SU Pollard jumps to her feet and launches into an impromptu dance routine, swinging her arms and shaking her hips while singing along to I Only Want To Be With You.

She’s egged on by Claire Sweeney who, cackling with laughter, talks about the weight of her breasts and her character being a loose woman.

If a chat with this pair is anything to go by, their latest show will be a riot.

Shout, a musical celebration of the swinging 60s, opens at The Mayflower on Tuesday and runs for five nights only.

“It’s just a great fun night out,” says Claire, whose big break came when she landed the role of Lindsey Corkhill on TV’s Brookside before she became a TV and West End theatre favourite.

“There’s every big hit you can remember from the 60s, all the big diva ballads.

“Three girls come from up north to London and it’s all about their escapades. It’s a light and frothy script and it’s all about the songs and music and fantastic singers.

“My character, oh, she’s loose!

She likes her blokes and she ends up falling for a Spanish waiter!

“It’s not like there’s an immersing plot or anything, it’s all about the songs.”

Su, best known for her famed TV role as chalet maid Peggy in Hi-de- Hi, interrupts Claire often.

Speaking in her distinctive deep voice, she is every bit as overexcitable as Peggy was.

“There’s one token chap in it,” she giggles.

“I play Yvonne. She came down from Manchester to try her luck and now runs a hairdressing salon.

“My niece Ruby, played by Claire, decides to try her luck too and just so happens to meet two girls on the train who also want to try their luck in London.

“It covers a ten-year period from 1960 to 1970 with all the big songs.”

It’s clear as the pair talk backstage at The Mayflower open day last weekend that the cast of Shout have a lot of fun.

But what is it about this show that works them both into such a frenzy?

Sipping tea as she thinks, 37- year-old Claire muses: “It’s just a feelgood thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re three or 103 it makes you feel good.

“It’s lovely to see kids dancing in the aisles and the thing I like about the show is it’s not targeted at one audience.

Families love it, it’s good for hen nights and even for blokes, who get to see a bit of totty on stage. There’s a really good calibre of West End singers in this show.”

Su, sporting giant red star earrings, chips in: “Unfortunately people don’t expect to hear a live band any more, but you really get your money’s worth here.

The set is small but effective and you really have a great night.”

Claire continues: “It’s the first tour I’ve ever done and it’s come at a great time in my life. To be on the road with five girls is great and we’ve really bonded.

We’ve become very close and the friendship that we’ve forged transfers on to stage. It’s like girl power! I’ve also absolutely fallen in love with England and been to so many places I wouldn’t go to normally.

“Even some of the big musicals I’ve done like Chicago and Guys and Dolls have had quite straight serious elements to them, but this is the first one I’ve done which is so interactive and where people get up and dance at the end.

“We’d never done anything like it before. We laughed after the first night, we said it felt like a rock concert and we felt like Madonna!”

“Oh yeah,” giggles Su, the 58–year-old star of You Rang M’ Lord, “it was so joyful. It was a bit like Lazarus and the second coming.

One woman jumped out of her chair to do a bit of dancing!”

The pair, who have been apart for the summer while the show took a short break, have a lot to catch up on and are soon ignoring the gathered journalists and staff and gossiping among themselves.

Sipping tea and munching on nuts, Claire sighs: “Do you know what I love? I don’t have to go to the gym!

It’s all singing and dancing for two hours.”

Su admits to having gained 12lbs over the summer and Claire two stones.

“A stone on each breast,” she giggles while pointing her ample cleavage at the video camera before her.

If the obvious chemistry between these two transfers to the stage, Mayflower audiences are in for a treat next week.