Su-perhuman Su says Hi

Despite just a few hours’ sleep before, Su Pollard is as chatty, bubbly and outrageous as ever.

“I don’t like to go to bed until 3am... But you ask what you want, babe!”

Like a human anti-depressant, the divine Miss Pollard is full of bounce and positivity as she enthuses about her show at Lancaster’s Grand Theatre next Wednesday night (September 24).

“It’s called Ha Ha! Hood and there’s another ‘H’ in it, for ‘hilarious’,” she says.

“There’s a lot of action and you can kill yourself laughing just watching it. It’s Pythonesque, there’s a bit of panto, stand up and sketches. It moves along very swiftly.

“Don’t expect Einstein. It’s a fun, value for money show.

“It tells the story of what happens when Maid Marian and Robin Hood meet up again 10 years after being divorced.”

The knockabout show also stars her fellow 1980s stalwarts, comic double act Cannon and Ball.

The three are great friends, and Su says Tommy and Bobby came to see her perform recently when she starred as Miss Hannigan in the musical Annie.

“It’s the first show we’ve done together and there’s only five of us in it.

“It makes a real change from working on a musical with 40 people.

“We have to change ourselves, we don’t have a costume dresser, and have to sort our own props. It’s a DIY show. But you can’t afford to get up yourself, darling!”

This might be worlds away from when Hi-de-Hi was pulling 17m iewers in the 1980s, with Su as one of the sitcom’s most enduring characters.

As aspirational chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw, she became a national treasure.

People still shout ‘Hi-de-Hi!’ at her in the street, almost 30 years since the last episode. “It once happened up a mountain near Athens,” laughs the 64-year-old.

“This Greek guy told me his brother had a chip shop in Birmingham and used to watch it. I shouted ‘Ho-de-Ho!’ back at him.

“All the characters were drawn from people (writers) Jimmy Perry and David Croft met when they were Redcoats. That’s why it was so believable, people could identify with them.”

Ha! Ha! Hood starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £20 and are available from the box office on 01524 64695 or www.lancastergrand.co.uk.