Meet Loose Women star and Yorkshire diva, Jane McDonald (From York Press)

Meet Loose Women star and Yorkshire diva, Jane McDonald

9:18am Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

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FASHION has finally caught up with Jane McDonald. The big, glossy, hair, the plunging dresses, the perfect manicure – it’s all so very Cheryl Cole.

“I love big and glitzy,” laughs Jane in her hearty Wakefield accent. “Nobody was doing what I’ve been doing for the past 12 years, but now it’s very trendy.”

Indeed, when Jane first sailed on to our horizons in 1998 in the BBC docusoap, The Cruise, part of her charm was that she belonged to another age. She evoked a time of smoky cabaret bars and club singers, the sort of world which that other northern star, Peter Kay, would later poke fun at in Phoenix Nights.

But that was then.

Fast forward to 2010 and the 46-year-old entertainer is at the peak of her career. Still riding high from her Loose Women triumph at the National Television Awards (where it beat Top Gear and The Apprentice to win Best Factual Show) and undertaking her longest tour (all 100 dates), Jane is establishing herself as a bit of a national treasure.

What’s more, she’s in love.

The lucky fella is Ed Rothe, ten years her senior and the drummer with reformed Sixties band The Searchers. The couple are engaged.

This news surprised fans because Jane very publicly doubted she would wed again after a heartbreak divorce from Henrik Brixen, her co-star in The Cruise and ex-manager. Their fairytale wedding in the Caribbean was filmed by the Beeb and watched by a TV audience of 13.5 million. Jane didn’t work for nine months after the break-up.

“I just thought I was going to be on my own – and I was happy with that,” says Jane.

But then she met Ed. “I originally met Ed when I was 19 at the Pussycat club in Wakefield,” says Jane. “He was in the band Liquid Gold – they had a hit with Dance Yourself Dizzy. I was a barmaid.”

The couple’s hectic schedule means they spend much time apart. But that will change soon because Ed has decided to come out of the band and move up north to Wakefield, where Jane still calls home.

Although her parents came from Scotland, Jane is Yorkshire through and through. She says she’s up and down from Wakefield to London “like a fiddler’s elbow”. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her mother, Jean, still lives in the West Yorkshire town.

“I adore it,” says Jane. “I am really strong on community and I love going to my local butcher, baker and the farm shop. I’m five minutes away from beautiful countryside and in 15 minutes I can be in the centre of Leeds.”

Embarking on a big tour – which brings her to York’s Grand Opera House on Friday and Saturday – and fitting in her Loose Women commitments leaves little free time, particularly as she runs her own show, from hiring dress designers for her concert wardrobe to launching her own record label.

Her star sign is Aries, and she admits she is a typical one.

“The leader; the ram; big headed and stubborn,” she says, then chortles. She accepts the “diva” tag.

“I am a perfectionist, which is why I am such a control freak. I have to have the last say on everything. When it all kicked off for me, I was very naïve. I had a lot of people from London taking over my management and promotion and styling. I lost my identity and didn’t know who I was.”

The turnaround came with her divorce.

“I set up the company because I thought: ‘I’ve got to look after myself now’,” she says, admitting to being a “workaholic”. Not that she’s complaining. “I love the business side of it all. It’s hard work. I have one day off a week and then I am in the office, doing the wages, sorting out emails, doing interviews. It’s extremely hard work, but very fulfilling.”

Jane has built up a firm fan base through touring for the past decade. But she has won over a new legion of admirers from her regular stints on ITV’s daytime magazine show, Loose Women. Jane loves doing the show, even though it is such a challenge.

“It’s the hardest job I do,” she says. “There’s so much research that goes into the guests. We have to know what we are talking about – I know it sounds as if we don’t and it all looks very off the cuff.”

For example, when Alistair Campbell appeared fresh from his appearance at the Chilcot inquiry, Jane and co had to gen up on the Iraq war and read his novel.

Jane is not political, but will speak up for “communities looking after the elderly”. Her favourite guests have included George Benson, Bette Midler, Whoopi Goldberg and John Cleese.

What she loves about the show is the diverse topics and a chance to do what she does best: good old fashioned Yorkshire straight talking.

“It’s not Newsnight or Question Time. We speak in laymen’s terms, that people can understand. One minute we can be talking about the size of bra cups, the next the NHS. That’s what keeps people interested.”

There will be plenty of chat too on stage. Her shows tend to last for up to two-and-a-half hours. “I can’t shut up,” says Jane with a chuckle.

Fans can expect a showcase spectacular; fabulous outfits, a great band and backing singers and a musical medley featuring ballads, Motown and disco.

She might even do Dance Yourself Dizzy.

•Jane McDonald will perform at the Grand Opera House on Friday and Saturday. Tickets £23.50 and £28.50 from 0844 847 2322.