"I'll Never Retire"

Small screen stalwart Anne Reid is busier than ever, loving being lady of the manor, and still hoping for a call from Hollywood!

-  ALISON JAMES

Val Barlow in Coronation Street, Jean in dinnerladies, Mrs Thackeray the cook in the 2010 revival of Upstairs Downstairs, Celia in Last Tango in Halifax, love scenes with future James Bond Daniel Craig in award winning film The Mother... Anne Reid's remarkable body of work over the years reads like a wish list for any up-and-coming actress.

She's been a household face and name since the 1960s, and now, at an unbelievable 88 (she looks many years younger), you'd think she'd quite like to put up feet up. But think again!

Anne is currently starring in two of the biggest shows on terrestrial television - ITV's Regency costume drama Sanditon in which she plays deliciously barbed-tongued matriarch Lady Denham, and real-life victim Anne MooreMartin in the BBC's chilling true-crime four-parter The Sixth Commandment. We're guessing retirement isn't on her agenda, then!

"I love my work and don't think I'll ever retire - not many people in this business do," she tells us.

"In fact, If I got a call from George Clooney in Hollywood asking me to do a film, I'd be there like a shot!

"I know how to take it easy, though. When I'm not working, I do a lot of putting my feet up. I love lying on the settee, flicking through a magazine, watching TV or listening to music. I'm a great one for cat-naps and often set the alarm to wake me after an afternoon snooze.

That's how I conserve my energy in addition to the eight hours of sleep I try to get every night.

"But I also like being busy and going out. I'm very sociable and love company and dressing up.