An outstanding comedy series, written by acclaimed veterans Jimmy Perry and David Croft, which reunited many of the cast from the award-winning sitcom Hi-De-Hi!

Starring: Paul Shane; Su Pollard; Jeffrey Holland; Donald Hewlett; Michael Knowles; Brenda Cowling; Perry Benson; Barbara New; Bill Pertwee; Felix Bowness; John Clegg; Iain Mitchell. 

See News below for full episode list.

[ Please click on the image to pre-order this set ]

Starring Myleene Klass, Su Pollard & Nikki Sanderson

ROYAL CONCERT HALL
Tuesday 29th August - Saturday 2nd September 2006
Evenings 8pm, Friday 4pm 

The Vagina Monologues gives voice to a chorus of hilarious, original and thoroughly human stories about women and their sexuality. Based on interviews with a diverse group of women-from a Long Island antiques dealer to a Bosnian refugee-the play explores the humour, power, pain, outrage and excitement hidden in vaginas. This must see phenomenon is now on tour starring 3 amazing women. 

As sharp as Sex and the City, as unmissable as Friends and as funny as Smack The Pony, this riotous evening is the ultimate girls night out. 

Trust us… 

‘Warm, open, exciting, enchanting and hilariously funny! The Sunday Times 

‘Laugh-out-loud funny, witty, provocative and deeply poignant’ The Independent 

Following a regional tour, screen-to-stage musical comedy Seven Brides for Seven Brothers opened last night (16 August 2006, previews from 10 August) at the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket for a limited season to 25 November.

In Oregon circa 1850, Adam goes to town to get a wife. Having convinced Milly to marry him, he brings her back to his backwoods cabin, where she discovers he has six live-in younger brothers who are anxious to get wives of their own. The stage version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is based on the 1954 Oscar-winning MGM musical, which starred Howard Keel as Adam and Jane Powell as Milly, the parts taken on stage now by [Dave Willetts} and Shona Lindsay. 

Book launch?
You'll be as surprised as we are to know that we have never once been named in the Queen's Honours List for our services to button badges. Seriously, we haven't. But we have gone one better. We were made "honorary Maplin's Yellowcoats" for producing badges to help promote Rob Cope's forthcoming book on the classic TV comedy series, Hi-De-Hi!, called Hello Campers!. "They are perfect," said happy camper, Rob. "I couldn't have wished for a closer match to my original idea." Ho-de-ho!

[ Source: www.buttonbadges.co.uk]

They are also showing episodes of Hi-De-Hi! weekdays.

Su Pollard (born Susan Pollard, November 7, 1949 in Nottingham) is a flamboyant English comedy actress best known for her roles in the sitcoms Hi-De-Hi! and You Rang, M'Lord?.

After performing in several West End musicals and coming second in a heat of Opportunity Knocks, she was noticed by BBC producers and chosen to star in a
new sitcom Two Up, Two Down with Paul Nicholas.

The sitcom was not a success, but it led to her being cast as Peggy Ollerenshaw in Hi-De-Hi!. The show was a hit and Pollard became familiar face to families across the UK.

In 1988, David Croft and Jimmy Perry, the writers of Hi De Hi!, chose Pollard to star in their new sitcom You Rang, M'Lord?. The show was a moderate success.

In the 1990s Su starred in another Croft sitcom, Oh, Doctor Beeching!. The show was cancelled by the BBC after only 19 episodes. Critics joked that it had received a "Beeching Axe".

[ Please click on the screenshot to visit the page ]

You Rang, M'Lord? was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and featured many actors who had also appeared in their earlier series, especially Paul Shane, Jeffrey Holland and Su Pollard, all of whom had previously been in Perry and Croft's holiday camp sitcom, Hi-De-Hi!. Also featured were Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles from Perry and Croft's It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Bill Pertwee and occasionally Frank Williams from Dad's Army. The memorable 1920's-style theme tune was sung by the late Bob Monkhouse.

Episodes of You Rang M'Lord? were fifty minutes long, rather than the usual thirty (for BBC sitcoms), and attempted to introduce a more reflective approach and more complex plotting than other Croft and Perry series. There was also less reliance on filmed location sequences.

[ Please click on the screenshot to visit the page ]

Hi-De-Hi! was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s and was drawn from the real-life experiences of writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft. The series featured the staff employed to entertain the campers. The fictional chain of Maplin's camps was loosely based on Butlin's, the real-life holiday camp empire of Billy Butlin, with his Redcoats replaced with Yellowcoats.

The title was the phrase used to greet the campers at events, and was one of a number of memorable catch phrases from the series. The series also had a rock and roll style theme tune "Holiday Rock". It became a chart hit in 1981, sung by Paul Shane, and featuring several members of the cast on backing vocals, it was performed on Top of the Pops in 1981. The title "Holiday Rock" may be a pun on a number of levels: rock and roll, a seaside holiday location, or rock traditionally sold at UK holiday venues.

Because of the programme's popularity, the BBC decided to air series 3 and 4 back-to-back, the first and only time the BBC has ever done this with one of their own shows. At the height of the its popularity, the BBC had plans to make it into a feature film. It was one of the first BBC programmes to capitalise on the merchandise market, with products such as board games, albums, books, toys and t-shirts available to buy. In common with a number of other British sitcoms such as Dad's Army and Goodnight Sweetheart, the sitcom was a nostalgia vehicle, although no less successful because of this; the programme came 40th in the BBC's 2004 poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. Other than Only Fools And Horses and Porridge, Hi De Hi is the most repeated British comedy on TV nostalgia channel, UKTV Gold.

[ Please click on the screenshot to visit the page ]

Oh, Doctor Beeching! focused on the small fictional branch line railway station of Hatley, which was threatened with closure under the Beeching Axe. The programme was filmed on the Severn Valley Railway, with the part of Hatley station being played by the Arley SVR station in Upper Arley.

In the pilot episode, Jack Skinner (Paul Shane) the porter is acting station master until a replacement is found. Without a station master the station has become rather disorganised, for instance the signalman, Harry Lambert (Stephen Lewis), is running several other businesses, seeing his signaling duties as an annoyance ("ruddy trains"). The station is part-run by the eccentric booking clerk, Ethel Schumann (Su Pollard), whose idiotic son Wilfred, the product of a relationship with an American soldier during the war, is the station dogsbody.

[ Please click on the screenshot to visit the page ]

An outstanding comedy series, written by acclaimed veterans Jimmy Perry and David Croft, which reunited many of the cast from the award-winning sitcom Hi-De-Hi! 

Complete Series 3 DVD: Episodes Comprise: 

1. Please Help the Orphans 
2. Current Affairs 
3. Mrs.Lipton's Nasty Turn 
4. Meet the Workers 
5. Gretna Green or Bust 
6. The Night of Reckoning 
7. A Day in the Country 

PS: Su sends a big "Hello!" to John for his email *nudge* about her Webletter ;o)

Working class chancer Alf Stokes (Paul Shane) and James Twelvetrees (Jeffrey Holland) first meet as soldiers in the trenches in France during the First World War. They find the body of an officer and, assuming that he's dead, Alf robs him of his valuables. Then they find that the officer, the Honourable Teddy Meldrum (Michael Knowles), is still alive so they carry him off to a field hospital.

Ten years later, James is working in the household of Teddy's brother, Lord Meldrum (Donald Hewlett). Alf suddenly turns up and is taken on as the new butler, against James' wishes. Alf's daughter, Ivy (Su Pollard) also starts working in the household as a parlour maid but her relationship with Alf is kept secret...

An outstanding comedy series, written by acclaimed veterans Jimmy Perry and David Croft, which reunited many of the cast from the award-winning sitcom Hi-De-Hi!

Series One:
1. The Phantom Sign Writer
2. A Deed Of Gift
3. Love And Money
4. Fair Shares
5. Beg, Borrow Or Steal

Series Two:
1. Labour of Love 
2. Trouble at Mill 
3. Money Talks 
4. The Meldrum Vases 
5. The Wounds of War 
6. Stranger in the Night 
7. Royal Flush 

Series Three:
1. Please Help the Orphans 
2. Current Affairs 
3. Mrs. Lipton's Nasty Turn 
4. Meet the Workers 
5. Gretna Green or Bust 
6. The Night of Reckoning 
7. A Day in the Country 

Series Four:
1. Yes Sir, That's My Baby
2. Requiem For A Parrot
3. Come To The Ball
4. The Truth Revealed
5. Fall Of The House Of Meldrum
6. Well, There You Are Then!

Starring: Paul Shane; Su Pollard; Jeffrey Holland; Donald Hewlett; Michael Knowles; Brenda Cowling; Perry Benson; Barbara New; Bill Pertwee; Felix Bowness; John Clegg; Iain Mitchell. 

NB: The final packaging for the 1-4 Box Set may differ from the above artwork.

Starring Myleene Klass, Su Pollard & Nikki Sanderson

ROYAL CONCERT HALL
Tuesday 29th August - Saturday 2nd September 2006
Evenings 8pm, Friday 4pm 

The Vagina Monologues gives voice to a chorus of hilarious, original and thoroughly human stories about women and their sexuality. Based on interviews with a diverse group of women-from a Long Island antiques dealer to a Bosnian refugee-the play explores the humour, power, pain, outrage and excitement hidden in vaginas. This must see phenomenon is now on tour starring 3 amazing women. 

As sharp as Sex and the City, as unmissable as Friends and as funny as Smack The Pony, this riotous evening is the ultimate girls night out. 

Trust us… 

‘Warm, open, exciting, enchanting and hilariously funny! The Sunday Times 

‘Laugh-out-loud funny, witty, provocative and deeply poignant’ The Independent 

[ Please click on the picture for further info, or to book tickets ]

Whether it's on TV or on the stage, Su Pollard usually stars as the 'nice one' - she played the loveable Peggy in Hi-De-Hi and Ivy in You Rang M'Lord.

However, this year Su's playing the wicked queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Mansfield Palace Theatre.

It's a panto role reversal for Su as normally she stars as the prince.

"It doesn't equate in a way... you get to a certain stage when you're not doing principle boy anymore. I had to give [it] up as my princesses were [getting] younger and younger... I looked like I was some kind of stalker!"

Su isn't going to be completely wicked.

"What I try and do is make the audience sympathetic to her - she's never had luck with men - you try and make her a bit loveable... [However] she really is quite evil - jealous to death of Snow White."

Su was born in Nottingham in 1949 but has spent the last 35 years based in London. She misses her home town.

"I still love coming back to my roots. It'll be nice to come back and spend time with mates."

Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in December, Su will be starring at the Theatre Royal in the Vagina Monologues, from Tuesday 29 August - Saturday 2 September 2006.

Please click on the screenshot to visit BBC Nottingham' to listen to their Su's audio interview.

[ News Source: www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham - 24th July 2006 ]

See above, the 'BBC Nottingham' feature, for more information.

Hi-De-Hi! : UKTV Drama/UKTV Drama Plus 1 - Showing all this week
Concessions (Tuesday), Save Our Heritage (Wednesday), Empty Saddles (Thursday)

Gimme Gimme Gimme : UKTV Gold - Thursday 3rd August : 11.20pm
Gimme Gimme Gimme : UKTV Gold Plus 1 - Friday 4th August : 00.20am
Singing in The Drain. Series 3, episode 5. In-your-face, and frankly disgusting at times, comedy with the hapless flatmates with every personality flaw going. But things seem to be looking up as Linda finally realises her ambition to become a model, while Tom secures an audition for a West End musical. Starring: Kathy Burke, James Dreyfus, Brian Bovell, Beth Goddard, Su Pollard, and Jonathan Harvey.

Starring: Paul Shane, Su Pollard, Mavis Pugh, Bill Pertwee, Donald Hewlett, Jeffrey Holland, Brenda Cowling, Susie Brann, Catherine Rabett, Michael Knowles.

All six episodes from the fourth series of the BBC comedy from writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft. 

When Alf Stokes (Paul Shane) and James Twelvetrees (Jeffrey Holland) meet in the trenches of World War One, they help save the life of a wounded officer. Years later, they both find themselves working on the household staff of that officer's brother, Lord Meldrum (Donald Hewlett). In this series, Alf has the perfect solution to some romantic woes, and with news that the family's rubber plantation in Malaya has fallen foul of a deadly beetle, the family fortunes look to be in ruins. 

Episodes are: 'Yes Sir, That's My Baby'; 'Requiem For a Parrot'; 'Come to the Ball'; 'The Truth Revealed'; 'The Fall of the House of Meldrum'; and 'Well, There You Are Then!'

This fourth DVD completes the set and is, yet another, welcome addition for everyone's DVD collection. The DVD is available to buy from 28th August 2006.

An outstanding comedy series, written by acclaimed veterans Jimmy Perry and David Croft, which reunited many of the cast from the award-winning sitcom Hi-De-Hi!

Episodes Comprise:

1. Yes Sir, That's My Baby
2. Requiem For A Parrot
3. Come To The Ball
4. The Truth Revealed
5. Fall Of The House Of Meldrum
6. Well, There You Are Then!

[ Please click on the picture to pre-order this DVD ]

As well as long-awaited, this also may mean that the complete collection may finally be available on DVD in the not too distant future. Something many Hi-De-Hi! fans have been hoping for.

Every episode from series 5 and 6 of the classic holiday camp TV comedy, Hi De Hi!

Episodes Comprise:

1. Concessions
2. Save Our Heritage
3. Empty Saddles
4. The Marriage Settlement
5. The Graven Image
6. Peggy's Penfriend
7. The Epidemic
8. Together Again
9. Ted at the Helm
10. Opening Day
11. Off with the Motley
12. Hey Diddle Diddle, Who's on the Fiddle?
13. Raffles 

Stay tuned for further updates on this as and when news becomes available.

Yes, Su's first letter for 2006, and her first for many a month will soon be available to read right here, and a truly scrumptious read it is.

Check back soon.