BARING ALL with the waves lapping on the shore, my wonderful husband, palm trees and a golden beach, my depression came on and you have to wait for it to lift and to leave. I manage it and I have a wonderful support system in my family and I am much kinder to myself than I used to be. “If I can remove anything from my diary that I can, then I will. I’m very much the show must go on and I will push myself to not let people down. “Usually my episodes are short lived but I did have a breakdown after Christmas which was the first in ten years.” She is a great advocate of self-care and admits to ‘sloth-days’. “Although I have a very busy life and not one day is like another, I have days where I get up, I will lie on the sofa and I will watch real-life crime all day! “I’ve taken the guilt out of it. I think it is self-preservation and I think it is also my mind telling me to recharge mentally as well as physically. I don’t have a problem taking lots of holidays because I know that for nine months I’m going to be on stage daily.” August will also be when she releases a second novel, The Mother’s Bond which is set in Byker and Chester le Street and which, according to the actress who has voiced the audible version is, a “Catherine Cookson for the noughties”. Denise admits she doesn’t find the writing
weight back on. My motto is; if I can do it in my mid 50s then you can do it too.” Life may be sober but it is by no means dull. There’s a box of newly delivered wine in the hallway, alcohol-free from The Dry Drinker. Partying doesn’t stop, it’s just different. “If I did a book now it’d be pointing out the joys of sobriety without being the drink police. A lot of people think you won’t be funny again, go to a party again. “I pick and choose where I go but if there’s a party I’ll go for a couple of hours and when the tide turns and everyone starts getting drunk I’ll slip out the back door and not one person will know or care. I get everybody at their best.” Denise and Lincoln spend time in LA where the early nights and non-drinking culture suits them. Lincoln’s work as an artist is flourishing and Denise is excited to be returning to the stage. One real regret about her partying past is that she is remembered for antics off stage rather than on. “Because my life has been ‘out there’ a lot of people forget that I am actually good at what I do as a job and that’s why I’m looking forward to doing Calendar Girls. Winning the MEN Theatre Award for Little Voice was one of my greatest achievements because it was a ‘grown up’ award. Sometimes I just want to go, ‘hello everybody, can I just remind you that this is >> Denise with son Louis
process easy but loves to tell a story and write about what she knows. “For my first biography, a publisher came to me – they knew it would be sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. It was a time of my life where they offered me a lot of money and I was fed up of the press telling my story. Little did I know at the time I was being hacked by Daily Mirror (for seven years). “That first book was a big success, my life was out there. I did a second book called starting over but I felt I hadn’t started over. “I’m really pleased with this latest book, I love writing about the North East.” The book, Calendar Girls and even a return to Loose Women mark a life busier than ever for Denise at 60. “if there’s anything that people ask me on a daily basis it is how have you done it? Stopped drinking, smoking, not put the
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what I do?’” The Calendar Girls tour promises to be the icing on the cake for a great year in this Wilmslow household. “Matthew said to me, let’s be the family that smashes it in 2018!” So we’ve found the version of Denise that she’s properly settled in to. The woman who at 60 is confident on stage, a respected charity advocate, LGBT champion – not to mention happy to pose in a bikini and leave the heavy makeup behind. “I am not obsessed about being a size eight. I’m a 12 and happy. I will have two days a week on 600 calories and eat normally the rest of the time. I post bikini pictures because if one person says they were feeling down about themselves then saw a picture of me and felt better then I’m happy – I will be doing it until I’m 90!”
Pencil it in Kathryn Armstrong caught up with Calendar Girls co-creator Gary Barlow and the cast on the WI’s home territory in Yorkshire. It’s the sunniest day that the Yorkshire Dales can summon, showing the glorious countryside at its absolute best. Sun beats down on pretty Burnsall but it’s the imminent arrival of one Gary Barlow that’s getting this normally sleepy village hot under the collar. A vintage bus, photography lighting kits and film crews suggest this is not your average Monday morning. So too does the abundance of middleaged women sporting black frocks, pearls and sunflowers. They are the Calendar Girls, real and fictional – and this is their home territory. Among their number are the ‘stage’ girls including Denise Welch, Fern Britton and Ruth Madoc. They dash about in character, comfortable with the puzzlement of tourists and locals baffled by the carry on. The ‘real’ Calendar Girls are no strangers to the spotlight – it is 20 years since they created such a stir with their then audacious idea to pose for a risqué nude calendar to raise money for a settee for their local hospital. The calendar and its subsequent success have raised a breathtaking £5 million for the Bloodwise charity, and made these WI cheerleaders global superstars of a kindly sort. They’ve been portrayed on screen by Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie. Today they are meeting up with the latest team who will bring Calendar the Musical on its regional tour from August. Gary Barlow is here for a photo session with the girls along with Tim Firth, his lifelong song-writing friend. Together they’ve created the hit musical Calendar Girls, inspired by the true story of these WI ladies. A musical comedy showing how a group of ordinary ladies achieved something extraordinary. But it’s not all cream buns, innuendo and big laughs as we see during a preview of some of the show’s songs back in the village hall. They tackle the story’s very essence – the loss, sadness and loneliness that lies at the heart the calendar’s beginnings. In the sunflower-laden village hall, the cast and the original girls are joined by Gary and
Tim to talk about the production. This new tour has been tweaked to create a tighter show says Gary: “I know Andrew Lloyd Webber’s still tinkering around with shows that have been on for 30 years. I think that as time moves along, the audience experience changes as well. People want different things from shows.” Looking back at the process of writing the musical Gary recalls: “Everyone always said to me ‘don’t do a musical’, so when Tim came to me and said ‘do you want to do a musical?’ I said ‘no, no, it’s going to be a nightmare.’ He said, ‘no, it doesn’t have to be. If I feed you some lyrics, write some music, over time we’ll get it.’ “But, very cleverly, very early on we came to this village hall, and I can’t tell you how much it all made sense once I’d been in this room and met the girls.” Denise Welch is delighted to be one of those ‘girls’. “I love Gary Barlow”, she laughs, “he’s lovely, just gorgeous.” “There are some people who are so precious about their work but with Gary if you came to him about something and said I’m not happy, he’d just say ‘don’t worry – we’ll change it.’” Never a musical leading lady, Denise says, “I am an actress who can hold a tune. I knew Gary and Tim wanted the songs to come from what’s happening in the play and that’s what appealed to me – also, one of my late, great friends Lynda Bellingham was stalwart of this play.” Denise will play Celia, a spiky former air hostess who admits to having had a boob job – Ceila Imrie’s ‘bigger buns’ role if in the film version. But baring all holds no fears for Denise. In Burnsall she met the ‘real’ Celia who told her; “I’ve always wanted you to play Celia – you’re very naughty like me”, laughs Denise. Calendar Girls Theatre Royal, Newcastle from 18 September 2018 and at Sunderland Empire next year. www.theatreroyal.co.uk www.calendargirlsthemusical.com
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