She was part of a group of scantily clad women who used perform on the hugely popular long running Benny Hill Show. In our series on interesting expats, Jayne Melville reveals what it was like to be one of Hill’s Angels.

There was once a time when pop songs reached the charts without having a video to go with them (in those days, a video was an extremely costly exercise).

So the producers of British shows like Top of the Pops came up with the idea of hiring a group of dancers who could...well...dance along to the song instead, and dance troupes like Pans People and Legs & Co were born.

Essentially, they were professionally trained dancers doing pop routines dressed in very little.

Out of that tradition, the dance group Hot Gossip were formed, often performing on the anarchic Kenny Everitt Show – a madcap former DJ whose huge popularity was matched only by the weekly outcry from those who felt he had gone 'too far' or that his dancers were causing moral outrage with their skimpy outfits.

Mary Whitehouse, self-styled head of the Viewers' and Listeners' Association would regularly berate TV bosses; a fact not lost on those dancers who were at the sharp end of her criticism:

"She hated us!" laughs Jayne Melville, an ex-Hot Gossip dancer, who now lives on the Costa del Sol.

"We were just dancing, but we were highly specialised classical dancers, and we loved it. But we didn't know what we were going to be wearing for each show.

"I didn't even tell my parents for two years that I was part of that group, because I was so embarrassed by what we were wearing, or what we weren’t wearing.

"But then, fifteen years later look at Madonna's outfits! Remember those big cones on her boobs...?"

And Jayne did a lot more than just dance on the Kenny Everitt Show.

"I was actually Kenny's life guard on the programme. Not many people know that. I had to stop him jumping into that big vat of green goo which contestants ended up in every week, because he always wanted to jump in himself, which never pleased the director.

"He was completely whacky. He wouldn't ever use the cue cards, he just used to make it up. He was just brilliant."

The skimpy theme continued, when Jayne became one of Hill's Angels, performing in comedy sketches on the Benny Hill Show, a programme which, like it or loathe it, is still watched by countless millions across the world.

"The guy was amazing, a genius," recalls Jayne.

"I mean, he produced and directed all his programmes. An absolutely magical man. It was a very busy time for me. I also worked with Dick Emery, Little and Large, Morecambe and Wise...all lovely wonderful people.

"It was an education for me, for both the drama and dance side. I was in the right place at the right time."

Jayne is now using her experience as a dancer and performer to help others begin their careers, having launched a performing arts academy here in southern Spain.

And with a big name patron like choreographer and celebrity Wayne Sleep, her academy is going from strength to strength.

"I’ve got so much to give back to the industry. I say to the kids 'these are skills for life'. You are not just learning how to dance, you are also learning to walk into a room with confidence and presence.

"I think it’s more important than having academic pieces of paper. It’s how you carry yourself."

See: www.performingartsacademy-marbella.com

This article first appeared in the magazine Dreamlife, which has a circulation of 60,000 in the Costa del Sol. See: www.dreamlife-magazine.com

[Copyright Expatica]

[February 2007]

Subject: Spain; Interesting expats