Stars in their hair

DIANA Ross, Whitney Houston and Pamela Anderson are just three of the big names who have been turning heads at the S.O.T.A salon in Micklegate, York.

Ricky Tomlinson, Cherie Blair and Richard Wilson have also made an appearance. So have Posh and Becks too.

Well, not exactly. Rather, their lookalikes have been visiting the salon as part of a TV show about celebrity doppelgangers.

Salon owner Giovanni Di Capua has been charged with making the participants look even more like their celebrity doubles.

The make-overs are part of Dead Ringers, a short series of films for YTV's Tonight magazine show.

The first series went out last year, and filming has just finished for the second run of ten-minute films which will be broadcast early next year.

It was all hard work - but great fun, says Giovanni, who had to complete three make-overs a day during filming.

A fashion stylist and makeup artist were employed to complete the desired look, then the celebrity double walked through York, followed by the TV cameras to capture the reaction of the public.

The person who fooled the punters the most was the man who looked like Ricky Tomlinson, the actor who plays Jim Royle in the award-winning BBC comedy The Royle Family.

"People came up and asked him for his autograph and when he went out he was mobbed by people who were convinced it was him," recalls Giovanni.

Cherie Blair lookalike Christine Green also caused heads to turn when she went walkabout in the city.

Giovanni says the transformation was so successful, that Christine asked to come back and have her hair lightened after filming so she would look less like Cherie.

For sheer entertainment value, the Diana Ross lookalike was hard to beat.

"She walked through town and ended up in King's Square singing a Diana Ross song," recalls Giovanni.

The 36-year-old hairdresser landed the project after he was recommended to the programme makers by a trade magazine.

Although he had been on a TV presenting course, getting in front of the camera was new territory for Giovanni. The day before filming he would receive a picture of the lookalike and of the celebrity, then on the day he'd meet with the stylist and makeup artist to agree a look, then get to work.

The other celebrity recreations he has pulled off for the series include Rolf Harris, Coronation Street's Audrey Roberts and Stars In Their Eyes frontman himself Matthew Kelly.

"I really enjoyed it," says Giovanni, who has been in the hairdressing trade for 21 years. "It was nice to do something completely different."

He hopes to do more TV and believes hairdressers on the box are good for the industry as a whole.

"They have done a lot to raise the profile of hairdressing and make it into a sexy industry which people want to work in. And anyway, you need a break from all those TV chefs."

WIN A MAKE-OVER

GIOVANNI would like to offer readers the chance to win a dream make-over at his S.O.T.A salon in Micklegate, York.

The winner will receive a complete new look, including cut, colour and hair treatment of their choice by Giovanni himself and will take away a goodie bag of Clynol hair products worth £50. The make-over will take place in November. Five runners-up will also win a goodie bag with Clynol hair-care products worth £50.

question: What is the name of the TV make-over series featuring Giovanni?

Send your answers on a postcard with your name, address and daytime telephone number marked S.O.T.A Competition to Maxine Gordon, Features Department, Evening Press, PO Box 35, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN. Deadline: Wednesday, November 1, 2000.