Reasons To Be Cheerful: ‘The Only Purpose Of Fame Is To Use It For Good'

Actress Joanna Lumley on why she’s never slowing down and encouraging us all to be that little bit greener

- Anna Matheson

When Joanna Lumley tells you in her familiar, soothing voice that everything is going to be alright, you can’t help but believe her. And the actress, 74, is resolute in her prediction that the coronavirus pandemic will pass and we’ll be back to normal soon.

“You’ve got to do something, which is try to live in the moment. Try to live for today and do the best you can,” Joanna’s notoriously plummy tones chime as we catch up over the phone. “Realise that all this will pass, that it is going to get better. Don’t be dejected… Try to be cheerful. It’s a kind of duty and a discipline. Keep your chin up, keep smiling and being kind. These little things can make your heart feel a lot happier, knowing that you’re doing your best.”

With her infectious positivity, it’s hard not to feel more at ease as Joanna tells us she’s had her first vaccine and isn’t in the slightest bit concerned about the virus. “I’m not a worrying kind of person. I’m a little bit kismet – either it will come and get you, sadly, or it won’t,” she explains. “Although I’m 112 years old, I’m quite fit and youthful, so I haven’t worried about it, no.”

A mainstay on our screens for half a century, the former Bond girl became a household name for her breakout role as spy Purdey in The New Avengers in the 70s. The next decade saw more success in much-loved sci-fi show Sapphire And Steel and roles in the Pink Panther films. The 90s, of course, brought us Patsy Stone.