Theatre and Dance

As patron of the Gordon Craig Theatre Club in Stevenage, Vicki Michelle is a well-recognised face at the venue and has appeared in a number of plays there as well as regularly meeting theatregoers.

However, she is also well-known for her appearances in all nine series of the hit 80s TV comedy Allo Allo. It’s therefore highly appropriate that a national tour of the stage show of the comedy is starting at the Gordon Craig, with Vicki, some 20 years on, reprising her role as cheeky French maid Yvette who had a hankering for French café owner Renee!

We caught up with her during rehearsals to find out how it was going, and why being patron of the theatre club is so important to her.

Saucy attire - Vicki in Allo Allo!

You are the Patron of the Gordon Craig Theatre Club in Stevenage, how did this come about?

Vicki: I’ve done several plays at the Gordon Craig and I always thought that they were lovely people. We always used to have drinks with friends of the theatre afterwards and have chats and things and then someone asked me if I’d like to be the Patron. I was very flattered and of course said 'yes'. And I’ve been involved ever since!

They’re a wonderful bunch of people and they make sure that the theatre is well attended and everyone enjoys themselves.

People come to the club and have drinks afterwards so it’s a social thing as well. And it’s keeping theatre alive, we need these sorts of groups over the country really. There are quite a few that support their theatres and it’s really important to keep theatre alive.

So it’s important to you to do things like this?

Vicki: Yes, because it’s part of our heritage and with so much television we need people to go to the theatre. And when they do go, they realise they like it and they decide to go again. I think that 'Allo Allo' (the stage show) could be one of those shows that brings people back into the theatre. People who aren’t normally theatregoers will come and see the show and could get hooked on live theatre and it will be fabulous!

Yes - you are starring in the stage version of 'Allo Allo' on tour. You and 'Allo Allo' are synonymous with each other, but are you reprising the same role as you played in the TV series?

Vicki: Yes, I’m going to be playing Yvette. There was talk at one time of me maybe doing Madame Edith but Jeremy Lloyd, one of the writers said 'no - people love you as Yvette, how can you play another character?!'

Was it an easy decision to make to come back into this role?

Vicki: It was one of those things where I thought – 'Oh, we’ve done it so I probably won’t do that any more', but then the opportunity came up. I think it’s because we did 'The Return of Allo Allo' for BBC2 which was so successful and people so loved it and I thought that the general public would like to see this again. Then I went to see the producer Ed O’Driscoll who toured a production of Dad’s Army which I went to see. If I didn’t know better I would have thought they were the same actors and I thought they’ve done this fantastically. I thought that if he does the same with 'Allo Allo' it’s going to be fantastic because it’s a brilliant and very, very funny script. It’s like a long episode of 'Allo Allo' but with lots of bits and pieces added – it’s pure comedy all the way through.

Is it the same as the West End version from about 20 years ago that you were also in?

Vicki: Yes it is – with a few tweaks! If you want to come out and just have a laugh and if you enjoy 'Allo Allo', it’s just a great show.

Gorden with Kim Hartman, Sue Hodge

The Return to 'Allo Allo' on BBC2 was with much of the same cast, so what's it like with different people in the cast? Do they feel intimidated by you because you’ve done it before?

Vicki: I think probably when we first started they thought they might be intimidated but they are so good all of them that it’s amazing. Jeffrey Holland is playing Renee and he’s fantastic in the part. He’s got that sort of look about him. Judy Buxton is playing Michelle of the Resistance and she’s terrific and we’ve got all these other actors as well.

It’s quite spooky because I think they’ve studied the characters and a lot of them sound exactly like the characters. We’ve got a great team and they’re all very strong – so I’m a bit intimidated now!

How are you finding slipping back into Yvette?

Vicki: It’s easy! I found this out when we did 'The Return of Allo Allo' - you put on the costume and it just happens! And the daunting thing is that because I did it for so long – the stage show as well – I know all the lines! I don’t have to look at the book and I’m doing other people’s lines as well, so when they dry I tell them what they say!

Obviously we’ve got a new director, Robert Carlton, and he’s excellent but he’s putting me in different places. The brain goes back to how you did it originally and what your moves were and all of a sudden you’re doing different moves. In some ways that’s harder because I was used to doing it the other way, but it’s good and it’s keeping me on my toes.

And also I’m doing it with different people and they’re delivering the lines differently so I will react to them differently! So it’s all new and quite exciting.

The TV series had huge audiences, what do you think made it so popular?

Vicki: Well firstly, it was brilliantly written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. When we read the first script they ever did – the pilot – it was just hysterical, we laughed out loud.

Secondly, it’s a family show. The whole family watched it – mums and dads, grans and granddads, and kids. They watched it all together. A lot of people in their 20s come up to me now and say they loved 'Allo Allo' and I think they’re too young, not realising that these people grew up with it.

I also think it was excellently cast and people had their favourites within the show. And it made you laugh out loud. You didn’t have to think to laugh – you just laughed instinctively and that was one of its joys.

So it was really a lot of ingredients?

Vicki: Yes – everything just worked. I mean Renee was the most unlikely sex symbol and with Madame Edith, they were going to get someone who could sing very well but they loved Carmen Silvera and said 'can you sing?' but she said that she couldn't hold a tune in a bucket so they thought it might work! So we had someone who thought they could sing but couldn't and it worked too!

Was it a happy show to make?

Vicki: Yes it was, we all enjoyed it so much. There’s nothing like being involved in a successful comedy show and the general public loved it as well. All of the actors were all lovely people, a joy to work with and were very good in their jobs but when we got together we were all like naughty children and we used to get up to lots of japes (as Richard Gibson would say!). But yes it was a happy show!

And it’s still on TV now isn't it?

Vicki: Yes – they’re showing it on BBC 1 on Sundays and it’s got good viewing figures again, and new younger people are being introduced to it.

You don't seem to get these family type shows on TV anymore do you?

Vicki: No, I’ve got an 18-year-old daughter and there are very few shows that you can watch together, except maybe things like X-Factor, which is a bit like Opportunity Knocks!

The whole family can come and watch this then?

Vicki: Yes. And at the moment, with talk about the credit crunch and things, if people just want to come out and have a good laugh and forget about their worries, this is the show to see!

Allo Allo is on at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage from the 29th of August to the 6th of September.