Different for Denise
ROXY BOURDILLON GETS TO KNOW ACTOR, ACTIVIST AND ALLY EXTRAORDINAIRE, DENISE WELCH
COVER STORY
DENISE WELCH
PHOTOS ALAN STRUTT
HAIR + MAKE-UP SHERRIE WARWICK USING MAC AND TONI & GUY
STYLING GEORGE ROBERTS @STYLIST_GARDEN
CLOTHES MARIE MCCAVER
ART DIRECTION STEVEN SMITH
When I ask TV legend Denise Welch how she feels about playing gay in the new series of Different For Girls, her answer is immediate and unequivocal. “I loved it. Loved it! Listen, I’m such a friend of the gays, I might as well be a lesbian. A dykon, they call me.”
We’re giggling away on set, squeezing in a natter between scenes. She tells me her character, Maeve, has very specific taste in women. “When they said, ‘Would you play this LLL – later life lesbian – who realises she fancies Theresa May?’ I was completely sold.”
Denise is a seasoned pro who’s appeared in mega hits like Corrie, Waterloo Road and Loose Women, but I’m curious: just how colossal an acting feat was it to convincingly portray someone with an almighty crush on the PM? “Even Judi Dench would struggle with that one! I thought, if there’s a challenge ever to be had, it’s to play a lesbian who fancies Theresa May.” I tell her I’ve not met one yet and she hoots with laughter. “No! Exactly! But I bet when this comes out, they’ll come out of the closet in droves.”