Naked ambition

BACKSTAGE PASS: TARA BRADYtalks to model and budding actress Danielle Lineker as she rehearses for the touring production of 'Calendar Girls'in Dublin

STOP US IF you’ve heard this one before. In 1999 a group of ordinary Yorkshire housefraus put together a naked Women’s Institute calendar in aid of leukaemia research. Their charitable high jinx would inspire a 2003 film starring Helen Mirren and, in 2009, a hit West End show.

Several slack financial quarters later and the stage-bound Calendar Girlshas bucked the odds, raking in £21 million from its most recent UK run.

As the latest touring production gears up for opening night it’s battle stations backstage at the Bristol Hippodrome.

New recruit Danielle Lineker has five days to go until her theatrical debut, a prospect that has left her feeling decidedly nervous.

“It’s not a heavy part,” she says, as if reassuring herself. “You can dip in and out of it. I’ve been doing my character studies and putting myself into the material. I know that in a few weeks I’ll be wishing I had a bigger role. But the opening night is going to be all about getting through it.”

We suspect she’ll do just fine. Lineker, the wife of good-guy English footballer Gary, has done her homework. Later this week, when she treads the boards at Dublin’s Grand Canal theatre, she’ll do so after two years of study and a stint at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

“It’s something I’ve hoped to do since I was a kid,” she tells me. “I want to do it right. I want to take baby steps and learn my craft. I’ve even had the acting coach over at weekends.”

Her careful preparation was, she suggests, not enough to prevent her knees from knocking once she found herself in a company of players that includes veteran performers Ruth Madoc and Lynda Bellingham.

“I was so bloody nervous,” says Danielle. “We’re still in rehearsals, but they are so supportive it’s unbelievable. They’ve given me notes. They’ve looked after me every step. Bernie Nolan was texting me last night. You put 10 girls in a room, what are the odds that’ll happen? These are inspiring women.”

Cardiff-born Lineker (nee Bux) first came to prominence as a swimsuit model and beauty pageant queen. Once a single mother who juggled modelling gigs and air stewardess duties, she had already carved out a career as a recognisable cover star when, in 2007, she fell for Match of the Daypresenter, Gary Lineker. They were married in 2009.

"I'm obviously very happy to be his wife," she says, "but at the same time, I'm aware that everyone is watching. You do worry that you're going to trip up." In this spirit, Lineker has worked hard to establish herself as something more than a slinky looker. While other famous spouses are queuing up for a spot on I'm a Celebrity. . ., she can be found over at BBC3 fronting a documentary about step-families.

“Making that documentary helped me so much,” says the 31-year-old. “It’s hard to get perspective on family. There are dynamics you don’t see. I’ll get cross with my own daughter a lot quicker than I will with Gary’s boys. Nobody really talks about step-families even though it’s a massive issue. We’re lucky. Gary’s boys are teenagers so there hasn’t been a big transition for me and my daughter. The boys are always happy as long as they have their Xbox and a fridge full of food.”

She insists, too, that she is neither a card-carrying or associate Wag: “Oh my God, absolutely not,” she says. “I don’t even know any Wags. I don’t go to football matches. I don’t know any girls that fit the bill. I’ve had the same best friend since I was 12 and the same group of girlfriends. We live outside London so we’re not part of that scene at all.”

During the couple’s occasional forays into the capital for glitzy charity events, she still finds herself getting star struck. She was, she says, far too overwhelmed to speak to Ben Kingsley when he sat beside her at last month’s Pride of Britain bash and was utterly “shell-shocked” throughout a recent dinner with Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. “She’s such a role model for me,” says Lineker. “She’s a role model for a lot of Welsh women. I’m really, really, really in awe of her.”

Despite the A-list dinner guests and the country pile, Lineker still prefers to earn her own keep. With this in mind, she has already signed up for two films including Tom Daly's keenly anticipated feature debut, Rules of the Game.

“I’ll be learning on the job, but I want to take a crack at it,” she says. “I’m hoping somebody asks me to shave my head or to do something completely unexpected. The films I like best are gritty British sink dramas. I love Mike Leigh. I love Shane Meadows. My friend Liam (McMahon) went to the Maze and wrapped himself in a blanket when he made Hunger. I hope I have that kind of dedication if the chance comes up. When I was young everything was about surviving. But now I’m in a position to do the things I’ve always wanted to do.”

She laughs: “I just have to survive the opening night of Calendar Girls first.”

Calendar Girlsis at Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre, February 7th-19th; grandcanaltheatre.ie