Su Pollard is noisy, gushing and pally. Exactly as you'd hope she'd be. The former Hi De Hi! actress, who played chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw in the 1980s, is sitting in her three-storey townhouse in London's King's Cross. 

When I ask if she's disappointed to be playing the Wicked Queen rather than Snow White in this year's Rhyl panto, she utters a hearty, husky laugh. 

"Can you imagine! I'd never get away with it. I'd have to be like Bette Davis in that film of hers. She had to be filmed behind gauze!" She is looking forward to playing the Wicked Queen alongside local actress Rebecca Trehearn as Snow White this month. Trehearn won S4C's Wawffactor contest this year. 

Pollard, 56, said: "Rebecca is very personable. I think she's going to be great. I said to her 'You lucky old BAG! You can stay at home during the season because you're from Rhyl'. 

"Rebecca and I get two or three wonderful scenes where I'm the Wicked Queen masquerading as an old hag. 

"We're trying to build it up so kids in the audience scream like mad when they know she's going to bite into the apple. You've got to make every scene as believable as you can and to get the story flowing." 

Pollard has been to Llandudno before: "We did Dick Whittington with Paul Danan (of Celebrity Love Island and Hollyoaks fame). I really enjoyed it. The only thing was, I'm a nightbird. But Llandudno and Rhyl seem to shut at 5.30pm." 

Still, bosses at the Pavilion Theatre are doing their bit. They're painting Pollard's dressing room pink - at her request.

Rhyl & Prestatyn Visitor
December 2005