IN HER OWN WORDS: Frances de la Tour

As the 73-year-old legend of stage and screen joins time-travelling romance Outlander (9pm, More4), we take a look at what she’s had to say about life down the years…

behind:

On trying to leave the sitcom Rising Damp

‘How was I to know it would become a classic with endless repeats? Right afterwards, I went off and played Hamlet with long hair [on stage]. That was in 1979. I thought, I’ve got to rid myself of this woman [Miss Jones]. My friends now all say Rising Damp was terribly good, so just enjoy it. So there it is.’

On how having children changes your life:

‘Suddenly, there’s a different point of reference, and they come first. I became very political in the 1970s, but it was never more important than my children.

I’ve never feared loneliness because once you’re a mother, you’re never, ever alone.’

On how she fitted her career around motherhood:

‘I never worked outside London and I didn’t tour. I was always able to pick the children up from school and have tea with them. I would have to go to work just as they went to bed, but when I got back, I would sometimes wake them up!’

On the revelations of ageing: ‘At my 60th birthday, my brother said: “Well, Frankie doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘compromise’.” And now I’m older and so-called wiser, if a person does bore me a bit, I really have to move on.’ On retiring from acting: ‘I won’t give it up – it will give me up one day because I won’t remember the lines or I won’t be able to move.’