Mimi’s Memoirs: ’Allo ’Allo!

By Sue Hodge

Having been inundated with fan-mail and questions for nearly three decades, actress and director Sue Hodge decided it was time for everyone to know the truth behind the making of the internationally known hit comedy series ’Allo ’Allo!
Told with heart and honesty through the eyes of that madcap, pocket dynamo character Mimi Labonq, Sue gives a hilarious and no-holds-barred insight into things you would only know about if you’d been there. How did she fly across a cornfield as the flying nun? (Or maybe she didn’t.) Did she really get inside a grandfather clock? What was her true relationship with René? What did he really do to her when he was pushing her along as a baby in the pram?
To find out the answers to these questions plus much much more, read Mimi’s Memoirs, and you will understand why ’Allo ’Allo! became one of the biggest BBC smash-hits of all time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398407060

Sue Hodge

An Essex girl by birth, Sue Hodge has been an actress since she was fourteen, first starring in the classic BBC sketch comedy The Dick Emery Show. She went on to star in various shows and plays, ranging from Shakespeare to The Rocky Horror Show, from comedy to tragedy. She became known worldwide as Mimi Labonq in the smash hit BBC Comedy ’Allo ’Allo!. She moved from being an actress to director and then to author. She married her musical director, Keith Paddington Richards, and has a great passion for France.

Book preview

About the Author

An Essex girl by birth, Sue Hodge has been an actress since she was fourteen, first starring in the classic BBC sketch comedy The Dick Emery Show. She went on to star in various shows and plays, ranging from Shakespeare to The Rocky Horror Show, from comedy to tragedy. She became known worldwide as Mimi Labonq in the smash hit BBC Comedy ’Allo ’Allo!. She moved from being an actress to director and then to author. She married her musical director, Keith Paddington Richards, and has a great passion for France.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to June and Brian Hanson for their continued love and support, and in loving memory of David Croft OBE (192–2011)

RIP Gorden Kaye (1941–2017)

It is with great sadness that in the final stages of writing this book, the country mourned the loss of a treasured friend and colleague, the great actor Gorden Kaye—known to you all as René Artois but personally known to me as ‘Geordie’.

Copyright Information ©

Sue Hodge 2022

The right of Sue Hodge to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All of the events in this memoir are true to the best of author’s memory. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398407053 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398407060 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Illustrations

P.15 (1987) Press photo, Drury Lane.

P.22 (1987) Mme Mimi, author’s collection.

P.24 (1987) The Flying Nun, video capture.

P.26 (1988) Mimi Round the Bend, video capture.

P.28 (1988) Mimi’s Makeover, author’s collection.

P.30 (1988) Mimi Bridesmaid, author’s collection.

P.32 (1988) René and pram (top), Mimi in pram (bottom), video captures.

P.34 (1987) Lynford Hall, internet image.

P.36 (1988) Mimi, video capture.

P.37 (1988) Mimi, video capture.

P.39 (1988) Mimi with Jack Haig, press photo.

P.41 (1988) Train to Geneva, internet image.

P.42 (1989) Mimi, Bald Butler, author’s collection.

P.43 (1989) Mimi, The Butler’s transformation, author’s collection.

P.45 (1989) Number 10 Downing Street, internet image.

P.48 (1989) Queen Vic pub sign (top left). John D. Collins/Fairfax (top right). The Queen Vic (bottom).

P.52 (1993) Peter Pan poster, Gorden Kaye and Sue Hodge.

P.53 (1989) Silhouette, internet image.

P.56 (1989) Poster for Royal Gala Performance, London Palladium.

P.59 (1988) Train carriage (top), internet image. (1987) Portrait of Mimi (bottom), BBC archive.

P.60 (1988) Mimi Labonq, ’Allo ’Allo! Annual (top), © David Croft. (1988) Mimi, The Poodle Parlour (center), author’s collection. (1987) The Gang (top), BBC archive.

P.61 Mimi (top), video capture (1989) Mimi, René, Yvette (center), publicity shot. (1987) Mimi, Little French Riding Hood (top), BBC archive.

P.62 (1989) Yvette and Mimi (top), author’s collection. (1991) Yvette and Mimi, Two Little Maids (center), author’s collection. (1989) Yvette, Fairfax, Carstairs, Mimi (bottom), BBC press picture.

P.63 (1989) Mimi, Yvette, Michelle (top), BBC press picture. (1989) Edith, René, Mimi (center), author’s collection. Yvette, Mimi, Edith, René, LeClerc (top), BBC archive.

P.64 (1991) Yvette, Edith, Mimi (top), BBC press picture. (1987) Mimi (center), press picture. (2010) The Dark Side (bottom), author’s collection.

P.65 (1987) Studio ticket (centre), author’s collection. (1989) Crabtree, Yvette, René, Mimi and Edith (bottom), author’s collection. (1989) René, Yvette, Mimi, Alfonse (bottom), author’s collection.

P. 66 (1987) Mimi, (centre) video capture. (1989) Mimi, Crabtree, Yvette (bottom), author’s collection. (1987) The Fallen Madonna.

P.69 (1989) Mimi, Crabtree, The Palladium.

P.70–86 Recipes artwork, internet images.

P.89 (1988) Mimi, ’Allo ’Allo! Annual, ©Croft/Lloyd.

P.92 (1988) The Gang, BBC press picture.

P.98 (2011) David Croft OBE, internet image.

P.99 (2012) Jeremy Lloyd OBE, internet image.

P.168 (2004) Paddington and Mimi, author’s collection. (2017) ’Allo ’Allo! Again poster, © Chris Gidney.

Foreword

With Richard E. Grant

When recently speaking to Richard, we reminisced about those wonderful days with The New Shakespeare Company at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. I promised I would never spill the beans about the time I emptied a pot of white powder on his head or ripped the moustache off his face in one split second after he had carefully applied it. Therefore I won’t, but when I told him about Mimi’s Memoirs, I did ask him if he had anything to add that he particularly remembered: ‘When Sue and I worked together, Time Out Magazine described my performance as more wooden than the surrounding Regent’s Park trees, and I will always covet the inscribed plank award given to me by Sue Hodge and the company, whilst she rightly received rave reviews for her gigantic performance in the tiny role of Peaseblossom.’

I screamed with laughter when Richard reminded me of this and I’m grateful for his generous quote for Mimi’s Memoirs. Upon thanking him, Richard simply replied, ‘My pleasure!’

With Regent’s Park trees still in my mind, I remember asking Richard, ‘So does the E in your name stand for Elm?’

Dear Richard, it is absolutely my pleasure that you took me back down that hilarious shared trip of memory lane, remembering our fun together. Thank you!

1. Mimi and Me

I made my first professional debut in 1973 in Jack and the Beanstalk at The Cliffs Pavilion, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, which, coincidentally is where I first met Chris Gidney in 1998 while playing ugly sisters with Bella Emberg in Cinderella. At that time, I had no idea that later on Chris would play a larger role in my life.

In 1986, when Richard E. Grant, Ralph Fiennes and I were giving our all for The New Shakespeare Company at the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, none of us expected Grant to become a big film star, starting with Withnail and I, Fiennes to end up as Voldemort in Harry Potter and M in James Bond and yours truly to have made one of the biggest comedy classics ever, eventually to be seen in over 80 countries worldwide. But truth has proved stranger than fiction.

The Daily Telegraph had reviewed: "This year A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Peaseblossom." Although the rave reviews usually go to the person playing Bottom which in 1986 was played by the much-loved Bernard Bresslaw, the Telegraph had decided that no role was too small and this had been proven by none other than the diminutive person about to become Mimi Labonq.

The truism of being in the right place at the right time was just about to change my career the night David Croft came to see a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with his wife Anne. ‘Who’s the kid?’ he asked. Anne replied that she did not know. David said, ‘I am going to make it my business to find out!’ Which is exactly what he did.

At that time, I had no idea I would be visiting David at his house at the back of Regent’s Park the following February. I arrived for the meeting; David Croft introduced himself and his co-writer Jeremy Lloyd, who promptly asked me if I could manage a French accent. I replied that the piece I was doing at the moment required a Geordie accent for which I had just been highly acclaimed. ‘I think the French accent would be achievable standing on my head!’ I said. They were highly amused and told me I was to be written into a program called ’Allo ’Allo! If I found all terms acceptable, it would be put through the BBC today and I would remain with them from this day until 1992. With that, they bid me farewell with 30 episodes of the script under my arm to get on with for the time being.

By the end of that year, Mimi Labonq was alive and kicking and unable to walk down the street without somebody shouting out, ‘’Allo, Mimi!’

I have worked in the entertainment industry for 40 years but am probably best known for the character role of Mimi Labonq in the BBC television series ’Allo ’Allo! which grew to worldwide recognition and shown in over 80 countries.

In a show like this, things did not always run as smoothly as they looked, and therefore, it was inevitable that there were going to be one or two cock-ups along the way. It was the cock-ups that inspired me to write a show and to disclose the facts and outtakes that the public never saw or knew about.

In 2015, I met up with Chris Gidney again when he asked if I would like to be part of a comedy theme cruise alongside Jeffrey Holland, John Challis and Sue Holderness that Chris was putting together and compèring. While we were on the ship, I talked to Chris about my idea for a show. He said that it sounded great and asked, ‘What have you called it, MIMI and ME?’

I smiled and replied, ‘I have now.’ With this new title and show, Chris set about booking it for the following year. The audiences loved it; then came the next challenge from Chris.

‘You need to write the book,’ he said.

Well,