TV star Su Pollard believes she’s being haunted by Dennis the Menace glove puppet
HI-DE-HI!’s Su Pollard believes she is being haunted — by a Dennis the Menace glove puppet a co-star gave her.
The actress, 74, reckons the Beano character toy is inhabited by the ghost of Barry Howard.
He was dance teacher Barry Stuart-Hargreaves in the 1980s BBC holiday camp sitcom while Su played chalet maid Peggy.
Barry died of cancer in 2016 aged 78 but Su reckons he is still here.
She says he shows himself by moving the puppet, which is on the newel post of Su’s staircase, when she goes out.
She explained: “I sometimes think that Barry is with me because he bought me a glove puppet of Dennis the Menace and I put him on the newel of the staircase at the bottom where my front door is.
“And sometimes I have perfectly placed him there and before I go out I say to him ‘Now Dennis, I’m going out at the moment but just look after the house till I come back’.
“And when I come back you can see sometimes he’s tilting to one side. He’s moved. And I say ‘Barry I know that is you. You’re in the house!’
“That puppet is fixed quite tightly so it’s hard to move. And I think ‘How could that possibly move?’ but it does and, for me, it’s like Barry is saying to me ‘Come on girl. Keep going forward!’.”
Su – who is on tour with her one-woman show Still Fully Charged – added: “I’m a big believer in all that and I think it’s marvellous and it can be very comforting for people.”