Celia Imrie I Am Very Lucky To Be Alive

She’s one of Britain’s most in-demand actresses, a best-selling author and doting single mum, and following a perilously close brush with death, Celia Imrie is more determined than ever to seize every day, she tells Juliet Rieden.

- Juliet Rieden

Just imagine the scene. You’re cruising on the glorious Queen Mary 2. You decide to throw caution to the wind and join the fencing class and after a frenetic clash of swords you lift your mask to discover that the rather balletic, energetic lady you have been lunging at is none other than Celia Imrie, the plummy-voiced star of the Marigold Hotel films, Calendar Girls, Bridget Jones’s Diary and best-selling novelist to boot. It could happen, really.

Celia regularly hops from Southampton to New York on the liner and always throws herself into the onboard activities. “I’ve probably done the journey about seven times now. I’m mad about the sea,” she explains excitedly. “I go line dancing. I do the quiz. And, you know, in the middle of the ocean doing a fencing class is rather an extraordinary experience and wonderful.”

Celia swears “the ship is big enough for you to get lost in,” but also admits she’s frequently recognised. “It means that you have to be very polite and say hello to people, but I never mind that actually. It doesn’t cost anything to say hello and smile.”

Celia Imrie is exactly as I had imagined she would be – warm, thoughtful, a bit naughty and dripping with refined English courtesy. But there’s also a sense of determined urgency about her. Even though she hates to be defined by age, at 65 she’s acutely aware that she must grab life by the throat to make each day count.