Coronation Street Blog Interview: Amanda Barrie

Earlier today I had the great pleasure of chatting with the Queen of the Nile herself, the wonderful Amanda Barrie. It was quite a surreal moment to have Amanda ring me up at home for a chat but it was absolutely joyous. Amanda is best known for appearing in two Carry On films, for her twenty year stint as Alma in Coronation Street and more recent appearances in series like Bad Girls and The Real Marigold Hotel. As well as finding out more about all this, I also wanted to ask Amanda about some her earlier work as a leading lady on the West End stage. 

Here's how I got on...

I wanted to ask about your time working as a dancer with Barbara Windsor and Danny La Rue. What are your memories of that time?

That was back in the 1950s, we did cabaret together! Bryan Blackburn produced a lot of those shows and there was an incredibly high standard with lots of good people. That was how a lot of people like Barbara and Una Stubbs got started and we all went on to do revues in the theatre. Of course the revues don’t happen any more which is a shame.

The cabaret shows were always late at night and people would come and have dinner and sometimes stay up all night and have breakfast! I remember one night staying up talking to Judy Garland’s husband all about race horses. Sometimes I look back and can’t believe it all actually happened. 

 

You appeared in the revue On The Brighter Side with Stanley Baxter and Betty Marsden. What were they like to work with?

I’d known Stanley even before we did the revue. I did a panto up in Glasgow at the Theatre Royal on Hope Street and he was Buttons! He is a great man and very talented. On The Brighter Side had a great cast – people like Pip Hinton, David Kernan, Ronnie Barker, Una Stubbs. Wonderful.

I remember while we were doing the pantomime in Glasgow I ended up in a Police Station! In those days the dancers weren’t listed on the theatre posters and I was caught adding my name to one of them! I was dragged down to the station and made to rub it off!

Six of One saw you work with the great Richard Wattis and Dora Bryan. Were they happy times?

I’ve never laughed so much! It lasted a full year and I think it’s probably the happiest show I have ever been involved in. We once laughed so much that they actually had to bring the curtain down! I was dressed as a daffodil, Dora was a primrose and then Richard Wattis came on a bluebell! We just couldn’t stop laughing and they both ran off and left me on my own! Richard was great and I still miss him. And Dora was such a talented woman.

 

You worked for Stephen Frears in one of the Plays For Today on the BBC. I read that your history as a Carry On actor caused him to think hard on whether to cast you?

Yes that’s absolutely true! The play was Early Struggles with Tom Conti. People had suggested to Stephen that he should see me for the part and he called me and walked round and round and said he’d have to go and think about it overnight as he’d never cast a Carry On actor before! He did subsequently cast me and the play was very good, it was much more serious than some of the other work I was doing at the time and it was good for me. And it’s great to say I’ve worked for Stephen Frears.

I think you starred in two West End runs with the wonderful Paul Eddington. What was he like to work with?

Yes I did two years in the West End with Paul. We did Donkeys’ Years by Michael Frayn and then Absurd Person Singular. I played his wife, he was a good actor and it was such a privilege to work with him. We had the best time and the work we did was equally written and very shared. He was a good friend as well as a colleague and such a nice man. A great loss.

 

You appeared in a revival of Oh Kay! In 1974. How important a role was that for you?

It meant a lot to me personally as I have always been a massive fan of Gertrude Lawrence. Guy Bolton who had written it – he met me and took a lot of convincing to let me go on and do it. I had to prove to him that I was such a fan of hers, that she was my heroine and that it meant so much to me. Once he understood he let me do it. P.G Wodehouse, who co-wrote the book with Bolton, sent me a letter while I was playing in Oh Kay! and he signed it “Plum” which was what he always called himself. I treasured that letter.

My comedy heroine is Joan Sims. Are you a fan of her work?

Oh yes, she was such a good actress. She was so underrated but she had the ability to do anything. Joan was a fine actress. She could have gone and worked at the National Theatre. 

 

I think she was quite insecure, despite all her talent.

Yes a lot of actors are – they have a love/hate relationship with acting and the insecurities and lack of confidence can plague them.

I understand you got on very well with both Sid James and Charles Hawtrey while you were making Carry On Cleo?

I loved Sid! Again, we just laughed all the time when we worked together. He was great to work with as was Charles. Charles Hawtrey kept bringing me in bits of food as he always worried I wasn’t eating enough. I was rushing around filming Cleo in the day and performing in She Loves Me in the West End at night so I didn’t have a lot of time. He kept bringing me in pieces of haddock for my dinner but I never got around to eating it! I think Cleo actually stands up pretty well as a film in its own right, even after all these years. It’s got a brilliant script and we had all the sets and costumes from Cleopatra so it looks like a big budget film. I saw some of it when it was on television last weekend and I thought it stood up well.

 

You went off to the Bristol Old Vic after making Cleo. Would you have liked to have made more Carry Ons?

You’ve done your homework! Yes by that stage I’d done quite a few bits and pieces for the people who made the Carry Ons and I’d done other films like them…

You made a Doctor film (Doctor in Distress) and films like A Pair of Briefs…

A Pair of Briefs! All the classics…Operation Bullshine! Yes I could probably have done more Carry Ons as I was becoming known to them and I think they wanted me to come back but in those days the Carry Ons weren’t thought of as anything special. You couldn’t do them and be seen as a serious actor. So my agent packed me off to the Bristol Old Vic to do proper acting and it was probably a good thing.

Your first Coronation Street scenes were with Pat Phoenix as the legendary Elsie Tanner. How was that?

Terrifying! Even though I’d worked in films and television and been a leading lady in the West End I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was acting opposite “Elsie Tanner”! I think the characters in Coronation Street are so strong that after a while the actor and the character merged into one and that’s how it was with her. She had played her so long by that point, she just was Elsie.

The other one I loved was Doris Speed who played Annie Walker. I had such admiration for her, she was a lesson on how to deliver those speeches and her timing was wonderful. She would go down the corridor next to me and ask me if she had odd coloured socks on! She was lovely.

 

I loved your rapport with Sue Nicholls who plays Audrey. What was she like to work with?

I absolutely love Sue, she’s a great actress and a lovely person to be with. We had such fun and I remember we always wanted to do more comedy between Alma and Audrey but it didn’t work out like that which is a shame. She was with me all the time when Alma was dying towards the end, we worked together a lot at that time. I always laugh when they repeat that episode of Alma going as Audrey wasn’t there, she was late and when she finally gets there Alma’s gone and all you can see is the tip of my nose as I’m lying there!  I loved working with Sue and Helen Worth who plays Gail. Barbara Knox (Rita) and Eileen Derbyshire (Emily) were also lovely and great to work with. I still think Barbara could have been one of our biggest music stars, she’s so talented.

One of my all-time favourites was Jill Summers who played Phyllis Pearce. What was she like to work with?

I’ll always remember coming on set with Jill and she’d recently been quite unwell. All of a sudden she grabbed my arm and said “Amanda! I’m going! I think I’m going!” I asked her where and she said she thought she was dying! I said she couldn’t die as we had a scene to do and I wouldn’t let her go in the chair! Oh, I thought I’d never work again after that! And the director Brian Mills didn’t know anything about what was going on at the time! She was something else!

At this point Amanda does an uncanny impersonation of the gravel-voiced Jill Summers which takes me some time to get over! 

 

Jill was a great actress though, very real. She had quite a history, she’d been a stand up comic and done all sorts of work, she was very experienced. She was quite well to do, I don’t think she needed to work but she loved it. She used to come up to my dressing room and pester me to come down because we could get a free meal at the local French restaurant! She was a real character.

I went to see her in hospital a few days before she died. Her last words in hospital before she did die were typical. The nurse had asked if she wanted a drop of brandy and she said no. Then she was offered a cup of tea and she said no. Finally the nurse offered her some water. Jill replied “It gets better, doesn’t it”.

I remember a scene you did with Jill in the café. She was talking about getting older and how she’d once been young and gorgeous and how nowadays she looked in the mirror and didn’t recognise herself.

Yes I remember doing that scene! She was wonderful. I’d forgotten how much I’d worked with her in it, but it all tends to merge together because there was so much.

 

Do you keep in touch with people from Coronation Street?

Mainly Helen Worth and Sue Nicholls because I knew them best while I was in the show. Helen came to my wedding. I invited Sue but she was busy working. I keep up with what they are doing and make sure they are all still in it. They do such a good job.

Finally, what’s coming up next for you?

Well The Real Marigold Hotel is going out at the moment. It was a great show to do and I’m still in touch with everyone who was on it with me. I rescued a stray dog while I was in India. You’ll see Poppy in the last episode. I couldn’t bring her home with me but we got her checked out and treated and rehomed.

I recently received an Icon Award for outstanding achievement from Attitude Magazine. Paul O’Grady presented me with it and I was so proud! When I wrote about my private life in my autobiography I didn’t know what people would think but I needed to do it. It was so hard while I was in Coronation Street because the press were always after a story and it made it very difficult. But look how things have changed even in the past decade.

Will you be back in Benidorm?

Yes I’m in an episode of the new series, as Psychic Sue again. It was good to be back and working with Sherrie Hewson again. I’ve also been to Tel Aviv to do the most outrageous series for a new online channel called Black Pearl. There are twenty short television episodes and some of the material was outrageous! I ended up in bed with a drag queen, he’s a big star over there and it was quite a big deal! I’ve also filmed a series called Bus Pass Bandits which was me and Henry Blofeld in Soho! That was a hoot and he’s become another good friend.

And you’ve been causing controversy on morning television! 

Yes, I didn’t realise saying “shit-hot” was a swear word! And anyway I was shit-hot on that Segway! 

I had an absolute ball talking with Amanda. She has long been one of my heroines and she was just as funny, entertaining and delightful as I'd hoped she would be. I'd like to thank her very much for giving me a ring on a wet Monday in February - it brightened up my day. And i'll be holding her to the offer of a drink or two in Covent Garden! 

You can follow me on Twitter @GraemeN82

This interview was originally published on Carry On Blogging

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Amanda Barrie in Tea For Two: My Review

This blog was originally posted over at Carry On Blogging

Here's a bit of a blog exclusive! As regular readers of Carry On Blogging will know, I have a real soft spot for Amanda Barrie. She is a fantastic actress, equally adept at comedy and drama. I loved her in both the Carry Ons and as Alma in Coronation Street. She has been a star of stage and screen for decades now and thankfully shows no sign of slowing down!

As I blogged earlier, Amanda has recently teamed up with Only Fools and Horses actor John Challis to star in a rather unique short film. The film, Tea For Two, has been written and directed by Mark Brennan and is a joint venture between Pork Chop Pictures and Mini Productions. I was intrigued at the prospect of the film, which tells the tale of a retired couple who run a tea shop in an idyllic English village. As the film progresses, their behaviour becomes increasingly ... interesting! 

After I blogged about Tea For Two, Mark Brennan very kindly tweeted me and offered me the chance to view the film, which as yet, is not available to the general public. It was an honour to watch Tea for Two and I'm extremely grateful to Mark for sharing his fine work with me. 

Now, obviously I can't give too much away about the film itself, but it does contain some brilliant performances. John Challis and Amanda Barrie are both on excellent form and have great chemistry as the lead characters, Jim and Alice. Amanda in particular is an absolute joy, proving once again just what a gifted comedienne she is. We really need to see a lot more of these two on screen! John and Amanda's comic timing, delivery and facial expressions are hilarious and prove they are still at the top of their game. 

I have always thought capturing an interesting and surprising story in the short film format was particularly challenging but Tea For Two manages it well. It is sweet and charming without being sickly. It harks back to the golden age of British comedy but it still puts a quirky spin on the genre and it never fails to surprise! The ending is quite unusual. The film is also really nicely shot. 

There is also terrific support from three young actors - William Postlethwaite, Abigail Parmenter and James Hamer-Morton. 

The world premiere of Tea For Two will be at the Portland Film Festival next month, so keep your eyes peeled for more on this charming little film. 

I really enjoyed watching this and I wish everyone connected with the production every success. It deserves to do very well indeed.

You can view a trailer at the 'Tea For Two' website .

Pork Chop Pictures are on Twitter @PorkChopPics

Mini Productions are on Twitter @Mini_Prods

And you can follow the stars @BeingBoycie and @amandabarrie11

You can follow me on Twitter @GraemeN82 and @CarryOnJoan

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Coronation Street's Carry On Connections

Our blogger Graeme has another blogging passion in life and that's writing about Carry On films.  I have to admit I'm a big fan of the films too. Graeme has now created his own Carry On Blog, so do check it out as it's rather fab.

In honour of Graeme's blogging work on both Coronation Street and Carry On, he says: "I thought I would cobble together (do you see what I did there?!) a blog on Coronation Street's Carry On links. When I started thinking about actors who had appeared in both long-running British institutions there were a few who immediately came to mind, so we'll start with them."

One of the most famous and popular of them all must be the gorgeous Amanda Barrie. Amanda, best known for playing Cafe owner and all round good egg Alma Sedgewick on and off for twenty years also starred in two Carry Ons in the early 1960s. She first of all appeared as Glam Cab driver Anthea in Cabby and then returned in 1964 to play Cleopatra in the classic Carry On Cleo. Amanda's Corrie character has always been one of my favourites and I love her link to the Carry Ons too.

For most of her time in Corrie, Amanda was partnered with another actor who appeared in several Carry Ons. Johnny Briggs, who played cockney wide boy, factory boss and general love rat Mike Baldwin for 30 years, had a long career in British film and telly before he even arrived in Weatherfield. He took three small roles in Carry On films, starting with "Sporran Soldier' (!) in the classic Carry On Up The Khyber in 1968. He then returned for further cameos in Carry On Behind (1975) playing a painter and again in Carry On England the following year playing Captain Melly's driver. Briggs also cropped up in the film version of Bless This House in 1972, which came from the Rogers and Thomas stable and featured several Carry On actors.

The lovely Sherrie Hewson, now starring in Benidorm on ITV began her career with the Carry On films. The actress, who played Maureen Naylor (Holdsworth) in Corrie for four years in the 1990s, played Carol opposite Carol Hawkins' Sandra in Carry On Behind. Sherrie also appeared in several episodes of Carry On Laughing, a less successful attempt to take the Carry On films into television in 1975.

Those were the three actors who immediately came to mind, but the more I thought about it the more links sprang up. Bernard Cribbins, a wonderful star in many classic British films and television, played Blanche Hunt's boyfriend Wally Bannister in Corrie back in 2003. Bernard was also a star of three Carry On films, Jack in 1963, Spying (opposite Barbara Windsor) in 1964 and then the truly dreadful Columbus in 1992. Another Carry On actor who appeared in a Corrie cameo was comedy legend June Whitfield. June appeared in a few episodes back in 2010 when her character arrived in Weatherfield to tell the Barlow family that Blanche had passed away. This storyline was created to pay tribute to actress Maggie Jones who had sadly died the year before. June famously appeared in four Carry Ons, Nurse, Abroad, Girls (as the gloriously named Augusta Prodworthy) and finally Columbus.

Going back further into the mists of time, the wonderful actor Kenneth Cope, probably most famous for is role in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), played Jed Stone in Coronation Street for several years in the 1960s, returning for a short stint in 2008. Kenneth was smashing in two Carry On films made in the early 1970s - At Your Convenience as union rep Vic Spanner and then later that year as Cyril Carter in Carry On Matron. Also from this period in Corrie history, but sadly an appearance I've never seen, popular Carry On leading lady Angela Douglas is said to have appeared in Corrie for just one episode as a stripper romantically involved with Dennis Tanner. If anyone can verify this I'd be grateful!

I adored Betty Driver who played barmaid Betty Turpin in Corrie for over forty years. Did you know that Bill Kenwright, who played her on-screen son Gordon Clegg, also cropped up in a Carry On film? Kenwright, now more well known for being Chairman of Everton football club and a highly successful theatre impresario, played a newspaper reporter in Carry On Matron. This appearance would have come after his original stint in Corrie.

Now we are starting to stretch the links a bit, but did you know that infamous Corrie killer Richard Hillman has a Carry On connection? Although never appearing in a Carry On film, actor Brian Capron appeared in the minor role of a Trumpeter in two episodes of Carry On Laughing, broadcast in 1975. Apparently actress Rosalind Knight, who played Nurse Nightingale in Carry On Nurse and Felicity Wheeler in Teacher has also appeared in Corrie in the early 1980s, but again I've not seen this performance.

Finally, who can forget Maureen Lipman playing temporary Rovers Return landlady in 2002? Maureen was cast after Julie Goodyear's much heralded return hit some problems. Maureen of course, appeared in the dire Carry On Columbus in 1992. A tenuous link to Carry On, but a link nonetheless!

One final Carry On Corrie link of sorts. On reading Liz Fraser's excellent autobiography a couple of years back, I was interested to hear that she had been offered a part in Coronation Street back in the 1970s. Now I have no idea how far this went or what part could have been offered to her but wouldn't it have been interesting to see the former Carry On star appear in Weatherfield?

So there you go, a few interesting links between two of my all time favourite British institutions. I'm bound to have missed some out, so if you can think of any do get in touch!

You can follow Graeme's Carry On site on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also Facebook

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