Actress, singer, and theatre performer Su Pollard – most commonly known for her role in the 1980 ‧ Sitcom Hi-de-Hi! – made her first foray into cookery when appearing on MasterChef last year. We spoke to Su ahead of Didcot Food Festival which she will be opening, about her experience on MasterChef, her food obsessions and her first big role – Angel Gabriel’s assistant in the nativity.
Can you tell us a bit about your involvement in this year’s Didcot food festival?
Well, I did this one-woman cabaret show recently with a Q&A and lovely Bill Buckley came, and he went, Su, I’ve got something that you might be interested in. A friend of his, Chris Wallace – who does the Didcot Food Festival and was a contestant in Bake Off – passed the details on about it. She rang me and asked if I would come and open it so I said of course. I’ve never really done anything like this – I’ve been to agricultural shows; my mum and my dad used to live around Lincolnshire so I’ve been around to all sorts of little food fetes in small towns, but this seems to me to be quite a big and popular event.
So, your involvement in the food industry began with MasterChef, did it?
Yes, I’ve always been interested in food, and I’ve been lucky enough to get work in places all over the world, so it’s been fabulous to try all the local produce but as far as actually being interested in cooking, it’s extremely basic. Fish in Bacofoil, with lemon slices on top – that is as far as my interest in cooking has gone so when they said to me in the first lockdown, that they wanted me to do MasterChef, I thought, this is as good a time as any to learn. You know what though darling, it was quite scary. Very stressful. There were all these terminologies I had to learn, I had to get myself some measuring spoons because I was like, what’s a third of a flipping tablespoon? I even brought a new frying pan that cost me £35 because I didn’t have one, I only had a wok they said you can’t just keep cooking in a wok Su. I spent £200 on herbs and spices because I’d never heard of these these ‘golden threads’ that is saffron – it burned a golden hole in my pocket darling. It’s not flipping cheap, cooking.
£200 on spices?! That’s a lot.
You know what though, I was really pleased that I did because apparently, they don't go off for quite a while. Anyway, I rehearsed all my dishes about eight times because I think unless you’re a regular you don’t really do it often enough to get the confidence to do something in 15 minutes instead of an hour.
Especially not meals you've never made before – I think quite often you go for what you know.
Oh yes, I would agree with that. The whole process of making a tagine or whatever, for the first time, makes you wonder whether you can be bothered. Why don’t I just pop the fish in the Baco again? One great thing is, that I kept all my recipes in a book, not just my own but I also got some from the others on the show, so I now have a fabulous array of recipes that I can use for the rest of my life. It was a great experience but tiring, I have great respect for chefs, and I also have great respect for commis chefs because that’s the killer, they have to do all the hard graft don’t they?
Do you have a food obsession at the moment?
Oh yes, and it’s dead simple it's John Torode’s chickpea salad. Another thing is butternut squash wrapped in bacon. It’s dead simple again, apart from the prep – I’ve lost the will to even talk that bit. Once you’ve got that great big knife through the butternut squash and got all the seeds out, you cut it into square cubes and so that you know you can eat them in one bite, you put it in your mouth and if it’s easy to put in then you know it’s a good size.
That’s a good shout but you can’t do it with all of them.
No that’s true! Anyway, you wrap your bacon around it and then you put maple syrup and it’s the most marvellous – what I call – light patio bite.
That does sound good.
I never ever thought in my entire life Ellie, that I’d be sat here talking to you about butternut squash and bacon. It’s never too late to learn.
You've got a comedy career that spans over 40 years, what are the main ways you think that the comedy scene has changed in this time?
I would say sadly everything has to be analysed and nothing can be spontaneous. We might laugh at someone in the street who falls down in a puddle after they’ve just had their hair done, I mean that makes me laugh but that doesn't mean to say I’m laughing at them in a malicious way. It happens in life for goodness sake – just let comedy be and don’t overanalyse. I just think if something’s funny then something’s funny and I don’t like it when other people make a judgment on what should be funny. I do understand as well that for a lot of writers, everything seems to have been done, every subject that you can possibly laugh at has seemingly been exhausted now, so where does one get the material from?
Did you always want to go into the career you have?
Oh yes absolutely. When I was six, I was in a nativity play and I was the Angel Gabriel’s assistant – I wasn't too happy with the assistant title, I think I should have been the Angel. Anyway, I was supposed to be on some sort of a plinth and my line was ‘Mary, fear not! The Angel Gabriel will deliver to you a child.’ Sadly the plinth was a not-very-well-reinforced cardboard box, and one of my feet went through just at the vital moment. I still laugh at it now. Everyone laughed but I don’t think they were being malicious, and I liked this feeling of making people laugh, so then I carried on. I was at the amateurs, and then I went to the Co-op Arts Theatre. Sherrie Hewson was there from Benidorm and Peter Bowles went there as well so we had quite a nice alumni. Then I did working men’s clubs and musicals and things and then I was lucky enough to get a full equity card which means you can appear in the Westend if you’re fortunate enough. At this point, of course, I got to meet David [Croft] and Jimmy [Perry] and that was when my fortunes changed. I’ve been very fortunate to work ever since then, and to have learnt a lot along the way. You can’t expect to come in and find fame and fortune – it doesn't work like that unless you’re very lucky. You have to learn your craft and show up. This is what I say to the young people today, I say, darling, be prepared to graft. You have to do your homework and you have to be reliable.
I guess we can thank that flimsy cardboard box for your career then.
I think we can! All from humble beginnings.
If you could have one person in the world over for dinner, who would it be and what would you cook for them?
It would be my mum who's not with us anymore. She always appreciated everything you did for her and it would be (although I’m not very good at it) Shepard’s pie because she would love it.
What’s something that helps you perk yourself up if you’re feeling down?
A smile. Just keep smiling because if you smile it does seriously create endorphins. It’s the greatest thing in the world and when you smile – even if it's forced – it becomes easier. I look in the mirror and I think, while I might not feel happy today, I am really. Just keep smiling, I think that’s the simplest act.
