THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS – at the Palladium

Do you recognise any of the cast ?

Denise Welch— Mrs Otter & Barge Woman

Denise was born in Whitley Bay near Newcastle & started her career there at Live Theatre in Tom Hadaways Yesterday’s Children.

Theatre Background: The Rise and Fall Of Little Voice (Royal Exchange); Steel Magnolias (UK Tour); Smack Family Robinson (Rose Theatre, Kingston); The Ancient Secret of Youth and The 5 Tibetans (Bolton Octagon); Grease (Haymarket Leicester); Yakety Yak (Astoria Theatre).

Television Background: Coronation Street (ITV); Waterloo Road (BBC); Boy Meets Girl (BBC), Down to Earth, Soldier Soldier (ITV) Spender (BBC), Benidorm (ITV); EastEnders (BBC); Inspector George Gently (BBC); Down To Earth (BBC); Born and Bred (BBC); The Vice (BBC).

Denise was a regular panellist and anchor on hit ITV chat show Loose Women for ten years.

Film Background: The Jealous God, Finding Fatimah and Burning Men.

Denise recently produced her own short film Black Eyed Susan which is currently on the festival circuit.  She has written 2 personal memoirs and 2 novels. Her second, A Mothers Bond, has just been published.

Rufus Hound— Toad

Rufus Hound is an actor, presenter and comedian.

Theatre Background: Don Quixote (RSC); The Wars of the Roses (Rose Theatre Kingston); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy); Neville’s Island (Chichester Festival Theatre); One Man Two Guv’nors (UK Tour / Theatre Royal Haymarket) and Utopia (Soho Theatre).

Television and film includes: Trollied; Doctor Who; Cucumber; Drunk History; A Touch of Cloth; Hounded; Beautiful Devils; Scottish Mussel; Keith Lemon: The Movie and The Wedding Video.

Radio Background: My Teenage Diary; Act Your Age; What’s So Funny?; The Unbelievable Truth; The Jonathan Ross Show and The Graham Norton Show.

Presenting credits Background: OutTake TV; What Do Kids Know; Top of the Pops; Glastonbury and The Brits: Backstage.

As a comedian, Rufus won Let’s Dance for Sport Relief dressed as Cheryl Cole and has guest starred in numerous television shows, including: The Argumental; Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two; The Apprentice: You’re Fired; Xtra Factor; This Morning; Alan Titchmarsh; Celebrity Juice; Never Mind the Buzzcocks; Would I Lie to You?; 8 Out of 10 Cats and You Have Been Watching.

Gary Wilmot— Badger

Theatre includes:  BIG (Portsmouth and Dublin), End Of The Rainbow (UK Tour), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy & UK Tour), Oklahoma (UK Tour), The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre), Radio Times (The Watermill and National Tour), The Invisible Man (Menier Chocolate Factory), Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime, Chicago, Half A Sixpence, H.M.S. Pinafore (Regents Park), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (The Palladium), Travels With My Aunt, The Pirates Of Penzance (Regents Park and National Tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regents Park), Confusions (National Tour), One For The Road (Bristol Old Vic), Oliver! (National Tour), The Goodbye Girl (Albery Theatre), Copacabana (The Prince Of Wales Theatre), Carmen Jones (The Old Vic), Me And My Girl (Adelphi Theatre and National Tour) for which he received a TMA best actor nomination.

Television Credits Include: The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Diamonds Are Forever, Cue Gary, Showstoppers, The Saturday Gang, Copycats, Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Other Credits Include: Host/Soloist of From Hackney to Hollywood-The Songs of Don Black (UK Tour) and host of the Laurence Olivier Awards.