The Nolans

September 2012

OUR last tour in 2009 opened in Nottingham and we couldn’t have asked for a better opening night. It blew us away.

There were a lot of hen parties and I think the men who were there had probably been dragged along as chauffeur for the night.

The whole tour went really well. We were quite overwhelmed by that.

Since then we’ve been asked about doing another one but we’re all doing our own thing and it’s not easy getting us together.

This is the final tour. We are doing it just one more time and then calling it a day.

Touring is hard work when you’re older. You do have to get match fit. I’m training every day.

Originally it was the whole family: my mum and dad, six girls and two boys – we were a family act for years.

I don’t feel like I missed out on anything when I was younger because I travelled the world and had a fantastic life, although I wanted to join the Brownies and I couldn’t because we had gigs.

We sold 25 million records but we never made any money because we signed what was probably one of the worst deals of all time, as a lot of bands did in those days.

We had a great time but we weren’t throwing tellies out of windows. We weren’t sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

I loved Celebrity Big Brother. I’ve watched a few clips from it and it’s massively different from what you see. I’ve always watched the show and I was one of those who said ‘you’re just sitting in a house, how difficult can it be?’ But it is so different. It is a real mental game.

A lot of the time it’s pure boredom. There is nothing to do for hours and after a couple of days when you’ve found out about everyone you do run out of things to say.

And when people are bored they get irritated.

I was really surprised about how upset I got in there. My family were even more surprised because I am known for not crying, certainly not in public. I’ve known my husband for 12 years and I’ve only cried in front of him twice, and both times that was at funerals.

When you leave the Big Brother house and the doors open it really is quite overwhelming. You really know nothing about what’s going on in the outside world for those three weeks. You are in such a bubble.

I was delighted I even got in to the final never mind coming second.

As for the situation with Julie (Goodyear)... well, that made it harder for me. On the first day she was telling everyone how much she loved them. And that didn’t seem at all genuine.

It was so frustrating because the rest of the housemates didn’t think it was strange and they genuinely loved her.

I started to question myself. Am I being a paranoid? Am I creating this situation in my head?

She kept telling everyone I’d pushed that custard pie in her face really hard but I hadn’t. It was so soft. When I went up to her I said ‘I feel really bad doing this’ and she said ‘oh, just get on with it!’

And I put it in her face really softly. I wish I hadn’t right now.

And she carried it on after the show. We were both on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, where they showed me all the clips of her criticising me. I sat next to her and she still said that she loved me. I couldn’t deal with it.

As much as it was difficult for me, it made for great TV.

The Nolans’ Farewell Tour comes to the Royal Concert Hall on February 15. Tickets are £35 and £38 from the venue, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk