WRAP > Career > TV > This Show

Appearance on Holiday Memories (1999)

Host:
Gabby Roslin

Broadcast by:
The BBC

"[??]" is used to indicate uncertain transcription phrases.

Roslin : "EastEnders star Wendy Richard first went to the island of Jersey in the Fifties with her father. Since then she's been back on numerous occasions, also to film for EastEnders. This time she takes us back there to explain why she goes back again and again and again....

(Some scenes are shown from a 1950's-era travel film about the island.)

WR (voice over): "My first visit to Jersey must have been when I was about four, and since then I've been back more than a dozen times. It's such a lovely place to come back and visit, and although they've really got the tourist trade off to a tee now -- all the attractions and different bars and things -- there are still many parts of the island which are still totally unspoiled. When I came here as a child I used to come with my father. And because I was brought up in the license trade, I used to have a week away with Daddy, here, and then a week away at the coast with Mummy, because neither of them liked to leave the pub or the hotel -- whatever we had at the time -- so I suppose in that respect I was lucky: I used to get two holidays a year. When we were here, we would normally stay at the Grand Hotel, which is on the Esplanade down in St. Helier, which I suppose in a way was quite a smart hotel--and it still is."

WR (standing in the lobby of the hotel): "I have many fond memories of this place. This is where my father used to bring me when I was a child."

WR (voice-over with pictures of the hotel's interior): "Having been brought up in that business, I think I was what you might call 'hotel trained'; that you didn't run up and down corridors, and you did sit quietly when you're in the dining room."

WR (sitting in the dining room): "We used to spend our times going to different bays, because there are some beautiful bays around the island. And as he didn't drive, we would either get a taxi to a bay and stay the whole day there, or we used to go on one of the many coach tours around the island."

(A short clip from the 1950's travel film describing bus tours about the island.)

WR (in front of a white-washed tunnel entrance): "I'm standing outside the German underground hospital. This is a must for every visitor to Jersey. It's a truly awesome building, if you can call it a building, since it's tunneled into the rock. When you're a small child, it can be quite scary. But at least this time, I have Peter Tab [??], from the museum, to accompany me into the operating theater." (to Tab:) "And I must say it is extremely well done, sir. A bit on the creepy side, I think."

PT : "Well, what we tried to do here is recreate what it would have been like. And one has to say, in fact, this was never actually used, because it was built in the event of an attack, and no attack ever took place."

WR (opening a cabinet of assorted medical tools and devices): "Where did you find these dreadful looking instruments of torture?"

PT : "We scoured Europe for them...."

WR (gingerly handling what looks like a branch pruner ): "This has really given me the creeps. I dread to think what that was used for...."

PT : "It looks like something they used to use on pigs...."

WR (hurriedly setting the instrument back in its place): "Oh! Don't say that, please! It gets worse..."

(In the next scene, Ms. Richard is walking over a rustic wooden arch bridge.)

WR (voice-over): "I first came to the Jersey Zoo twenty-five years ago. And since then I've been back several times. I just love it. The animals have got great enclosures; it's all about conservation here. .... These delightful creatures that hail from Madagascar were in serious danger of becoming extinct. You see, their natural habitat . . "

WR (sitting on a bench, surrounded by three or four large lemurs): ". . . has been destroyed by, well, by man, as usual . . But here at Gerald Durrell Zoo, there have been campaigns to return batches of them back to their natural habitat in the wild."

(She feeds carrots to the lemurs, and talks to them.)

WR : "As a child, I used to love Johnny Morris, the animal man, on television. And whenever I hear someone mention lemurs, I think of him and the lemur he was with on TV a lot: Dotty, the ring-tailed lemur." (She continues to feed the lemurs. Two of them chatter and bat at each other. She smiles.) "Oh, there's a family argument!"

(Wendy walks along the waterfront of St. Aubin [in St. Breslade Parish].)

WR : "About three and a half years ago, Pauline, the character I play on EastEnders, had this story line where this chap, called 'wicked Willy', he asked Pauline to come on a holiday to Jersey with him. And it's here at St. Aubin's Bay, that the wicked Willy brought Pauline in the EastEnders episode and then he took her over the road to the Old Courthouse Inn. The dining room there has this great big window overlooking the harbor, and that's where Pauline and Willy were having their breakfast."

(A short clip of that EastEnders scene.)

WR : "It's a first-class restaurant, I have to say; and you can sit outside or you can sit inside, and most tables overlook the harbor as well. Well worth the visit when you come here."

(Wendy is sitting on the rocks by the shore.)

WR : "When I was here filming, I had actually just undergone an operation for breast cancer, and my main concern was to get back to work as quickly as possible, because I knew that EastEnders had this location planned and it was all booked. So over we came. And I have to say they looked after me very well. They had a caravan for me to sleep in at lunch time, so I could have a nap, because my energy level obviously was very low. But coming here, I think, the sea air, and being somewhere you have such fond memories of, I think all helped for my recuperation."

(An lush, idyllic garden.)

WR (voice-over): "This is one of the most peaceful places I know. The Jersey Pottery. There's lovely plants to look at, and then, well, the restaurant is just superb, and the puddings . . . oh, to die for! There's also the pottery, which is, I suppose, in a way, the main reason for coming.. And you can see these craftsmen and women working away, throwing all sorts of wonderful pots."

WR (watching a potter at work, speaking in a conversational tone to her companion): "We used to have this potter's wheel as part of our handicrafts at school, and I was hopeless. It used to run away with me, and stuff used to fly off in all directions. I ended up making a snail . . . so I didn't have to use the potter's wheel. That was it."

(Some views of the beaches and various water sports.)

WR (voice-over): "Of course, you're really spoiled for beaches here, there's such a wonderful selection. One of my favorites is at [??], Greve de Lecq [a small beach on the western end of the northern coast]. It's the best place for rock pools, ever. An absolute paradise for any youngster to play about here. You can see the sea is so clear and if you don't want to play in the rock pools, you've got nice natural flat rock to lie on to sunbathe."

WR (speaking to a group of small girls and boys): So tell me, what have you caught? Two shrimps? No baby crabs? No sea anemones? And no starfish? Well, you've still done better than I did..."

WR (examining the contents of her own net): "Well, a selection of seaweed and one broken limpet."

WR (again, sitting on the shore): "In a lot of ways, Jersey is timeless. There's such a relaxed atmosphere here, and the people are absolutely charming. Their attitude to life is most pleasant."

(A final bit from the 1950's-era travelogue film.)

(Ms. Richard writes "Wendy was here" in the sand and proudly poses by her work.)

(Roslin, in voice-over, goes over ticket and vacation cost data. Before continuing on, she says something to the effect of: "when Wendy Richard comes back from Jersey, she takes a frog home; I take the whole shop!")