Windmill girls for new BBC drama 'best of men'

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of featuring as a 1940's windmill girl in a new BBC special which is being created to accompany the para-olympics during the olympic games this summer. The Drama 'Best of Men has been written by Lucy Gannon (The Children, Soldier Soldier, Bramwell) and is starring Eddie Marsdon and Rob Brydon.

Best Of Men is the remarkable and uplifting true story of the birth of the Paralympic Games and its visionary creator Dr Ludwig Guttmann.

Eddie Marsan plays Dr Guttmann; an inspirational doctor who transforms the lives of his patients and staff. Rejecting the general view that paralysis was a terminal condition, Guttmann threw out the old care regime and brought in a new philosophy - to get all his patients to live full and useful lives.

It is to that end thats the legendary windmill girls are invited to perform at the hospital in order to cheer up it's occupants!

The Windmill girls were born out of the windmill theatre in London during the early 1940's The Windmill Theatre, later The Windmill International, was a variety and revue theatre in Great Windmill Street. That was famous for its nude tableaux vivants.

Find out more about the BBC's Best of Men HERE
Find out more about the windmill girls HERE

So here are the original windmill girls busy filming for the BBC,

 And here we are getting ready to can can for the cameras 70 years later!

After a 7am start and several hours in hair and make-up we were each transformed with curly up-do's into the gorgeous windmill girls.