A RED haired orphan escapes her hard knock life and finds home in a well-known musical coming to Malvern Theatres.

Annie stars Su Pollard as Miss Hannigan, the deranged spinster who runs the orphanage Annie escapes.

Su, best known as Peggy in Hi de Hi, last appeared in Malvern in another musical, Little Shop of Horrors and is celebrating 30 years in showbusiness this year.

She has given the evil Miss Hannigan a different interpretation for the production of Annie.

"I try and bring a little bit of warmth to her," she said.

"I see her as a little bit wistful - she's not horrible. She's had a tough life, she's never found a man and she's let herself go.

"She was born into a dysfunctional family and I think people identify with that."

Su's Miss Hannigan is jittery, twitchy, partial to Jack Daniels and is carted off by the men in white coats at the end of the production.

The story follows Annie who, stuck in a New York orphanage, dreams of finding her real parents.

Billionaire businessman Oliver Warbucks decides to adopt her over Christmas and offers a $500,000 reward for her real parents to come forward.

But Miss Hannigan, horrible brother Rooster and girlfriend Lily devise a plan to pretend to be Annie's parents to get the reward.

Featuring classic songs such as Tomorrow, It's A Hard Knock Life and Your Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, the musical is described by Su as the original rags to riches story.

The show also features local dancers from the Cecilia Hall Dance Centre.

Su is not appearing in panto this year, as Annie is playing in Manchester, but she said she did not mind as the show featured a beautiful Christmas scene.

Annie plays at Malvern Theatres from Monday to Saturday, November 8-13. Tickets are £16 to £24 (under 18's £10) from 01684 892277.