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Malandra Burrows
WHY WE COULD HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF KATHY...
Sitting in the circle bar at the Alhambra isn’t usually a nerve-wracking experience.
But perching there opposite Malandra Burrows I’m starting to feel decidedly edgy.
It’s not the fact that I’m sat only a foot away from one of soapland’s most celebrated beauties, the object of desire of many a red-blooded Emmerdale fan, or the fact she’s wearing the lace-up bodice which was her costume when she stared in the theatre’s big panto production at Christmas.
It’s the two scary looking blokes sitting on the table next to us, eavesdropping every word.
Dressed from head to toe in ripped punk denim and leather, one sports a shaved head while the other has a shock of bright purple hair. Either one of them looks like he’d give both Phil Mitchell and Liam Gallagher a run for their money in a German nightclub.
Things start to look hairy when purple-head stands up and struts menacingly over to our table, chains jangling in the process, and looks Malandra straight in the eye.
“Excuse me, can you sign this for me?” he asks in a voiced which is a cross between Dale Winton and Larry Grayson before kicking his heels bashfully and handing her a copy of her 1990 top 20 single Just This Side Of Love.
It’s perhaps a testament to Malandra’s enduring popularity as long-suffering Kathy on the rural soap that she still appeals to such a diverse bunch of fans – from the little old ladies who love the character’s enduring sweetness to the two punks lurking in the Alhambra.
That’s why it may have come as a shock to many Emmerdale addicts when Kathy left the village in December 2001 to seek a new life Down Under. But the 37-year-old isn’t sad to be leaving her best-known role behind and admits to be looking forward to new challenges away from the constraints of Kathy.
Looking relaxed and, as ever, immaculately turned out, Malandra believes the time is coming to stretch herself as an actress again.
She said: “I don’t feel sad about leaving Emmerdale at all, I had 17 great years there and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to do it, that’s just life in soapland.
“In the first two months after I left I really missed everyone, it was really like having an arm severed but I got over it. I haven’t got a bad word to say about it, Emmerdale is such a wonderful show and it’s like one big happy family. It was a difficult thing to do but it’s nice to have a new chapter in my life. I also have more time for my family now.”
The Liverpool-born actress is now seeking a gritty role to sink her teeth into and you get the feeling that she wouldn’t mind shedding the girl-next-door image for her next part.
“It was quite exciting when I left because it was like closing one chapter and opening a new one in my life,” she said. “It was a new challenge and quite exciting to be a jobbing actor again. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, I don’t know what’s on the horizon, it’s just been nice to do lots of different things for a change.
“What I really want to do is a really gutsy theatre role something far away from Kathy. Something that would really shock people.”
Looking back it’s hardly surprising that part of Malandra is glad to be turning her back on her luckless Emmerdale alter-ego.
During her tenure as one of the programme’s most popular characters Kathy’s life contained every tragedy and misfortune known to man.
Her first husband, Jackie Merrick, accidentally shot himself in 1988, her second marriage to ruthless wheelchair-bound businessman Chris Tate ended in 1994 when he admitted to an affair, while in 1996 Kathy’s third husband Dave Glover died saving a baby he thought to be his own from a house fire as he was about to elope with his mistress Kim Tate. Poor Kathy was even dumped at the altar by her fourth fiancee Biff in 1999.
Away from her marital woes Kathy’s life wasn’t any less disastrous. During her 17-year stint (you get less for armed robbery) the poor lamb was kidnapped by a diamond thieving lord, knocked down by a horse-stealing conman, targeted by a double wife murderer who tried to drive her over a cliff, trapped in the wreckage of a bus hit by a lorry, and imprisoned for protesting against the local haulage company.
With a track record like that it’s hardly surprising Kathy finally waved goodbye to Emmerdale, for there’s only so much a girl can take – or the script writers can dream up for one character.
But unlike many of her colleagues during her stay in soapland, Kathy wasn’t shot, blown up, murdered or the victim of a plane crash, leaving the door intriguingly open for a future return.
Malandra has recently been pouring all her efforts into Bradford’s annual panto extravaganza starring as the Princess opposite perennial favourite Billy Pearce in Jack and the Beanstalk. She said: “I really enjoyed coming into Bradford to work, I’ve spent a lot of time here over the years. I’ve watched my friends performing at the Alhambra many times so it’s nice to finally get up on the stage myself.
“I hadn’t worked with Billy before but I’ve known him for a long time. I don’t know how I managed to keep a straight face with him.”
Malandra’s connection to Billy stretches back to the days when the fledgling starlet was encouraged to continue her dancing classes by the comedian’s choreographer mother Jean.
From the early prompting from Mrs Pearce the shy youngster blossomed on stage and went on to appear on YTV’s Junior Showtime at the age of six and in 1974 became the youngest-ever winner of New Faces – appearing on the same “all-winners” show as Les Dennis and Victoria Wood.
Malandra laughs: “Blame Billy’s mum! It’s really down to her that I’m where I am today. It was Jean who encouraged me and helped me.”
“When someone tells you do have talent it gives you the confidence you need. I was a really quiet child but put me on stage with a part I can get my teeth into and I’m a different person.
“Once you’ve been in that spotlight and experienced what it’s like to perform in front of an audience it’s in your blood and it’s really hard to get rid of it.”
“It’s a very peculiarly British institution, no-one else in the world does it. I’ve spoken to Americans who’ve come over here and seen a panto and they say, ‘What’s going on? Why’s that guy dressed up as a girl and that girl dressed like a man?’ They just don’t get it.
“The thing about panto is that it’s got something for everyone, the daftness and audience participation for the kids and the jokes for the parents that go over the kids’ heads. Billy’s really good at that. It should be a fantastic fun show.”
We wish the lovely Malandra all the best for the future.
History Of Kathy Glover
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As Kathy, daughter of Caroline Bates, Malandra Burrows has enjoyed the screen drama of having three husbands, two of them taken away from her in tragic circumstances. Jackie Merrick died in a shooting accident with his own gun, second husband Chris Tate was just too flashy and arrogant, and third husband Dave Glover died in a fire at Home Farm while rescuing the baby he believed to be his own son by Kim Tate
'It's very sad,' says Malandra, tongue in cheek. 'Kathy has the kiss of death on her men! Chris was the one she thought she could change, but it ended in divorce, which made for excellent drama. I've been able to work with all these lovely men and kill two of them off. It has become an in~joke among the cast.'
Fame in Emmerdale helped Malandra to Top 20 success with her single 'Just This Side of Love', in 1990. Singing and dancing have been in her blood since childhood. She started dance classes at the age of two and sang in front of choreographer Jean Pearce three years later, with the result that Malandra became a regular singer and dancer in the ITV childreds talent show Junior Showtime, produced by the late Jess Yates.
'I have memories Jess marching round his office singing "My Old Man Said Follow the Band", staring at a light switch, pretending it was the camera, and manically beaming and smiling, in an attempt to show me how to perform on television,' Malandra recalls fondly. 'At that time, I had no front teeth because I had lost my milk teeth, so I didn't want to smile!'
In Junior Showtime, Malandra performed solo numbers such as the John Lennon-Paul McCartney song 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da and duets with Glyn Poole from the film musicals Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Then, at the age of eight, she sang on New Faces, whose panel of judges included comedian Arthur Askey and composer Tony Hatch, at about the time he wrote the Emmerdale theme tune.
'After seeing My Fair Lady, I joined the Everyman Youth Theatre, in Liverpool, and did classes at LiverpoolTheatre School, says Malandra 'I also did productions with my local amateur dramatics company at St Peter's, in Woolton, so the acting side was beginning to come into my life. Having been trained on the violin and piano, I was always writing music, too. I even won a BBC Radio Merseyside Songwriter of the Year award at the age of 13. One of my favourite places for singing was the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, where I did numerous performances. In Liverpool, I was quite well known.'
'But Malandra was keen to keep up her academic studies and left school with 11 0-levels. 'My parents were aware that, although I might have wanted to perform then, maybe I wouldn't at the age of 16 or 17,' she says. After 0-levels, teachers told me that I should do A-levels, go to university and, if I still wanted to be an actress, do that afterwards. But they weren't listening to what I wanted to do. I never attended the careers meetings. I just didn't want to wait five years. Instead of going back to school, I enrolled for drama school in Liverpool for two years.'
Even before leaving drama school, Malandra played several roles on television, appearing in The Practice and Fell Tiger, as well as taking two parts in Brookside - Lucy Coflins's schoolfriend, Sue, and Pat Hancocks girlfriend, Lisa. Three months after leaving drama school, she auditioned for Emmerdale. 'I wondered why they wanted a Liverpudlian,' says Malandra. 'But I immediately felt I was very much this character. Like me, Kathys parents were divorced, her father was called Malcolm and her middle name was Elizabeth. I just thought it was tailor-made.
'When I got the part, I hadn't realised how agricultural the role was going to be and that I would be playing a farm girl. Coming from Liverpool, I had no idea about any of this. I was supposed to milk the cows, but I was frightened of being kicked. My first memory is the smell when I walked in there. I couldn't say my lines and was gasping for breath.Clive Hornby and Frazer Hines, as Jack and Joe, loved winding me up. That first time, they said to me, "Watch for twitching tails." I wondered what they meant. Then I felt something hot and warm down my back and realised I was covered!
'They roared with laughter, but it didn't happen again. I wouldn't go anywhere near those cows. My job was to sweep up and I became nicknamed the 'shitshoveller". I did about six years of filling barrows with fertiliser.' Having joined in 1985, Malandra is now the longest-serving actress in Emmerdale.As well as seeing Kathy lose three husbands, she has witnessed her character's rise from farmhand to village entrepreneur since buying the Old School Tea Rooms.
'Kathy has her own business now,' says Malandra. 'I love Kathy dearly because, although she's the girl next door, she can hold her own. She also has a lovely, caring side and doesn't bear any grudges. She's even godmother to Rachel's son despite Rachel taking her husband from her. It's the ex-wives' club! Maybe you find that in rural villages.' Recently Kathy was about to marry Biff Fowler, but he decided he couldn't go through with it because of her feelings for Graham Clark.
The axe falls on Kathy...
Malandra, one of Emmerdale's longest-serving stars, has been given the axe.
Burrows, 34, who has played Kathy Glover for the past 16 years, was given the news during a meeting (06/07/01) with soap bosses at the Leeds studio.
Her father Malcolm Burrows, 65, said: "They sat and looked at her and she said, 'Who's going to talk first?' They told her that in effect the rumours are correct, and she was being written out of the show."
It is not yet clear whether she will be killed off or the door left ajar.
Her father Malcolm Burrows said: "She has asked them to do it as quickly as possible. She also told them that it was best that they came to this decision because she would have stayed until her teeth fell out.
"She is sad. It's a bit like leaving school."
Her father Michael Burrows said: "In the past she's had offers for sitcoms which she has been unable to take up.
"She would like to develop her acting career, perhaps do presenting, but at this stage we're not sure."
Malandra was one of the soap's highest paid stars with a reported income of £80,000 a year.
December 2001 saw Kathy bid farewell to the village that held so many memeories for her, to start a new life in Australia with her niece Alice Bates. Late 2002 saw Betty announce to to delighted villagers that Kathy was expecting her first baby, so it seems everybodys favourite villager has got herself a happy ending...but this is Kathy Glover we're talking about...
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