Actress helping bring history to life

Gill Collis, who has appeared in Coronation Street and danced on Top of the Pops, will assume the mantles of a Victorian housekeeper, a lady of the court of Elizabeth I, a Second World War billeting officer and a Hessle Road fishwife called Mable.

The mother-of-two, from Kirk Ella, said: “History lessons weren’t like this when I was at school. As I recall they just tended to be lots of dictation and copying from a blackboard.”

She now works as an education officer and fitness trainer for Hull Council, but her acting career included walk-on parts in Coronation Street as a waitress both at Mike Baldwin’s wedding and the Barlow twins’ 21st birthday.

“I was only about 20 at the time,” she said.

“I also used to do a lot of dance shows. I was a freelance dancer on Top of the Pops and I toured as a dancer with Davy Jones from The Monkees.

“Nowadays it’s great to give so much pleasure to school children and to help bring our museums to life.”