‘Tim is my Twitter hero’ (From The Northern Echo)

‘Tim is my Twitter hero’

2:24pm Thursday 24th March 2011 in Features By Viv Hardwick

Denise Welch talks to Viv Hardwick about that Dancing On Ice spat and going on tour to Tyneside.

IT didn’t quite all end in tears, but Denise Welch’s departure from TV’s Dancing On Ice went down as one of the small screen highlights of 2011… complete with husband Tim Healy clashing with show judge Jason Gardiner.

The 52-year-old, Ebchester-born, actress says she’s put Mr Gardiner’s antics behind her now and is preparing for Torvill and Dean’s Dancing On Ice 2011 UK tour visit to Newcastle next month.

In fact it was probably better to have left the popular TV version when she did, because busy Welch reveals she didn’t have time left for double ice dance rehearsals.

“I was thrilled because it was exactly the right time to have come out. Tim went up very bravely to tell Jason Gardiner that I was doing four jobs… and being a mum makes five. The four Tim meant were Dancing On Ice – where I only had another week before starting rehearsals for the tour – then Loose Women as always, an appearance in Casualty and the pilot for a sitcom.”

Congratulations are particularly due to Welch for flying the flag for the over-fifties and getting further in the competition than she expected.

“My God, you’re not kidding. I got much further than I thought I would. I’ve loved everything about being on the ice and I couldn’t have had a better skating partner than Matt (Evers) who is now a friend.

That’s why I’m doing the tour because I will be able to have Matt as my partner. I know I wouldn’t have been able to manage things like props the following week, so it was like someone was watching over me as the week to have gone out.

“I’m really proud to have flown the flag for the region and for everyone aged over- 50. The number of people who have stopped me and said they’ve been inspired by it is fantastic. Older people are taking up skating and thinking ‘if she can lose that weight, then we can as well if we do ice skating’.”

Welch managed to take a stone-and-ahalf off and has added another fascinating chapter to a career which has taken her from a West End musical to legendary North-East-set series like Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Byker Grove and Spender to household name in Soldier Soldier, Coronation Street and Loose Women.

Talking about her new sitcom, which is called Semi-Detached, Welch says: “It’s written by Phil Mealey, who also wrote The Royle Family and Early Doors, and it’s a pilot for the BBC. We’ll have to see whether it will be commissioned or not. I don’t think I can reveal too much of the plot, although I think it’s very funny and I’ve always wanted to work for the team behind this project.

“Then I’m doing a guest lead in Casualty for two episodes. In Casualty, I’m playing a lorry driver called Goldie who is quite a glamorous trucker I have to say. She hasn’t seen her son for ten years, and there’s a reason she hasn’t. She’s torn between being horrified about what her son has done and the natural love of a mother. So it’s quite a heavy storyline and a complete contrast to the sitcom,” Welch explains.

At one stage, she was filming Casualty in Bristol one day and then travelling up to Manchester for the sitcom the next.

“Luckily I’d got somebody driving me, otherwise I’d definitely have fallen asleep at the wheel. I’ve also still got to do a little bit of skating for the final of Dancing On Ice on Sunday,” she laughs.

So how proud of Geordie husband Tim is she?

“Very proud, I nearly died on live television when I saw him walking towards Jason. But he said it was a knee-jerk reaction having sat through weeks of Jason clearly having a go at me. I can take it on the chin from Jason Gardiner. It doesn’t worry me at all, although I had a pop back for what he said about Tim. Tim has become a hero on Twitter.

“He knew how hard I’d been working and it was when Jason not only made a comment about that week’s skating, but also made a crack about ‘last week’s abysmal show’. It wasn’t abysmal and he didn’t have to say that. It was just Jason trying to be sadly controversial.

“My stay on the show had nothing to do with the judges’ vote. I was there all that time because of the public and so it was the public who decided when I left and it was lovely to have that support.”

Welch is still clearly annoyed with Gardiner – who said Healy’s breath smelled of “stale p*** and alcohol” – and is quite happy that the spiteful-tongued judge will not be present for the Dancing On Ice tour dates. “I’ve risen above it now and I’m not going to respond any further,” she says.

The tour will have Robin Cousins, Karen Barber and Christopher Biggins as judges with Andi Peters as host.

From the contestants who battled it out for the TV title in 2011, Sam Attwater, Chloe Madeley, Dave Vitty, Johnson Beharry, Laura Hamilton, Vanilla Ice and Jeff Brazier are due to take part, plus 2010 champion Hayley Tamaddon.

“The routines are not completely down to us. There has to be a slow number which might be one that the audience enjoyed previously, but we’re still discussing an uptempo number. Then we’ll have to select a group number, which I absolutely love, and getting the chance to dance with other skaters. You have to remember that I’m dancing with the ex-US champion and on tour with the Olympic gold medallist, which is another box which I never thought I’d tick,” says Welch, who doesn’t mind in the least having home advantage in Newcastle.

“I don’t care how I skate. I hope that the audience will just vote for me on those nights. I just can’t wait to perform at Newcastle.”

• Dancing On Ice Tour 2011, Newcastle MetroRadio Arena, April 12, 7.30pm, April 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets: from £32.50 (plus booking fee). Senior citizen concession is half-price on £42.50 and £32.50 tickets for the matinees only.

Box Office: 08444-999-955 dancingonicetour.co.uk.

• Dancing On Ice Final, ITV1, Sunday, 7.40pm.