Waterloo Road icon unrecognisable as flamboyant drag queen in unbelievable pics

Waterloo Road prima Mark Benton, who played teacher Daniel Chalk connected the BBC show, is starring successful caller BBC Three drama Smoggie Queens - and looks unrecognisable arsenic a resistance queen

Camp drama is coming to Teesside successful Smoggie Queens – a slapstick sitcom astir an eclectic radical of friends who are fiercely arrogant of their tiny LGBTQ+ community. Creator and comedian Phil Dunning stars arsenic the glamorous gang’s self-obsessed person Dickie, portion Waterloo Road’s Mark Benton takes connected the transformative relation of resistance queen Mam – and couldn’t look much different.

“I’ve ne'er played thing similar this,” the 59-year-old Northern Lights prima says. “It took 2 hours to get into drag, truthful it was tiring for an aged codger similar me, but truthful worthy it. When your costume is on, you tin bash things that you don’t usually do. You look truthful different, you get distant with more! The nails changed the mode I held my hands. Once the nails were on, I was ready.”

Former Corrie prima Alexandra Mardell plays the lavish Lucinda, Vera’s Patsy Lowe is quiescent tomboy Sal and newcomer Elijah Young takes connected the relation of “baby gay” Stewart, who is caller to the section queer community. Born and raised successful the North East, Phil says it was captious the bid was filmed connected his location patch. “It wasn’t an enactment to movie anyplace else,” helium adds. “It had to beryllium Middlesbrough. Normally, it’s programmes dedicated to uncovering the worst spot to unrecorded successful Britain, oregon transgression documentaries. Smoggie Queens is simply a emotion missive to the municipality and highlights the warmth and humour of the radical who unrecorded there.”

As for what a “smoggie queen” is, Phil explains, “Somebody who’s a weirdo, who doesn’t conform. An outsider and ideally idiosyncratic from Teesside but that’s not a prerequisite. We’re inclusive.” From holding a fab ceremonial for Dickie’s latest break-up to headlining astatine Middlesbrough Pride, the Smoggie Queens find themselves successful each sorts of shenanigans. But, ultimately, the drama is astir uncovering your people. “Chosen household tin beryllium everything to a queer person,” Phil says. “Growing up, we consciousness different. To find others who judge you for who you are tin beryllium a lifeline.

"It’d beryllium beauteous for an assemblage to consciousness similar they privation to bent retired with the queens. Each of the pack is truthful antithetic and they each person their ain idiosyncratic quirks and characteristics. Hopefully an assemblage would subordinate to astatine slightest 1 of them. Just similar the Spice Girls."

Smoggie Queens begins connected Thursday 28th November astatine 10:10pm connected BBC Three.