People feel I’m their friend when they see me on TV, so I try to pay that back

The most expensive thing actress ANNETTE BADLAND has ever bought for fun was a £3,000 sculpture of a very well endowed female nude.

The 73-year-old award-winning actress has rarely been out of work having shot to fame playing Charlotte in Bergerac in the 1980s. She has also played Dr Fleur Perkins in Midsomer Murders and Babe Smith in EastEnders and appeared in comedy football series Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. She tells Donna Ferguson that actors ‘live a privileged life’ and it is important to give back. She lives with her partner, actor David Hatton, 81.

What did your parents teach you about money?

To save and to live within your means, because money was hard to come by. My dad was in the car trade and my mum didn’t work until I was 10, and then she got a job in a hostel as a cook. Money was tight.

There were mealtimes where we shared a tin of soup between us. Dad would have half but Mum would be generous with me, so she would have very little. But I don’t remember being hungry as a child. My parents always made sure I was okay.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

Only at East 15 drama school. I remember meeting people there who ate smoked salmon and avocado pears, called me ‘darling’ and drank champagne. That wasn’t something I’d grown up with. To save money, I’d make myself a big pot of lentils and vegetables that would last me a week. Mum and Dad would help me out by sending me parcels of stockings and soap. Once, I got a Tupperware box of wet and soggy food in the post, with a note from them saying: ‘We were enjoying this salad and wanted to share it with you’. When I left drama school, I got work with the Actors Company, which Ian McKellen had just started, alongside Felicity Kendal. From then on, like a pit pony, my career has been continuous – I’ve rarely been out of work.

What was the best year of your financial life?

Shortly after I joined Bergerac in 1983. I went from earning £32 a week doing repertory theatre to having a regular job on television. I cannot remember how much I was paid, but that year I was able to take out a mortgage and buy my parents their house for £17,000. They were living in a tied cottage on a farm: Mum cleaned the hall and looked after the kids, and Dad was a gardener and handyman. Come the end of their ability to do that, they could have been asked to leave. Dad was in his early 70s. So before I bought my own home, I bought them theirs.

What is the most costly thing you bought for fun?

A sculpture of a very well-endowed female nude by Paul Hamann, for around £3,000. I suspect, if anything, it has gone down in value since I bought it. But I love it. She’s wonderful and overt, and gives me great pleasure.

Do famous actors lead a privileged life?

Yes and that’s why I think you have to give back… I’m an ambassador for Target Ovarian Cancer. I learned on EastEnders that when you’re in people’s living rooms, they feel you’re their friend. You need to pay back that connection.

Do you still work long hours at 73?

I don’t have children so my work is probably more important to me than it should be. I enjoy the stimulation of playing different characters.