Although
she doesn't like to admit it
often, Susan Georgina Pollard was
born on 7th November 1949 in
Nottingham, England. The eldest
daughter to Don and Hilda Pollard
(they were in shock for so long
that it took them another seven
years before they came up with a
sister for Su, in the shape of
the lovely Jean). Su's
interest in the stage began when
at the age of six she played an
angel in the school nativity
play. Whilst standing on a box
announcing the arrival of the
Angel Gabriel, she fell through
the lid. Everyone roared with
laughter and she loved it from
that moment.
At sixteen
she began singing in charity
shows and at working men's clubs
and pubs whilst working as a
secretary and her claim to fame
from that time was that she was
the first woman to sing Ave Maria
in hotpants in a working men's
club!
After an
apprenticeship at the Arts
Theatre in Nottingham Su made her
television debut in 1974 on the
enormously popular talent show
hosted by Hughie Green, Opportunity
Knocks, where her rendition
of 'I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say
No' from Oklahoma saw her
come second to a singing Jack
Russell dog...
Undeterred,
she went on to play in the
musicals The Desert Song
and Rose Marie with John
Hanson, starred in Cameron
Mackintosh's West End production
of Godspell, played
opposite Jack Wild in Big Sin
City at the Roundhouse,
toured in the musical Grease
in a company that also included
Tracey Ullman, had them rocking
in the aisles with Tim
Brooke-Taylor and Hugh Paddick in
the farce Not Now Darling,
won a role in Andrew Sach's play Philately
Will Get You Nowhere and
appeared at the Mermaid Theatre
in a celebration of the music of
Cole Porter called Oh Mr.
Porter.
Su's first
comedy role was in a BBC series
screened in 1978 entitled Two
Up, Two Down in which she
played a hippy named Flo with
Paul Nicholas playing her
partner, both of whom were
squatting in the house of a nice
middle class couple. It only
lasted one series but then in
1979 came the pilot programme for
a new BBC comedy written by Jimmy
Perry and David Croft set in a
holiday camp.
It was of
course Hi De Hi! The role
of Peggy Ollerenshaw was to make
Su a household name and the title
of the series became a
catchphrase echoed through the
land.
Hi De
Hi! has now gone onto achieve
almost legendary status in the
annals of British comedy and ran
until 1988, notching up some 58
episodes which regularly
attracted audiences of over 15
million.
Indeed Hi
De Hi!'s status and legacy
continue to grow each year. In
2001 cable and satellite channel
UK Gold began to broadcast many
of the eight series made, and
this continues, bringing whole
new generations to the show.
The
channel is currently playing
episodes daily, sometimes twice,
and show no sings of stopping in
the forseeable future.
These
repeats have led to toddlers
knocking on Su's door asking to
see "Peggy"! Any wonder
that Su looks back on her Hi
De Hi! days with nothing but
fondness.
2003 saw
the release of the first two
series of Hi De Hi! on
DVD. A fantastic collector's
Boxed Set. This was followed up
with a similar set, released in
2004, featuring further episodes
(series' three and four). And it
looks highly likely that more of
these will be available to buy in
the, not too distant, future.
As a
result of rave reviews Su was
offered the role of Sally in the
West End production of Me And
My Girl at the Adelphi
Theatre which she played for over
a year.
Then came
roles in a national tour of
Rodgers and Hart's Babes In
Arms playing Bunny Byron
opposite Matthew Kelly, the title
in Sweet Charity during a
record breaking season at the
Connaught Theatre,
Worthing.
|
Su also
starred in the stage production
of Hi De Hi! - The Holiday
Musical, which along with all
the gang from the television
series played sell out seasons in
Bournemouth (Summer 1983), The
Victoria Palace (Winter Season
1983/84) and finally The Opera
House in Blackpool (Summer 1984). Su's first
single 'Starting Together',
written by Bill Buckley of That's
Life fame - the theme to a
BBC television documentary The
Marriage - shot to no. two
position in the UK charts, this
was followed by an album Su on
K-Tel Records which entered the
album charts and achieved silver
status.
In
response to requests to hear Su
singing live, in 1987 Su toured
the UK in The Su Pollard Show
and subsequently her
one-woman-show A Song, A Frock
and A Tinkle earned rave
reviews at The Donmar Warehouse
and on a national tour. Su's book
'Hearts and Showers', published
by Headline became a best seller
both in hardback and paperback
form.
Following
Hi De Hi's tearful final
episode, the writers Jimmy Perry
and David Croft dreamed up a new
comedy set in the roaring
twenties You Rang M'Lord
in which she was cast as Ivy
Teasdale, maid to wealthy Lord
Meldrum. Once again reunited with
Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland.
The show became a great favourite
with the British public and ran
for 26 episodes between 1988 and
1992.
Like Hi
De Hi!, You Rang, M'lord?
has also been repeated in the UK
on a satellite channel, UK Drama,
reaching a whole new audience of
viewers not around when it was
shown originally. You Rang?
is a big favourite with Su's fans
and the series is also Su's
personal favourite from the many
TV roles she has played.
In the mid
1990's David Croft brought his
popular team back together for a
new show set in the small railway
station of Hatley in 1963 when
Dr. Richard Beeching's axe fell
on many minor stations.
Oh Dr.
Beeching had Su cast as Ethel
Schumann, box office clerk and
station gossip. After 19 episodes
the BBC called time on the series
but it remains a favourite with
viewers all over the
country.
In
addition to Su's best known roles
she has been seen on other
television programmes including; Me
And My Town, Harty, Entertainment
Express, Sunday Sunday,
Aspel & Co. (famously
guesting alongside a slightly
merry Oliver Reed), Night Of
100 Stars, Top Of The Pops,
Joan Rivers, Star
Memories, Through The
Keyhole, The Midday Show
(in Australia), This Morning,
and Coast To Coast to name
but a few.
In 1989 Su
was thrilled to be the subject of
This Is Your Life and
hosted the game show Take The
Plunge for Thames
Television.
Su is
known to younger viewers as the
voice of Penny Crayon in
the popular cartoon and has been
seen in programmes as diverse as The
Generation Game, Give Us A
Clue, Wogan, The
Royal It's A Knockout, Noel's
House Party (receiving the
coveted Gotcha award) and no less
than five Royal Variety Shows.
On radio
Su has been accompanied by the
80-strong BBC Radio Orchestra at
London's Festival Hall and
appeared with Gorden Kaye in the
comedy For Better Or For Worse.
Su took to
the stage again appearing as
Audrey in a national tour of the
cult musical Little Shop of
Horrors, appeared in the West
End and in New Zealand creating
the role of Suzette in the hit
comedy Don't Dress For Dinner
(co-starring with the late, great
Simon Cadell once more).
|
Also in
New Zealand Su joined David
Griffin in The Good Sex Guide
Revue, a saucy new musical,
and co-starred with Les Dennis
and Roy Walker on the North Pier
for Blackpool's Biggest Show
in 1995. In the
nineties, Su toured the Far East
in Alan Bennet's comedy Habeas
Corpus, created the role of
Pam in Jimmy Perry and Roy
Moore's musical That's Showbiz,
starred with Britt Ekland and
Jeffrey Holland in See How
They Run for a summer season
in Bournemouth and on a national
tour.
Su also
played the role of Angela in Abigail's
Party which once again found
her touring the country to
theatres full of eager audiences
and rave reviews.
In 2001 Su
released her CD album, 'The
Collection', featuring 17 tracks,
including her hit singles and
personal favourites. This year Su
guested on Songs of Praise,
performing the song 'Day by Day'
from the musical Godspell, and
later was asked back to present
an edition of the long-running
BBC1 show.
Pantomime
has always been one of Su's
specialities and has been both
principal boy and girl across the
UK in Goldilocks, Babes
In The Woods, Pinocchio,
Jack And The Beanstalk, Mother
Goose, Aladdin, and Dick
Whittington. In 2002 Su took
on the role of the Wicked Queen
in Snow White, her first
outing as a "baddie". A
role she enjoyed playing so much
she reprised it for Christmas
2003.
Between
August '01 and May '02 Su played
Pirate Maid Ruth, alongside Gary
Wilmot as the Pirate King, in the
hugely succesful The Pirates
Of Penzance. The musical
toured the lengths and breadths
of the UK, playing to packed
houses every night. Su loved
being part of the show and it
earned her some of the best
reviews of her career. Pirates
was an energetic, feelgood
production, with a wonderful
cast. It never failed to place a
smile on the face of everyone as
they left the theatre.
In late
2001 Su guest starred in an
episode of the hit comedy Gimme
Gimme Gimme. She played Heidi
Honeycomb, alongside Kathy Burke
and James Dreyfus.
Barely
pausing to draw breath Su took on
the role of the wicked Miss
Agatha Hannigan in Annie - The
Musical, the drunken spinster
who is in charge of the orphanage
where young Annie resides. Su was
a revelation in the role, not
only doing justice to the
wonderful Annie score, but
playing the drunken orphange
owner to perfection. The musical
is now another firm favourite of
Su's.
In 2003 Su
toured the UK in Annie,
again as Miss Hannigan, guested
in The Vagina Monologues,
voiced the character of Noisy in
the BBC children's animated
series Little Robots, and
played the Wicked Queen in Snow
White. There were many TV
appearances this year too, most
notably on The Weakest Link,
Stars Reunited and Liquid
News.
2004 was
busy, with Su playing the lead
character on a national tour of A
Happy Medium, making various
TV appearances, including the
HOME-TEK advertising campaign.
There was also a third UK tour
(including a Christmas season)
playing Miss Hannigan in the
highly successful Annie.
2005 saw
Su again voicing those Little
Robots, returning to The
Vagina Monologues for a
limited run, appearing on various
TV shows, and playing the Wicked
Queen in Snow White in
Rhyl.
In early
2006 Su toured the UK in her
first Shakesperian role, playing
the Nurse in Romeo &
Juliet, opposite Gerald
Harper. She returned to The
Vagina Monologues and made a
number of TV appearances,
including Loose Women, and
The Princes Trust 30th
Birthday. 2006 also saw
further releases of Hi-de-Hi! and
You Rang, M'Lord? on DVD. Su
once again played the Wicked
Queen in Snow White, this
year at Mansfield Palace.
2007, and
Su starred in Menopause the
Musical in London, and
guested on The Paul O'Grady
Show, Loose Women and
This Morning. Su is busier
now than she has ever been and
hopes you will all keep up to
date with her roles and
appearances via SuOnline, her
Official Website, launched in
September 2000.
|