Screen legend Brenda on acting in her I thought I couldn’t do another series of Vera but I just love it

Brenda said: “He’s such a laugh. A real prankster. He’s an amazingly good mimic. If we’re rehearsing a scene, he’ll suddenly start talking in a different voice.

“But essentially he’s serious about what he’s doing. I couldn’t have anyone around who wasn’t taking the job seriously.”

But despite the laughs the gruelling filming schedule still takes its toll so Brenda makes a conscious effort to lead a healthy lifestyle.

She said: “It’s quite a physical role so I need to be quite fit. I don’t jog any more but I do have a treadmill at home and I do that ridiculous fast walking. I look after myself.”

In her 50s she ran the London Marathon several times but did not like the preparation.

She said: “The training was purgatory. I used to hide when my trainer came to collect me at the house. He’d shout through the letterbox: ‘I know you’re in there’.” Brenda also stays mentally fit by doing tough daily online crosswords and enjoys TV quizzes such as Tipping Point and Eggheads.

She said: “And I really like The Chase. I couldn’t imagine it without Bradley Walsh. He’s so good.” It’s clear she puts 100 per cent into playing Vera and is absorbed by the calculating and inscrutable character.

She said: “I get totally into her mindset. I love my time in Northumberland. I don’t have to think about paying bills or painting the spare room wall.”

Any suggestion that Brenda could be replaced by another actress will send the show’s fans into meltdown but the actress is not overly protective about the part.

She said: “I’ll carry on playing her as long as they want me but I don’t have an ego. Of course someone else could do what I do.

“I own the performances I do. But, if someone else does it, that’s their performance. Good luck to them, I’d say.” Brenda has little in common with Vera except, perhaps, for the practicalities in life.

Seven years ago she married art director Michael Mayhew, her partner of 35 years. She later said it had little to do with romance and more to do with having the right paperwork. So, if either of them died, the one left behind would be better protected by law.

ButB ask Brenda now whether tying the