Waterloo Road’s Denise Welch recalls hilarious hotel Grindr story: ‘It would be dangerous for me to have it!’ (EXCLUSIVE)
“And that is when I realised what Grindr was about and how quick things could be," says Welch
By Aaron Sugg
Denise Welch is back on Waterloo Road this year, reprising her beloved role as supply teacher Steph Haydock, a character famously obsessed with dating apps.
In an exclusive chat with Attitude, the Loose Women panellist reflects on her return to the BBC drama, nearly 20 years after she last played Steph, and shares the story of her first ever experience with Grindr.
Retelling the time she went to Düsseldorf in Germany to report on Blue’s 2011 Eurovision entry, she recalls staying in a hotel with her gay colleagues, teaching her a lesson or two about gay dating apps.
“I’ve got a lot of gay friends. Predominantly, probably” – Denise Welch on her love for the gays
“I know a lot about Grindr,” shares Welch. “Obviously, I’ve got a lot of gay friends. Predominantly, probably, gay friends.”
She says her husband Lincoln Townley also has quite an entourage of gay friends, specifically lesbian friends, whom they jokingly call “Lincoln and the lesbians… some kind of Mighty Hoopla band,” as Welch puts it.
Recalling the moment Loose Women sent her to report on Blue’s Eurovision entry for the United Kingdom, she remembered a crew member, Billy, staying in the room opposite hers.
“Otherwise, I always say I would have had repetitive strain injuries” – Welch on dating apps being accessible to her whilst she was single
“I knew what Grindr was,” she admits. Drawing attention to when she was single she continues: “Luckily for the dating world, when I was looking for love, or sex or whatever, the dating apps didn’t really exist.”
Humorously, she quips: “Otherwise, I always say I would have had repetitive strain injuries from swiping, without a doubt – you know, drink and dial – drink and swipe, it would have been.”
Welch was single between her last two marriages, notably after her divorce from Tim Healy in 2012 and before marrying Townley in 2013, and has been sober ever since, celebrating 13 years of sobriety last year.
She knocks on her colleague’s door before breakfast and says she is going downstairs, to which he asks if she can get him a breakfast tea while he gets himself ready.
“The match had come round, given him a blow job, and he’d come downstair” – Welch on her first Grindr experience
“After about 15 minutes, he appeared and the tea was, you know, cold,” she says, asking him where he had been.
Recalling the story, she explains: “In that time, he had gone on Grindr, found that a match was four doors down from him in the hotel. The match had come round, given him a blow job, and he’d come downstairs for his cup of tea.
“And that is when I realised what Grindr was about and how quick things could be.”
Her curiosity continues, as she asks Attitude questions about how Grindr works today: proximity, whether it’s used for hookups or long-term dating. “It would have been dangerous for me to have it,” she realises.
Welch reveals she will appear in the next season of Waterloo Road, though her character will follow a different arc than before: “What I will say to you is that you will be seeing a side of Steph that nobody has ever seen before.”
Who will Denise Welch play in Forever Home, the upcoming Forever Home Channel 5 series?
As well as reprising her role in the hit BBC show, she is currently filming for her newly announced role in the upcoming series Forever Home, adapted from Graham Norton’s novel of the same name.
Set in a small Irish town and following the character Carol Crottie as she discovers a dead body, Welch reveals who she will be starring alongside, including Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope, who appeared in the latest season of Strictly Come Dancing, and Heartstopper actress Jenny Walser.
She will plays, Moira, a 67-year-old lady from the Northeast. “She is funny, sarcastic, slightly narcissistic, and there’s a dead body involved to cope with my love of true crime,” Welch reveals.
The six-part series is set to air on Channel 5 with the official release date yet to be announced.
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