THE HOT FLUSH! CAST

Lesley Joseph as Myra

Lesley has a wealth of theatrical experience to her credit in virtually all aspects of the business, having trained at LAMDA before carving a career for herself on stage. Her acting roles have covered a wide range from serious drama to musicals and revue in both the West End and major theatres all over Britain.

Her roles have been varied from Titania in Shakespeare’s Dream to Piaf by Pam Gems, to Frosine in The Miser with Ian Richardson, and Dooniashia in The Cherry Orchard and countless others. She played Miss Hannigan in the hit musical Annie at the Victoria Palace and on tour for two and a half years. She toured with Edward Hardwicke in the Alan Bennett play Office Suite and produced Singular Women by Stewart Permutt, a one woman show at the Kings Head, revived Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon and a film with Ron Moody called Lost Dogs. Lesley also starred in the hit musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.

On television she played Rachel Culgrin in Night and Day for one and a half years. Before that she was best known for her role as Dorien Green in the top rating television show Birds of A Feather, which ran over a period of eleven years, and over a hundred episodes, creating a national institution out of the neighbour from hell. Lesley’s other television appearances include MacBeth, Spywatch, Rumble, Easy Money, English Express, Minder, Exclusive Yarns, Roots, The Knowledge and many others.

Besides her many appearances in television drama and situation comedy she has appeared in scores of light entertainment shows including playing Ethel Merman in Stars in Their Eyes. She had a regular roving reporter spot on GMTV for three years and has travelled the world for Wish You Were Here.

Lesley has starred in major pantomimes up and down the country. She was presented with the red book when This is Your Life caught up with her in Dick Whittington in Southampton. At the Chelsea Flower Show in 2000 she had a rose named after her.

This is Lesley’s second national tour with Hot Flush!

Hilary O’Neil as Sylvia

Hilary trained at Laine Theatre Arts Epsom as a dancer and is in constant demand worldwide as an all-round comedy vocal entertainer.

She appeared in the 2009 national tour of Hot Flush! and was special guest with Joe Longthorne during his summer season at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool. In October 2009 she was appeared in A Tribute to Danny La Rue at The London Palladium alongside Ronnie Corbett, Rick Wakeman and Roy Hudd.

Her major TV break was on the hit series Copycats, in which she appeared for two years. From there she appeared on numerous TV shows including The Royal Variety Show, Live from the Palladium, Summertime Special, Night of 100 Stars, Freddie Starr Series, Des O’Connor Tonight, Celebrity Squares, Call my Bluff and Give us a Clue.

Hilary’s West End credits include Acorn Antiques the Musical, written by Victoria Wood, in which Hilary appeared and understudied the roles of Mrs Overall and Miss Babs, played by Julie Walters and Celia Imrie. She also co-starred in the musical Summer Holiday (West End and UK tour), the 60’s musical Shout and the Marx Brothers Comedy Animal Crackers at the Lyric Theatre.

She has presented for Radio 1 and LBC London, written two pantomimes, numerous children’s shows for UK holiday parks and has written a production show called The Swinging 60’s for P&O. She is a frequent headline cabaret act on Cunard, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America, Saga and P&O and her Impressions can be heard in greetings cards worldwide and often heard on TV commercials.

On UK Tours, she has co-starred with Joe Longthorne, Joe Pasquale, Jim Davidson, Bobby Davro, Brian Conley and Freddie Starr, even travelling to New Zealand and Australia to support Hale and Pace on their tour. Her work has also taken her to entertain the Troops in Belize and The Falklands. This Christmas Hilary was thrilled to perform with Gethin Jones in pantomime in Guildford and she also appeared on Victoria Wood’s Christmas TV Special.

Anne Smith as Helen

Anne’s West End credits include Evita (Prince Edward), Svetlana in Chess (Prince Edward), Iris in Good Rockin Tonite (Strand Theatre and Prince of Wales), Morgana in Robin Prince of Sherwood (Piccadilly), Dusty Springfield and KD Lang in Only The Lonely (Piccailly) and Mamma Mia at the Prince Edward Theatre. Her Repertory seasons include Perth, Westcliff, Exeter, Liverpool Playhouse, Dundee, St Andrews and the Brunton Theatre Musselburgh. Anne’s favourite roles include Toine in Piaf, Constanza in Amadeus, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Amy in Company, Bev in Abigail’s Party and more recently playing Solange La Fitte in Follies at the Landor Theatre in London. Her national tours include Dinner, Ferry Cross The Mersey and Hot Flush!. Most recently Anne played the Empress of China in Aladdin at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen and in Big Bad Mouse - playing Miss Spencer opposite Cannon and Ball. Anne’s television and film work includes Taggart (STV), EastEnders (BBC), Birds of A Feather (BBC) and the feature film Half Light (Universal).

Ruth Keeling as Jessica

Ruth trained at the Poor School and the London Repertory Academy. Her theatre work includes Her Naked Skin for the Royal National Theatre, A Night Out, The Merchant of Venice, A Nightingale Sang and School for Scandal, Into The Woods and Chicago for the The Workhouse Theatre and Dantan’s Death, a workshop for the National Theatre. Ruth’s television credits include Get a Grip for ITV and The Scum Also Rises and Little Miss Jocelyn for BBC, the Channel 4 pilot Modern Men as well as Hollyoaks Later.

Matt Slack as all of the men in their lives... plus a few others!

Matt Slack started his career as a blue coat for Pontins in 1993. Two years later, he became Entertainments Manager and won the Pontins award for ‘Entertainer of the Year’. The same year he went on to win the prestigious ‘Stairway to the Stars’, one of the biggest talent shows in the country.

The following year was to prove even better! After breaking out onto the cabaret circuit he won ‘Best Comedy Act’ and also took the title of outright winner in the ‘Entertainer of the Year’, South West Awards.

Matt was then to have his first taste of television as co-presenter on West Country TV’s Club 22.45 with Nick Owen. He also had an acting role in a children’s series, Dr Zargle with HTV, which was broadcast nationwide on CITV.

Matt has performed at all the major holiday centres, cruise ships and theatres, and has supported many of the countries top names on tour. It was just a matter of time before pantomime beckoned! Playing the part of the court jester in Snow White (Pavilion Theatre, Worthing) proved to be a huge success after smashing box office records.

People flocked to see this versatile performer in his full glory in the Babbacombe Theatre, Torquay where he headlined for three consecutive years. In The Time Of Our Lives show Matt appeared with 36 young talented hopefuls and appeared in the Stars In Your Eyes summer season show and The Sound Of Laughter Show.

Matt completed a UK tour of Boogie Nights where he played the lead role of Dean, before going off to star in pantomime along side Steve McFadden (EastEnders) at the New Victoria Theatre Woking. After appearing in pantomime once again with Steve McFadden at The Milton Keynes Theatre, Matt joined the cast of the hugely successful Blood Brothers on two huge UK tours for Bill Kenwright Ltd.

More recently, Matt has been putting his hand to acting and co-producing his first feature film with Joss Stone called Snappers.