The 12 week tour received great reviews and thrilled audiences at each venue it visited. Su would like to thank everyone who took the time to see the musical. She is thrilled with the feedback she has received and enjoyed this second tour as Miss Hannigan immensly

SuOnline would like to round off the 2003 outing with this little seen picture of Su, as Miss Hannigan, from the publicity shoot, and invite you to browse our dedicated Annie section. There you will find numerous reviews (from both 2002 and 2003), pictures, interviews, and much more.

Snow White : Sat 6th December 2003 - Sun 4th January 2004 
Starring Su Pollard as the Wicked Queen and Christopher Lillicrap as Nurse Nora. Also featuring Bunny the Rabbit 

Box Office:  0118 960 6060 
Email: boxoffice@readingarts.com

Book now for the most magical pantomime ever seen at The Hexagon! 

Written and produced by the Proper Pantomime Company, Snow White will be wondrously wicked, effortlessly evil and furiously funny.

Su Pollard is the epitome of Snow White's Wicked Queen. Together with Chrisptopher Lillicrap 'the ultimate pantomime dame' (Basingstoke Observer) as Nurse Nora, our heroine's Nanny.

The Hexagon, Queens Walk, Reading, Berkshire 

Full Price: £18.00, £16.00, £12.00 all shows except 6th & 7th December 

Please check back to SuOnline soon for our dedicated Snow White 2003 page.

... You Rang, M'lord?

The fantastic foreign-language website KOMEDIA have a comprehensive section dedicated to the series, with numerous screen captures, information, galleries, and much more.

Please click on Su, as Ivy Teasdale, to visit the website.

If you would like to browse the site in English, Google and Yahoo provide translator tools.

Su, of course, features in series three, episode five, "Singin' In The Drain'.

More comedy madness!....The complete collection contains all three side-splitting series and over 9 hours of thoroughly outrageous comedy. Delivering laughter from beginning to end, 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' follows the riotous lives of flat mates Linda (Kathy Burke) and Tom (James Dreyfus) in their equally hopeless search for a man. 

SERIES ONE 
01. Who's That Boy 
02. The Big Break 
03. Legs & Co 
04. Do They Take Sugar? 
05. Saturday Night Diva 
06. I Do, I Do, I Do 

SERIES TWO
The Millennium Special 
01. Teachers Pet 
02. Stiff 
03. Prison Visitor 
04. Dirty Thirty 
05. Glad To Be Gay 
06. Sofa Man 

SERIES THREE
01. Down & Out 
02. Lollipop Man 
03. Secrets & Flies 
04. Trauma 
05. Singing In The Drain 
06. Decoy

Thanks to Carolyn Bartholomew at the BBC.

Su, and the Annie cast, are currently playing at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, with final performances today and this evening.

Su will have raised a celebratory glass of something fizzy last night to mark her special day.

Best Wishes, Su, from all at SuOnline x

NB. Annie opens at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham on Monday. 

Thank you to Kim Barker for the picture.

Why Su's so happy to be a real meanie

"She's quite evil, is desperate for a man, has fleas and drinks Jack Daniels like there's no tomorrow," says Su about Miss Hannigan, the character she is currently playing in Annie.

Su also talks about her Hi-De-Hi! days: "The writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, used to tell us off because we'd be laughing so much while we were trying to film it. 

"I have some great memories from those years and I made a lot of friends. It worked because we all came from theatrical backgrounds so we were able to do the live Hi-De-Hi! tour as well!".

A hard knock life for Pollard?

As Su Pollard prepares for her new role as down-trodden Miss Hannigan, Francis Batt reviews her career....

Grab a cuppa and click on over to SuOnline's ARTICLE ARCHIVE to read both articles.

These, praising the recent performances at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and Billingham Forum, were provided by Kim Barker. Kim's daughter, Lucy, is alternating in the title role of Annie with Faye Spittlehouse, with both receiving great reviews.

"Someone who stole the limelight on opening night was 11-year-old Lucy Barker, from Lincoln, who alternates in the title role with Faye Spittlehouse.

She displayed the voice and confidence to bring heaps of audience admiration." - Middlesborough Gazette

"Annie stars Su Pollard who is very funny as mean and scheming Miss Hannigan and Mark Wynter (singer of '60s hit, Venus In Blue Jeans) as Daddy Warbucks who provides a wonderful performance, but the star of the show is Lucy Barker who is delightful as cheeky Annie." - Birmingham Evening Post

Please click the picture to read the full reviews. Many thanks to Kim.

Next week the company head to Windsor for a week of performances at the Theatre Royal.

Please click on the picture to browse SuOnline's dedicated Annie section, including two new additions to the reviews section, from Jersey and Edinburgh.

David gives his opinion on what happened to various characters from the numerous comedy series' he was involved with, including what became of a certain Peggy Ollerenshaw! Yes! Peggy would have went on to become a successful Yellowcoat!

Hi-De-Hi! : BBC2 - Sunday 9th November : 12.40pm
Nice People with Nice Manners. Series 3, episode 1. 
Classic holiday-camp sitcom. Ted is left out in the cold when the ballroom dancers throw a party. Starring: Paul Shane, Ruth Madoc, Jeffrey Holland, Su Pollard, Simon Cadell, Felix Bowness.

Please click the picture to browse SuOnline's 'Hi-De-Hi!' Scrapbook.

Next week the production will be in Grimsby, at the Auditorium.

More news and gossip from the show soon. Please click the picture to visit SuOnline's dedicated Annie section.

Dates and venues are still to be confirmed. The show synopsis has also been slightly altered to accomodate the change of location in the story:

Starring Su Pollard. Ellen small is a woman with ‘big ideas’. She wants to make contact with her dead sister, to fulfil a promise made years ago. Regardless of the feelings of her two daughters, she enlists the help of Mr Proudfoot, a part time medium. Their combined dabblings in the spirit world produce a series of hilarious events, unlock hidden powers and family secrets and ensure that no one escapes the ‘ghosts’ from the past!

Anyone interested can contact Chris at: meldrum@yobo.com.au

Over supper, Su chatted about how much she was enjoying touring again with Annie, and how successful the first four weeks, in Lincoln, Southend, Dartford, and Jersey, had been. Su is really enjoying being back in Scotland, spending her, limited, spare time catching up with friends in Glasgow and Edinburgh. 

Su also said she is very much looking forward to visiting the other numerous cities included in Annie's 2003 UK tour.

Before the evening was over, Su wished Will (top picture) a Happy 27th Birthday, posed with all the gang for a group pic, and even found time to say thanks to one of the waiters in the restaurant! Bravo!

A great evening!

During a ten-minute chat Su covered a variety of topics; touring working men's clubs way back in the Seventies with her friend, who was a drag artist, Hi-De-Hi! and how people still holler the famous catchphrase at her in the street, some 15 years after the show ended, and, of course, Annie. Su said she wasn't atall bothered about being in a production that featured , not only children, but animals too. She praised the cast, and in particular the younger members who add so much to the musical.

And with a "Ho-De-Ho!" she was gone!

"This particular production has the added benefit of Su Pollard as the vile, alcoholic matron of the orphanage, Miss Hannigan. It is a role which was created with the awareness that the actress playing it can be as outrageous as she wants without fear of upstaging the orphanage full of kids and two cute dogs already on stage. 

To her credit, Su Pollard manages to do exactly that. Every time she comes on, despite doing nothing more than being the Su Pollard we have seen many times before, she is the focus of all attention on stage."

To read the full review please click on Su, as Miss Hannigan, to visit SuOnline's revamped Annie section.

As revealed in May of this year, exclusively on SuOnline, Su is set to star in the acclaimed stageshow A Happy Medium in 2004.

Su will be appearing in the show, adapted from the original script by Dorothy Paul, who also stars in the current version, touring Scotland at present.

'A Happy Medium' tells the tale of Ellen Small - a wee woman from Maryhill with big ideas.  Ellen wants to make contact with her dead sister to fulfill a promise made years ago on the top of Ben Arthur.  Regardless of the feelings of her two daughters Audrey and Gemma, she enlists the help of Mr Proudfoot, a part-time medium from Kilmarnock.  Their combined dabblings in the spirit world produce a chain of hilarious events, unlock hidden powers and family secrets, and ensure that no-one escapes the ‘ghosts’ from the past! 

Further updates, information, news and tour dates as and when available - stay tuned!

Little Robots Hooray! Let's build And Play! (DVD)

A loveable group of lively mechanical friends, the Little Robots show that you can make big things happen – all you need is a little imagination, a lot of teamwork and a big pile of junk. 

The action is jam-packed, the comedy non-stop and help from a friend is never far away. Come and join Tiny, Sporty, Noisy and their pals as they build and play – every Little Robot is good at something, and together, they’re unstoppable! 

With Free LEGO® Toy! 

Please click the picture to visit the BBC online shop.

Three little words. That’s all it takes to get a reply from comedy star Su Pollard. Three little words that for eight years were the war cry of any good Maplin’s Yellowcoat . . . oh, and also of one mild-mannered chalet maid, Peggy Ollerenshaw 

But even as the Nottingham-born actress put the holiday-camp sitcom behind her way back in 1988 with one last defiant "Hi-de-hi" yelled Julie Andrews-style, moments before the final credits rolled, she knew escaping the character that had made her a household name would be difficult. 

In the past that has caused her to reflect that: "The only time it gets on my nerves is when people are too shy to speak and they wait until I’ve passed and shout: ‘Hi de hi’ after me. Of course, I shout: ‘Ho de ho’ back. And then I think: well, that’s the voice gone for tonight’s performance!" 

Right now that performance is part of the national tour of the hit musical Annie, in which she plays the wicked orphanage manageress. 

It gives audiences a chance to see Pollard in a whole new light . . . as the bourbon-swilling, hard-cussing, man-hunting harridan, Miss Hannigan. 

The star, famous for her OTT specs and dangly earrings, says: "It’s fantastic to be able to play a part you don’t have to glam up for and a marvellous challenge because she has to be absolutely real. 

"When she hits the girls (she always takes it out on the kids), she hits them on the bum with a paddle. And all the orphans have to wear padding because I said to them: ‘It’s no use Miss Hannigan tapping you, she’s got to look like she is merciless.’ But you can’t help feeling sorry for the woman as well because she has a terrible drink problem." 

It’s a role the 53-year-old is relishing, and with a scream of laughter she adds: "When I first got the part I actually said to the director: ‘I think I need to go out on a bender to research the role!’ He said: ‘No’." 

At the Festival Theatre next week, it’s not just the kids that Pollard has to cope with in the musical tale of Annie, the 12-year-old orphan whose dream finally comes true when she is plucked from the orphanage and welcomed into the warm and loving home of billionaire Daddy Warbucks. By working with not one but two canines (Sandy played by Danny and Mutt played by Sparky) Pollard breaks the first golden rule of theatre - never work with animals or children - twice! 

"The dogs are a little excitable," she admits. "But the children are superb and the music is so great. I’ve always wanted to be in Annie because I just love the music so much." 

The musical, which co-stars Sixties chart-topper Mark Wynter (he had nine Top 20 hits including Venus in Blue Jeans) includes old favourites like The Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile and the show-stopping tear-jerker, Tomorrow. 

"We’ve got a brilliant cast. Every single person seems to be absolutely suited to their part. Mark Wynter is just fantastic as Daddy Warbucks, he’s very warm and still has a great voice. He was probably the Will Young of his day. Young and beautiful to look at," she enthuses. 

Appearing in Annie brings the outrageous performer back to her musical roots. Her career began at the age of 16 when, while working as a secretary, Susan Georgina Pollard started singing in charity shows and working men’s clubs - her proud claim to fame from that time being that she was the first woman to "sing Ave Maria in hot pants in a working men’s club." 

She reveals: "That was the campest thing. I used to have these thigh boots, and hot pants with a bib on (almost like dungarees) that said on the front ‘I love Mr Pink’ because I was going out with a bloke called Andrew Pink at the time. We thought we’d get married and said if we had a little girl we would call her Saffron - can you imagine, Saffron Pink. The poor cow, she’d never dare leave the house. 

"Anyway, nobody ever expected me to sing Ave Maria and I think they were pleasantly surprised when I did because I had a soprano voice then." 

After an apprenticeship at the Arts Theatre in her home town, Pollard famously came second to a singing Jack Russell terrier on Opportunity Knocks - although her first taste of the spotlight had actually come at the age of six when, as an angel in a school nativity play, she stood on a box to announce the arrival of the Angel Gabriel and promptly fell through the lid - "I remember crying," she confides. 

Despite the tears, it was her first experience of making an audience laugh and although she has since become known for comedy, it is singing that remains her passion. "I actually started singing in the school choir," she recalls. "And have tried to take it as seriously as I could - I had lessons for years - because I believe that if you have some talent in that direction it’s nice to fulfil its potential. 

"That’s why I try to do roles that combine the comedy, the drama and the music. To be honest, I’ve really enjoyed the work I’ve been doing over the last couple of years." 

And with a twinkle in her eye, she adds: "Between you and me, I’m never going to see 27 again and because of that I seem to be getting a lot more challenging roles now, characters that are a bit more meaty, and that’s rather nice." 

One thing’s for sure. They don’t come more meaty than Hannigan. 

Festival Theatre, Tuesday-Saturday, 7.30pm (Thu/Sat matinee 2.30pm), £13.50-£23.50, 0131-529 6000 

We all know the story inside out. Annie is an 11-year-old orphan who longs for her parents to rescue her from a New York orphanage and its cruel matron Miss Hannigan, who plots to ruin her chances of adoption by a rich and kind-hearted businessman. 

This much-loved, popular production is packed with classic songs and stars Hi-De-Hi’s Su Pollard, along with local schoolchildren from The Mary Erskine and Stewart’s Melville Junior School. 

Thomas Meehan’s classic production is certain to offer a night of singalong entertainment for all the family. 

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (0131-529 6000), until Saturday, 7.30pm

"Wondrously wicked, effortlessly evil and furiously funny, Snow White promises to be the most lavish, magical family pantomime seen at The Hexagon for many years."

Snow White : Sat 6th Dec 2003 - Sun 4th Jan 2004 
Starring Su Pollard as the Wicked Queen and Christopher Lillicrap as Nurse Nora. Also featuring Bunny the Rabbit, and introducing Deborah Chapman as Snow White.

PRICES: £18, £16, £12 (CONCESSIONS: £16, £14, £12)
Free programme for everyone.

BOX OFFICE:  0118 960 6060 
GROUP BOOKINGS: 0118 939 0011

The Hexagon, Queens Walk, Reading, Berkshire RG1 7UA
Email: boxoffice@readingarts.com
Fax: 0118 939 0751
Website: www.readingarts.com