`I'm there like an off-duty drag queen'

May 28 2004 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Footballers Wives actress Alison Newman, on stage in Huddersfield on Saturday June 5, talked to JENNY PARKIN about life on set with Zoe Lucker - and smoking 20 cigarettes before 11am

THE LADIES of Footballers Wives tend to be blonde, tawny-skinned beauties.

Except for ball-breaking lesbian sports agent turned club chairman Hazel Bailey.

Actress Alison Newman says: "They're all so gorgeous and I'm there like an off-duty drag queen.

"When we filmed in Thailand it was great - I was there for two weeks with only five scenes to do, but I wasn't allowed to sunbathe. I had to make sure I was deathly-pale."

The 36-year-old Londoner stars in The Vagina Monologues at the Lawrence Batley Theatre on Saturday, June 5, at 5.30pm and 8.30pm, alongside former EastEnder Hannah Waterman and up-and-coming actress Stephanie Street.

It'll be her last performance of Eve Ensler's ground-breaking show after a run of dates around Britain.

And she's looking forward to starting filming the fourth series of ITV1's glitzy drama Footballers Wives with her friend, Huddersfield's own Zoe Lucker.

Work gets under way on location at the end of June and continues until November.

Alison says: "I actually share a dressing room with Zoe and it's tiny.

"People think we must have a huge Winnebago each but we actually share a little caravan that's jam-packed with all Tanya's designer outfits. I tend to have one suit hanging up and that's it.

"She's always got a huge box of bling. The jewellery collection is amazing. I get so jealous - I try to get more bling for me, too.

"Zoe and me always have a great laugh, we know if we've got a scene together, it'll be fun."

Alison admits she had an inkling that the show would be huge when she came on board for the first series.

She says: "Brian Park, the executive producer, did some really radical things with Coronation Street and Emmerdale, so I knew it was going to be good.

"But what's surprised me is how the chattering classes have taken to it - The Guardian and The Observer are huge fans."

Everyone, it seems, loves Footballers Wives, except the Archbishop of Cantebury who hit out about social morals, or lack of.

"I love the Archbish," says Alison. "And he's absolutely right. But Footballers Wives isn't designed as a manual for how to live your life. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Every week you're watching rich, gorgeous people mess up."

Like superbitch Tanya Turner, tough-talking Hazel is never seen without a cigarette.

Alison says: "I'm a smoker myself - and so is Zoe - but it can be really tough going through 20 cigarettes by 11am in a morning's filming.

"I can't help dragging on mine but Zoe's very clever. She'll resist.

"When it's time to cut, the cigs are stubbed out. And when the cameras roll again, you get another one chopped down to the right length, for continuity."

Alison, whose partner is a graphic designer, continues: "I think in America actors get extra money for having to smoke, with it being a risky thing to do. But we just see it as our choice."

Before she's back on TV, there's the matter of what's being dubbed Britain's funniest and sexiest show.

It's based on stories gathered by 200 women on normally taboo topics like birth, sex, orgasms and relationships.

High-profile cast members in the long-running show have included Kate Winslet, Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson, Whoopi Goldberg, Calista Flockhart, Danii Minogue, Ruby Wax, Jerry Hall, Sophie Dahl, Honor Blackman and Maureen Lipman.

"More than anything, it's just really funny," says Alison. "There's the three of us sitting on stools with microphones. There's a bit of banter and we tell these amazing stories.

"Our audiences are mainly women, there are plenty of laughs of recognition, but we love to see men there, too. It's definitely not a man-hating show."

* For tickets call 01484 430528. A proportion of the seat price goes to women's charities.