We all loved her as Bev in Brookside but this month Sarah White’s coming to Milton Keynes in the award-winning Mum’s the Word. Katy Lewis asked her about the show, being a mum - and of course Brookie!

As the inimitable Bev in Brookside, Sarah White was involved in every possible soap storyline known to man - usually in one episode!

Now she's ditched Ron Dicko to take on the role of career woman turned mother in the hit show Mum's the Word. She'll be at the Milton Keynes Theatre in July on the last week of the tour.

Mum’s the Word is described as being a ‘side-splittingly funny collection of stories about motherhood’ but how does it actually work? Do the separate stories link up?

The cast of Mum's the Word

Sarah: Well, it’s six actress playing different characters with very different attitudes to motherhood so 90 percent of the show is done in monologues. There are some scenes where we all come together and do kind of sketches but in the main it’s telling six very different stories. All the characters have very different kinds of attitudes to motherhood and how this affects their working life, their partners and their survival techniques.

Your character Debbie is described as a professional woman turned apprentice mum. Can you tell us a bit about her?

Sarah: I think that Debbie has the biggest struggle adjusting to motherhood. She thought that it wouldn’t really change her life and becomes increasingly shocked by how it does. She is probably the least sentimental and slushy and is the realist amongst them all. Although she loves her children she still resents them sometimes.

Do you think this is probably quite a common dilemma in this day when more women have children later in middle of their careers?

Sarah: Oh definitely, I think there are probably very few working mothers who don’t feel resentment at some stage - even if it’s just once a year for five minutes!!

You are a working mother as well aren’t you? Do you find it difficult combining the tour with motherhood?

Sarah: Yes, I’ve got a little girl Ruby who’s nearly three.

There’s a lot of juggling but really very I’m very lucky. I’ve got my husband at home, a very good nursery, my mum and dad ten minutes down the road and my sister so I’ve got the best support network possible.

I think it’s harder for actors once the children are at school. At the moment I can have Ruby with me a lot of the time but once they are at school it’s more difficult to just go off. It’s a juggle and a struggle but I admit it’s a lot easier for me than some other working mothers.

Reviews of Mum’s the Word talk about ‘great shared moments of recognition when the audience suddenly erupts with laughter’. But do you think that you have to be a mother to enjoy the show? If you haven’t got kids you can feel like you’re excluded from the secret club - it doesn’t reinforce this does it?

Sarah's left holding the baby in Mum's the Word!

Sarah: Not at all. But yes there’s definitely a lot of recognition. A lot of groups of women come and you can see them nudging each other and saying that’s you or that’s what you’ll be like. Sometimes you see the grandmother, mother and daughter coming along and it’s a great bonding experience because a lot of the stuff that we cover is often usually left unsaid.

But at the same time for example, I have a lot of male friends who have loved it. They aren’t mothers but they’ve got one! Therefore anybody who knows a mother can relate to it. If you haven’t got kids bring your mum along and nudge her!

The show has been a huge success all around the world. Do you think this shows that motherhood is essentially the same wherever you go, despite cultural differences?

Sarah: Oh yes! It’s a universal theme - there are only the slightest tweaks when it goes abroad. They change the odd cultural reference but yes, it’s 99.9 per cent the same wherever you go!

You’ve been touring with an all female cast for five months - what’s that been like? I was at an all girls school - I know what can happen if you’re not careful!

Sarah: Yes - I was at an all girls school but it was a pretty positive experience so I’ve actually said to the others that it’s like being at school again.! It’s like a five month school trip!

Some weeks we share a place together and sometimes we don’t so we don’t live in each other’s pockets. It’s like with anybody - if you’re with them 24 hours a day it’s hard but we stroll into the theatre at about 6.30pm, catch up with each other, do the show and then we’re out the door by 10.00pm!

So there’s no wild partying?!

Sarah: The crew actually tease us and call us boring and sad!

Kim Hartman (Helga in Allo Allo) always brings a kettle and her dressing room is known as Cafe Hartman! In the interval we sit in there and eat biscuits and talk about our children. It’s a good job that we all have them, anyone without them would open a vein!

So we don’t party all the time but we’re enjoying ourselves. We have been known to step out though - and when we do we have been known to abuse it! Once of the cast has an eight-month-old baby who’s with her and as I say, we all have kids so we need to get off quite quickly.

It’s like life imitating art then?

Sarah: Definitely but we’re more tragic than any of the characters!!

Do you have any motherhood anecdotes of your own?

Sarah: Well, Ruby is not quite three so luckily she’s not yet at that stage where they say truthful things and embarrass you. My major crime was that I dropped her when she was a baby - well I allowed her to fall (!) - and my husband has NEVER let me forget it!

I have to talk to you about Brookside. I loved it - I was very upset - no - angry - when it finished! Bev was huge - she was involved in every storyline going - everything happened to her. Do you have a favourite storyline?

Sarah: I absolutely loved it when Bev came back with money! They gave this woman money, made her rich and they created a monster! I used to call myself Posh’s older, fatter sister! It was an absolute master stroke. I loved her coming back and rubbing everyone’s noses in it in the bar. I really, really relished it.

Do you miss it - I do?!

Sarah: I do yes - it was a good laugh. I was in it for ten years and had known the cast and crew for all that time. But you’ve got to be philosophical about it - it finished for the right or wrong reasons and you have to relish the change.

I loved Brookside and I loved Bev and I’ve got so much to thank it for but I’m also liking the change and the chance to move onwards and upwards.

Do you know what you’ll being doing next?

Sarah: Well I’m doing the obligatory panto at Christmas in Liverpool which is great because it’s only ten minutes from home and I know it’s going to be a good laugh. I’m doing it with Micky Poppins so Bev and Lance will be reunited again!

But between July and December, I’ll have to wait and see. Ideally I’d like to do some telly but a job of any description would be nice!

Grantham gets hooked!