Wisdom of Pearl

Feb 5 2003 By Val Javin, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Juliette Kaplan as Pearl

She's been playing Last of The Summer Wine battleaxe Pearl for over 20 years. And now Juliette Kaplan is bringing her small-screen alter ego to the stage in Huddersfield. She told VAL JAVIN all about it.

THE voice, low pitched and husky, was instantly familiar. But the greeting wasn't.

"Are you alright to talk to me while I'm in the bath? I'll try not to splash."

Then there are fits of giggles at either end of the phone as we both break up laughing. Well have you tried completing your interview before the water gets cold?

Meet Juliette Kaplan, alias Pearl the no-nonsense wife of downtrodden Howard in the much-loved, long running TV comedy, Last Of The Summer Wine, and a great comic, even on the phone.

I'd called to check out a tip I'd been given. Was it true that stern-faced Pearl, she of the beret, the granny specs and sensible shoes (matching haircut obviously not optional) was to reveal all - in a manner of speaking?

True indeed. Soon you'll have the chance to meet Juliette, offering Pearls of wisdom on why that woman treats that man like she does.

I can hear sympathetic wives (and their husbands) taking sides already. But wait until you've heard Pearl's side of the story.

So what prompted Juliette, who has been playing Pearl for more than 20 years, to try and give us a different take on the woman whose treatment of Howard, the heart-throb in a tatty cardi, has us all wincing weekly on Sundays.

The urge to come clean and reveal all about Pearl started on a cruise.

"Every so often I do cruises where I talk about Summer Wine and about Pearl. I call it `Confessions of a wino.'