"Actress Tina Malone has been left jobless after being sacked from panto for having cocaine.
In a scene that could have come straight from her TV hit Shameless, Tina was arrested by police as she left the theatre.
They had been tipped off by shocked theatre staff after she was heard asking for “her little bag of snow” before going on stage.
Suspicious parents at the Sleeping Beauty pantomime also reportedly saw her with a white substance under her nose.
Tina, 54, whose co-stars included children, later admitted having the class A drug after being arrested last night. She was given a police caution"
The actress was promptly sacked from her role as wicked fairy godmother Carabosse at the Cloud Nine theatre in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria – although production bosses insisted it was a mutual decision for her to leave.
A show source told the Sunday People: “Tina had been asking people earlier in the evening if they had seen her ‘little bag of snow’.
“She seemed concerned that it had gone missing.
“One of the parents at the panto noticed a white substance under her nose and asked what it was.
"She just winked and said ‘It’s showbiz snow’.
Liverpudlian Tina, best known for her role as foul-mouthed Mimi Maguire in Channel 4’s Shameless, was pictured only hours before her arrest eating a takeaway burger in between shows.
Her four-year-old daughter Flame and husband Paul Chase, who is 19 years her junior, were in the theatre when police swooped.
She reportedly asked police not to handcuff her as she was led away while members of the audience were leaving.
Our source said: “As she came off stage, she heard a rumour police had been tipped off she was using cocaine
She tried to get a taxi, but police stopped her in time and took her inside the venue to search her. She begged the police not to handcuff her, and seemed very worried.”
A Cumbria police spokesman said: “Police were called at 8:21pm on Friday to the report of a female being in possession of an illegal substance.
“A 54-year-old woman from Merseyside was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of a class A drug.
“The woman was detained whilst she helped police with their enquiries. She was later cautioned for the offence.”
After Tina’s shock departure, production bosses drafted in a male stand-in, Alan French, for the final shows.
A spokesman for Joe Purdy Productions said: “We and the artist involved have made a mutual decision to terminate contract with immediate effect as soon as we were made aware of the situation.
"The cast and crew were deeply shocked and saddened but in true panto spirit, the show must go on.”
But our source claimed the rest of the cast were pleased to see the back of “diva” Tina, who has also appeared in Victoria Wood’s sitcom Dinnerladies and C4 soap Brookside.
The source said: “She was moody and always swearing, even at the kids.”
Another show insider said: “We had to move Tina from her original accommodation in a refurbished block of flats to one of the most expensive hotels in the area as she complained constantly.
“She didn’t know the songs for the first show and one of the dancers had to sing it and she lost it with the kid and reduced her to tears. Tina didn’t really mix with the rest of the cast.”
Tina was unavailable for comment despite repeated requests"
So they got someone who has done Class A drugs around kids to sit in judgement over a plus size model.
I didnt realize cocaine was healthy!!
But its ok to set shitty examples ...................as long as you are slim.
The double standards here are sickening. I find this kind of hypocrisy far more damaging than the Cosmo cover.