical journey around swinging London, capturing the amazing fashions, sexual liberation and great fun of the times. It’s groovy baby. 

No matter if you were a child of the 60s or born in the 90s, Shout is a celebration of an era everyone wishes they could have experienced, and now you can. 

Tickets are available from www.palaceandoperahouse.org.uk and cost £12.50-£25. The musical is showing at 7.30pm, Mon-Sat and also at 2.30pm on Wednesday and Saturday. 

New Wimbledon Theatre, The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1QG
Venue Box Office: 0870 060 6646
www.theambassadors.com/newwimbledon/index.html

When it comes to teenage nostalgia, though, there is now no generation that can compete with the one that was young in the early 1960s. And if you want to see thousands of sixtysomethings partying as if it was 1964, then the place to be this week is the Edinburgh Playhouse, where the Sixties tribute musical Shout! is packing them in and raising the roof. 

It's not possible to make any great case for Shout! as a piece of theatrical or musical art. Its plot – about the adventures of three girls who arrive in London in 1960, fresh off the train from the north – is perfunctory enough to make Mamma Mia! look like Shakespeare; and its view of the 60s music scene is heavily skewed towards bouncy English girl-pop, all Tony Hatch and Burt Bacharach, with no Beatles, Stones or Motown in sight. 

But even that narrow sweep across the 60s spectrum includes some of the best pure pop ever written, from Petula Clark's Downtown to Shout! itself. Bill Deamer's seven-strong cast – led by Claire Sweeney, Donna Steele, Shona White and an amazing Su Pollard – give the show a huge charge of showbiz energy; and with the help of some vivid sets by Morgan Large, they just succeed in making this modest mid-scale show look big, sassy and joyful enough for the Playhouse auditorium. 

Shout it from the rooftops, the swinging Sixties are back in vogue at the Edinburgh Playhouse next week, as is that eccentric British comic institution, Su Pollard.

The Nottingham-born entertainer, who started her career as a teenager on the working men's club circuit before hitting the big time as chamber-maid Peggy Ollerenshaw in the long-running BBC sitcom Hi-De-Hi!, is transported back to the heyday of her youth in the 1960s-themed musical Shout!, which opens at the Greenside Place venue on Tuesday.

Set in a groovy London hair salon, Shout! follows a group of ladies on a journey that relives the rebellion, liberation and free spirit of the age. Pollard is loving it.

"It's great to be acting in something that's really feel-good, for the performers as well as the audience. It's lovely because loads of people can identify with the 1960s. Even the younger ones have got some sort of story which has been passed down from their aunty – I actually play an aunty, Aunty Vonnie, and it's set in a hairdressing salon because Vonnie is a hairdresser. Her salon is called Best Cuts, which makes me laugh because her husband Bert's a butcher," says Pollard.

When Aunty Vonnie's niece, Ruby – played by TV celebrity Claire Sweeny – decides that she wants to try her luck in London instead of kicking her heels in Mansfield, it is her Aunty Vonnie that she rings and asks if she can come to stay until she gets a place of her own.

"Basically that's the premise of the whole piece. We're just having a celebration of the Sixties and how innovative it was," says Pollard, who has great memories of the period.

"It was such a fabulous time. It's nice to have been a part of an era that was so exciting. There was so much freedom, you had girls taking the pill for the first time, hippies and the ban the bomb business. There were lots of life-changing things going on really," she enthuses.

Not quite so life-changing, but equally defining of the era was the music of the time and Pollard, now 58, is rediscovering such timeless hits as Downtown, Son Of A Preacher Man, I Only Wanna Be With You, To Sir With Love and the anthemic These Boots Are Made for Walking.

"I was lucky because I remember nearly every single number, so of course, it was great for me because I had memory tunes in my head," she says. "We've got Dusty Springfield and Petula Clark, all the old classics. It just shows you how the songs have stood the test of time. Even people who have never heard them before because they weren't even born say, 'Oh, I love that music'. It was fantastic to listen to all these numbers and think, 'I remember that, I love that song'."

Fashion too played a big part in shaping the Sixties, consequently bold retro prints and bright colours adorn the set and cast of Shout! and Pollard, famous for her own distinct fashion sense, admits that makes her feel at home.

"I remember wearing all the so-called kinky boots and the peaked caps. It was marvellous. It was so much better than wearing the boring 50s stuff. Colourful clothes brighten the streets up a bit and cheer people up," she recalls.

"In a way it was quite daring and rebellious. Suddenly you had a bright green or orange mac that nobody had seen in their life before. It was great to be able to walk down the street and to shock and the men on the building sites would whistle. It was fabulous. You saw so many colours in the streets in the 1960s but now you look at people and, it's really for practical reasons, but they're nearly all in black."

Not that Pollard's character gets too many hip outfits to model in the show.

"Poor aunty Vonnie has to wear slacks and a tabard in the salon. But then she goes on her holidays and she transforms," promises the star.

Although best known for her TV work, Pollard is more at home in the world of musical theatre than you might imagine, and has previously appeared in Edinburgh as Miss Hannigan in Annie and in the title role of Sweet Charity.

"I started in theatre and musicals, so it's always been a part if my life really. Actually, I could have been better known for musicals. Elaine Paige and I both used to go for the same auditions but I got my break in a sitcom and she got hers in a musical," she reveals.

"But I'm really pleased I can do musicals because they are a special part of me. The ideal is to do a musical with singing, dancing and a good story to make people laugh and make them cry a bit. There are a few elements of that in Shout! It has great quirky choreography, I've already lost about 4lb. It's good stuff."

However, for Pollard, no matter how many musicals she does, there's no escaping her alter-ego Peggy, the wannabe yellow coat from the BBC comedy set in 1950s holiday camp, Maplins. So associated with the role is Pollard that during rehearsals her co-star Claire Sweeny accidentally called her Peggy.

"I don't mind," she smiles. "If you've been associated with something which people have really liked and was popular, then I don't think there is any reason why you shouldn't embrace that. It's nice. And people still watch it now. It's no good stamping your foot and thinking, 'Oh God, I've done all sorts of other things'. It's like Michael Crawford. He doesn't mind talking about Frank Spencer because it was very good to him."

Indeed, it soon becomes clear that Hi De Hi! is still close to the outrageous performer's heart, "I remember just laughing so much. Every single day we laughed and laughed. The camaraderie of it, it was such a good team. It was a team effort and it was just lovely to do such quality work. The writing was all spotless. My mum and dad would watch the show sometimes with me and I would love to see them rocking back and forwards. How lovely. Fan-bloomin'-tastic."

Right now, however, it's the Sixties, not the Fifties that have her full attention.

"It was a fabulous, fun era. It was a great decade, the 1960s, and no matter how fed up you are or depressed with life you are, you'll come out of Shout! and a great cloud will be lifted. You'll have a fantastic time."

There's a clear difference between a musical and a music revue. The essence of the musical is that the music and the lyrics, be it the Gershwins or Lloyd Webber, are specially written for it. A musical revue has somebody else's songs strung together round a theme. 'Shout' is the latter and the theme is the swinging sixties.

The images are all there - Mary Quant, Carnaby Street, Twiggy, the mini (car and skirt) and the Beatles. It was my era and I confess I now look at old my photographs with some embarrassment. Perhaps in a few decades time so will today's spiky haired young folk, desperate to remove their horrendous tattoos, 

With a music revue, the meagreness of the plotline depends on how many songs you want to squeeze in. Thirty-two Sixties numbers, resurrecting Lulu, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Mary Hopkin, Chubby Checker and the rest are shoe-horned into this show. It means there isn't much space for linking material, which is perhaps just as well because there's barely a shred of wit in it. 

There was more to the Sixties than music, fashion, iconic TV adverts and swinging. The other backcloths included the Pill, the Kennedy assassination, student protest, civil rights riots and Vietnam. Yet this show, rather blindly, just soaks itself in sixties freedom and fun as a brand new with-it women's magazine, 'Shout!' proclaims the values of the decade. 

It's a show that's been devised rather than written. The premise is that three girls come down from the North to find fame, stardom, Mr Right or just enjoyment in London. . But rather than West End bright lights they hit downtown Peckham staying above Best Cuts, a hairdressing salon run by Aunt Yvonne (Su Pollard)

Claire Sweeney leads Donna Steele and Shona White as the young singing and dancing threesome. They perform with energy and unrelenting brightness. Well enough done, but not special. Not much more than a song parade..

The bright spot in the show is Su Pollard who is a skilled musical performer to her very roots. She sings, dances and delights us with non-stop show-stealing comic business.

Let me warn you I may be out of step here. The audience seemed to love having memories jogged by songs, which following one after another, took them back to their salad days. I just remember them with more passion. 

If the sight of Claire Sweeney bouncing around like a tangerine dream in a bright orange mini-dress does not cheer you up on a miserable Monday night, quite frankly nothing will! Bringing to the stage unashamed cheese, Sixties-style, Sweeney and her gang - including Su Pollard - took us on a whirlwind journey through the Sixties. It went through the decade from the introduction of the Pill to the World Cup in 1966 and finally to the first man on the moon in 1969. And all the way, goodtime girl Ruby (Sweeney) and pals Betty (Shona White), Georgina (Donna Steele) and old Auntie “Von” (Su Pollard) sang and danced their way through a selection of classics. Giving an advertising spin on it all was The Man (Howard Jones) who represented the voice of society himself - although slowly changing as women enjoyed a new- found liberation.

With its loose plot about the friends trying to find love in a changing world, it could have been just a bit of froth, but what made it more than that was the wonderful energy and enthusiasm of all the cast and a real sense of bonding between the female members.

Sweeney, we know, is a consummate performer and just gave her all last night, really nailing the song Alfie with a husky, controlled performance. White and Steele both had superb voices and sang at times with raw emotion. Pollard can really raise the roof with her powerful voice and we can't forget Jones who did a great impersonation of Michael Caine and didn't look too bad in tight swimming trunks later on!

The swinging 60s was renowned for great music, and Shout! is a celebration of a decade of super sounds and even shorter skirts.

Former Emmerdale actress Claire Sweeney plays lead character Ruby - a good time girl up for a great time with gorgeous guys and girls. 

She hangs out with the likes of Betty (Shona White) - whose dream is to marry her sweetheart Dave - and Georgina (Donna Steele) who wants to be an actress.

And then there is Yvonne (Su Pollard), owner of the hairdressing salon Best Cuts and undoubted star of the show which follows all four characters through the decade.

From the first moment the audience said Hi-De-Hi to Yvonne, to her singing finale, she was a delight. A piece of her costume fell off during her opening number but, unperturbed, she carried on, bending down to pick it up and put it in her pocket without faltering on a single note - a consummate professional.

But as you might expect she was also funny and had most of the laugh-out-loud moments. She might have had them all were it not for the man (Howard Jones), whose cameo appearances in a range of brilliantly non PC advertisements were a complete joy.

Sweeney was on song and hit all the right notes, but it was Shona White as Betty who took the plaudits for best singer on the night.

By the end, a medley of 60s' hits had the crowd on their feet and, although not completely full, the theatre was jumping.

Perhaps the only disappointment was that there were not more sounds of the 60s. But that apart it was a night of nostalgia not to be missed.

West End and television star Claire Sweeney heads a cast which includes the irrepressible Su Pollard.

Full of fun, Carnaby Street fashions and pop-picking hits this is a feelgood musical for anyone who grooved their way through the Sixties and for those who wished they had.

Set in a hairdressing salon Shout! follows the story of four girls who shimmy and shake their way round Swinging Sixties' London.

The girls dance and sing to some the biggest hits of the decade including Downtown, Son of a Preacher Man, I Only Wanna Be With You and These Boots Are Made for Walking.

01603 630000 (£22-£5); www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk

The DVD is available to buy from Monday 5th May 2008.

Episodes Comprise:

1. The Great Cat Robbery
2. It's Murder
3. Who Killed Mr. Partridge?
4. Spaghetti Galore
5. A Lack Of Punch
6. Ivory Castles In The Air
7. Man Trap

As most of you will already know, The Great Cat Robbery is a one-hour special.

In other Su DVD news, it now looks unlikely that the, previously mentioned. Oh! Dr Beeching DVD box set will see the light of day after all.

Enthusiastic ensemble performances and a great choice of songs combine with a top performance from Su Pollard to ensure that this 60s musical does, indeed, swing.

Sadly for the production, Pollard does not have the lead role and since Claire Sweeney, who does, is the least effective singer on the stage, any real swinging is little and far between.

Shout! is what you might call a "time-travel" show, designed to transport the viewer back to a particular era. More cabaret than musical theatre, the flimsy plot is padding for the songs, which are chosen for their ability to conjure up the chosen time.

Which, in the case of Shout! means the 60s. Not the 60s of hippies, counterculture and psychedelic music, but the 60s of Twiggy, short skirts and pure pop, as experienced by teenagers everywhere in the UK.

The plot involves three girls, Ruby (Sweeney), Georgina (Donna Steele) and Betty (Shona White) who go down to London from "up North" to find their fortune. Instead, they find Ruby's aunty Yvonne (Pollard) and her hair salon in Peckham, where they spend a decade hanging out in short skirts, reading teen mag Shout!

Which gives plenty of opportunities for Howard Jones as Tony T, Shout!'s editor, to bring a whole load of 60s adverts and editorials out from the page and onto the stage. Welcome the Pill, cigarette adverts, "groovy" lingo and, as the interval starts, a visit from the Milk Tray man.

There is so much potential that it is painful to see good ideas wasted under Sweeney's lead. She is so meandering that, despite tight singing and dancing performances, Steele and White are unable to do anything about it.

Winking at the audience to indicate her character is a bit of a goer and grinning in a manner that, in horror movies, is reserved for characters about to morph into werewolves, Sweeney is actually fine when called upon to sustain a note.

Ask her to sing anything resembling a tune, however, and her voice fades in and out faster than Radio Caroline on a windy night in the North Sea. In dramatic terms, these boots were made for gallumphing, not walking.

Rather greater skill is shown by Shona White, soloing in songs such as I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself and Little By Little. She is not overly subtle but is at least effervescent in her approach to the music.

It takes Su Pollard's rendition of You're My World to show how it should be done. Her start is so understated you think she might be faltering. But then she builds, and continues to build, until the audience are in raptures.

If all the performers could use the material with a fraction of her sense of drama and understanding, this would be a brilliant night of crystal clear 60s pleasure. Instead, it is the 60s recalled through a haze – and not a purple one, either.

Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre
18-22 Greenside Place , EDINBURGH , EH1 3AA 

4 – 8 March; Tues – Sat 7.30pm & Sat @ 2.30pm 
Prices: £12.50 - £25.00 

Venue Box Office: 10am – 6pm Monday – Saturday (8pm show nights) 
24hr telephone Bookings: 0844 847 1660 (nat.call rate/booking fee applies) 
www.edinburghplayhouse.org.uk 

She is currently voicing the Costcutter ads airing on various channels in the UK, including ITV1.

Their motto is: Costcutter ...your local Supermarket...your local Village Store...your local Food Store...your local Express...your local Off Licence

Claire also says of Shout!: "The producers are currently negotiating for a London theatre and we may even be taking the show to Las Vegas which is very exciting."

Read the full interview here.