After an apprenticeship at the Arts Theatre in her home town of Nottingham, Su made her television debut on Opportunity Knocks where she came second to a singing Jack Russell dog.
Undeterred she went on to appear in national tours of The Desert Song, Rose Marie (both with John Hanson), Grease, Babes in Arms, a musical based on the music of Cole Porter Oh Mr Porter and Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s West End production of Godspell. She has also taken the title role in the musical Sweet Charity. Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, and Sally in Me and My Girl at the Adelphi, London. As well as a career in musicals, Su has appeared in many plays most notably creating the part of Suzette in the phenomenally successful farce Don’t Dress For Dinner in the West End and on tour both in the UK and New Zealand. She also toured New Zealand in The Good Sex Guide Musical Revue (all in the best possible taste)!
She first appeared on the BBC playing hippy Flo in Two up, Two Down with Paul Nicholas but is of course best known for playing Peggy Ollerenshaw, the Down-trodden chalet made in Hi-De-Hi! This series was so successful that it won a BAFTA award and resulted in a sell-out musical stage show which played seasons in Bournemouth, Blackpool and at the Victoria Palace in the West End. The writers of Hi-De-Hi- Jimmy Perry and David Croft - then wrote the very popular You Rang M’Lord? In which Su played domestic servant Ivy for four series. Su was reunited with her friends Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland in David Croft’s railway comedy Oh Doctor Beeching playing station busybody Ethel.
In addition, Su has guest starred on Virtually every notable light entertainment show of the last twenty-five years. She has also taken part in five Royal Variety Galas, in the process meeting nearly all the members of the Royal Family and in 1989 she was honoured as the subject of this This Is Your Life. Su also lent her voice to the very popular animated children’s series Penny Crayon, Jemima Puddleduck and Nasty Amelia-Jane. She also loved doing an episode of Jackanory - the cult story telling show.
Pantomime is a great favourite with Su and she has appeared as principal boy in Babes in the Woods, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Dick Whittington and Jack and the Beanstalk. For the last few years Su has Been Playing the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
As a cabaret artist Su has performed at the London Hippodrome and twice aboard the QE2. She also took her act to New York where she played the Park Ten Club, Park Avenue. She toured nationally with The Su Pollard Show which was followed by a season in the Donmar Warehouse in her one-woman show A Song, A Frock and a Tinkle. This was so successful that once more Su toured throughout the country. The Daily Express described her as “The best one woman show comedienne since Joyce Grenfell”.
Su wrote her first book Hearts and Showers, a light-hearted look at romance, which was published bu Headline and made a keep-fit video entitled Sensible Slimming (although she says it’s hard practising what she preaches)
On the recording scene, Su has recorded cast albums of Big Sin City. Carousel, Hi-De-Hi and Little Shop Of Horrors, She was also requested by Sir Cameron Mackintosh to record a song from Godspell for a special album tribute to his career. Su’s single Starting Together reached number two in the charts and her first album went silver. One of the highlights of Su’s varied career was her debut at the Royal Festival Hall, singing with the 80 strong BBC concert Orchestra. The concert was broadcast live on BBC radio 2 and her performance received great acclaim. Su has also released a retrospective DC entitled Su Pollard-The Collection.
Click on the image above to listen to Starting Together
Stage roles have included new Jimmy Perry musical That’s Showbiz, a national tour of the farce See How They Run, Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus in the Far East, Angie in Mike Leigh’s comedy Abigail’s Party and more recently Ruth in the Pirates of Penzance. In the summer of 2003 Su enjoyed a tour of the Vagina Monologues, she also played Ellen in A Happy Medium, Romeo and Juliette and Menopause The Musical.
Other television credits are as diverse as ever, Playing Heidi Honeycomb in Gimme Gimme Gimme opposite Kathy Burkes, lending her voice to the role of Noisy in the New animation series The Little Robots for CBBC and a special edition of Songs of Praise. She has taken partin a 1980’s edition of the Weakest Link, Stars Reunited (Hi-De-Hi), The Paul O'Grady Show, Loose Women and This Morning
Su has also played the part of The Wicked Miss Hannigan on tour of the musical ANNIE!