Veteran entertainer Anita Harris talks about her role in Fatal Encounter at Crewe Lyceum

Feb 11 2010 by Will Harris, Flintshire Chronicle

Veteran all-round entertainer Anita Harris is looking forward to coming back to Cheshire.

The 67-year-old spent her first tour in South Cheshire during the week-long run of Come on Jeeves last year.

And now she is back to star in the Ian Dickens production of Fatal Encounter, which is on at the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe from Monday.

Anita, most famous for her smash hit song Just Loving You and appearances on the Morecambe and Wise Show and Carry On films, says she can’t wait to re-acquaint herself with the area.

“We had a wonderful time in Crewe last time I was there,” she says. “We went to the railway heritage museum and it was fascinating.

“The Lyceum is a lovely theatre and we had such a good time there. We’re a very happy company and this tour is a lovely experience.”

In Fatal Encounter, Anita plays the wife of a publisher (played by Michael Howe), who she has ‘previous’ with from their musical theatre days.

She says: “With this it’s a great experience because we are playing ordinary people in a most unusual setting.

“The scene is set where he is desperately worried about his wife because she seems to be changing her personality. The question is why.

“We have lots of red herrings and reasons why she’s upset. It’s a good twister and we hear lots of oohs and aahs from the audience. It’s a play of intrigue and English audiences do love intrigue.”

Anita shot to the nation’s attention in the late 1960s, when her biggest hit Just Loving You, penned by Dusty Springfield’s brother Tom, peaked at number 6 in the UK charts.

The song fell into Anita’s hands after Dusty performed You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me on the same Top of the Pops show in which she appeared.

Anita recalls: “She was sat in the studio and she came over and said ‘Anita, my brother has a song that would be perfect for you’ and I thank her to this day. She could have sung it and she gave it over to me.

“For me it’s a treasure and I cherish everything about it, and I still love to sing it because of what it has given me.”

Further modest chart success followed, but by then she was already becoming a known face on television, having appeared in Carry On films such as Carry On Doctor and Follow That Camel.

But Anita’s Carry On experience was not the chaotic, madcap caper you might expect.

“It was actually very disciplined,” she says. “We had to have it done and filmed in six weeks. The preparation was incredible.

“We as the artists had to absolutely know what we were doing, know all our lines and be ready the moment there was a take. I was young so it was challenging and I knew I had to be up to their level.

“Just before it I was working with Frankie Howerd and I guess the producers came to a live show and that’s when I was offered the role.”

Anita became even more familiar, co-hosting the David Nixon Magic Show in 1970, then appearing on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971 and 1973, before going on to have a successful career in musical theatre at the West End.

And she says there is nothing quite like the buzz she gets doing live theatre.

“I love the interchanges of TV and films but what theatre does for you is get the adrenaline pumping in such a different way.

“You only get one chance and you’ve got to be focused and do right by your fellow actor and come up to scratch each night. And the feedback is immediate from the audience.”

Fatal Encounter runs at the Lyceum Theatre from Monday until Saturday, February 20. Shows start at 7.30pm, with a 2.30pm matinee performance on the Saturday. Tickets are priced £9.50-£17.50, to book phone the box office on 01270 537333 or log on to the website www.lyceumtheatre.net.