Interviews · 5 December 2020
Ruth Madoc The 1987 hurricane
Ruth Madoc interviewed by Kevin Durham, 5 December 2020. 4m 27s on tape.
Ruth Madoc Hi De Hi Actress shares her memories of being on Hi De Hi during the 1987 hurricane, whilst on the Hi De Hi reunion call. After RADA Ruth Madoc worked in The Black and White Minstrel Show. Ruth Madoc's first husband was the actor Philip Madoc, with whom she appeared in the 1981 TV serial The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. They had a son, Rhys, and a daughter, Lowri, but eventually divorced. In 1971 Ruth Madoc played Fruma Sarah in the film version of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and in 1972 she appeared as Mrs Dai Bread Two in the film of Under Milk Wood.[4] She also appeared regularly in the entertainment programme Poems and Pints on BBC Wales. She provided one of the alien voices in the Cadbury's Smash commercials in the 1970s, and made a brief appearance in the 1977 film, The Prince and the Pauper (aka Crossed Swords).
What's on the tape
A transcript, made by machine from the audio and tidied up. It gets names and the odd word wrong, so treat it as a way to find the bit you want rather than as a quotation. Every timestamp jumps to that moment in the video.
0:03 Everybody had been to a party. Except me I was I'll pass five in the uh the next in the um makeup chair so I had to go to bed early and I woke. Up about half past one and my um my actual bedroom was on the front of the promenade. In this hotel that we all stayed in and I thought well everybody's bound to be up I went downstairs there was nobody up they'd all gone to and eventually. About oh and about an hour later. I and it was roaring outside the gale absolutely roaring. And no lights were on in the hotel.
0:50 And you came down do you remember. Okay and you you actually. I said to you I said I don't know what's going on I said but I think we're in a bit of a a mess here eventually. Another man came and he was going to go on the ferry to from harris to the hook of holland and he came down and we sat there the three of us. With gale roaring about it thinking that the cast would come down but nobody came. Down that most of us got up and came down and said we couldn't sleep I think war window was blown in Ruth my car was damaged. Didn't he say he felt the room move for the first time.
2:05 Don't put the bacon on for the breakfast in the morning and sit up at six in the morning we're all down there and we you know and we all assembled. Because the whole thing was a nightmare complete night it was a saturday morning and uh and then we we went back to the camp we got one uh scene. To film outside around the pool but because of the devastation 58 popular trees came down in that candle. Do you remember that and you remember the guy. Jeff jeff one of the um technicians. Who nearly got it because the poplar came down into the va into the actual chalet he got taken to hospital. He's the sound guy wasn't it the guy with the boom that big yeah.
2:51 That's right what about to go down to toilet at the end of the shelly alliance because he was staying in the chalets he got up to go for a pee. And when he came back there was a that's right quite through shelley. Night that's for sure but it was extraordinary experience because one of the poor extras. Supporting artists uh we don't use that uh but one of the he just changed his car insurance from fully comprehensive. The third party fire and theft oh no he came down on his god's way of staying hide the eyes no more yeah. Yeah yeah do you remember the that you know as you walked out to the hotel and down the road there were you know um there were roofs.
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4:00 Off loads of trees down. And it was quite often and a lot of our that lived in london. Couldn't get to the to the camp because there was so much devastation on the roads as well you know but it it was the very last. Bit of filming and there was um historic event it was awful really you know to go out like that.
