The bare truth about some celebrities

"I was asked to do Calendar Girls and I had seen the film, and I was thrilled to be offered the Helen Mirren role," she says.

"But having said that, the first thing I did was read the book by (real-life Calendar Girl) Tricia Stewart. I wanted to go back to the basics. After reading the book, I had a clean sheet really to work on."

The 2003 film starring Mirren, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie was the true story of the Yorkshire Women's Institute members who stripped off to pose for a charity calendar.

In essence the stage version, currently at the CFT until September 27, will tell the same tale, but inevitably the demands and advantages of the theatre will bring in important changes.

For the full feature, see the West Sussex Gazette issue dated September 10