Matthew Jenkin talks to the irrepressible Su Pollard about returning to her role as Miss Hannigan in Annie, why she's the original Lady Gaga and keeping her former Rear of the Year pert.

Question: You’re starring as Miss Hannigan in Annie at The Churchill Theatre in Bromley next week. She's a character you've played before. What’s brought you back to the role?

Su Pollard: Ooh yes I love it. There’s everything you could really want in this role. You get to do a nice bit of acting, because it’s quite a meaty role and you get to have a lot of fun which comes out of her antics where she’s desperate for male attention.

She’s surrounded by these awful, awful orphans who are just terrible to her. They keep waking her up and Annie keeps trying to escape. So a lot of the humour comes out of her frustration. She also gets a couple of good numbers, so I really relish doing the role, it’s great.

Q: Is it more fun to play the bad guy for a change?

SP: I suppose it really just depends on how well the character is drawn. I liken Annie to a pantomime because you’ve got the protagonist, Annie as Cinderella and Miss Hannigan as the wicked queen. In actual fact it works out quite well for a Christmas piece.

Miss Hannigan can be very strict and awful, but deep down she has a soft side to her and I try to bring that out.

All she’s got in her life is a radio and she just wants a bit of affection, which she hasn’t had in her life before.

That’s where the Jack Daniel’s comes in – she takes solace in the drink. She hides it all round the orphanage.

Q: A lot of readers will know you only from your TV roles in Hi-de-hi etc. but your roots are in stage musicals…

SP: I started off in the school choir and things just went from there. I joined the local amateur group and had a very good teacher there who had been a professional actor. So my love of theatre started then.

When I was a bit older, 12 or 13, I started doing the working men’s clubs. I just happened to get my big break in a TV sitcom, which in turn was fabulous because it was a springboard for me to do other work as well.

I think if you could, it would be great if you could do six months TV and six months theatre. But of course it doesn’t always work like that.

My main concern is doing good work, whether theatre or recording children’s stories or TV stuff.

I turn a lot of stuff down because I don’t think it’s good enough. I don’t want to do I’m A Celebrity, I couldn’t bare it. Can you imagine? The poor darlings would starve because I’m such a wimp.

Q: You’re approaching 61 now. Is it harder to get really great roles the older you get?

SP: I think you’re probably absolutely spot on with that. That’s why it’s really great if you have something under your belt which you can do yourself, like a one woman show, it’s perfect.

You come to a bit of an impasse when you reach your early 50s, so you have to be really careful.

Q: You’re also known for your interesting taste in fashion? You’re quoted as saying you’re the original Lady Gaga…

SP: You know what it’s like darling, if anybody has any imagination at all, male or female, you use it from a young age.

Of course, Gaga is about 27 so when I was her age I was doing the same thing she’s doing now. Fashion comes in cycles. So I call myself Baroness Gaga. (Laughs)

Q: Are you happy your style is finally receiving some recognition?

SP: I think it’s fantastic. I’ve always liked the bizarre, even when I was six or seven. I just had an eye for it. It’s always been less than straightforward.

There always has to be someone who paves the way forward and of course I was absolutely derided by people when I was 18 or 19 because they’d never seen anything like it before. People get nervous at something they’re not used to.

The great thing is, since the 80s and 90s people have become bolder and you’ve only got to see what’s on the catwalk to see that.

I think it’s great because people are realising you don’t have to be so-called normal – anything goes really.

There will always be people in the world who will never understand, but for those who do, I think life is marvellous for people with imagination.

Q: So do you have any meat dresses in your wardrobe?

SP: Oh no, but I did have a vegetable dress once. People made one for me with broccoli on it and things like that. It was so funny.

What I like about Lady Gaga is she’s very tongue in cheek but also quite serious in her intentions. She’s not daft and knows she can get all the publicity she wants. She’s steering her career very well so good luck to her.

Q: In 1988 you won Rear of the Year. How’s your bottom looking now?

SP: I would like to say it’s as trim as it was but I don’t think that’s quite the case. Although I can still get into the jeans which I was wearing so I’m chuffed.

Annie. The Churchill, High Street, Bromley. October 18 to October 23. Call 0844 871 7620 or visit ambassadortickets.com/bromley