'PEOPLE THINK SHOWBIZ IS ALL RATHER FALSE BUT THAT'S NOT MY TAKE ON IT'

LESLEY JOSEPH IS AS ENERGETIC AND FIT AS EVER AT 77. HERE, SHE TALKS ABOUT HER LOVE OF THE INDUSTRY, TOURING IN SISTER ACT: THE MUSICAL AND STAYING CLOSE WITH HER BIRDS OF A FEATHER CO-STARS

- RHONA MERCER

Lesley Joseph may be famous for playing larger-than-life Dorien Green in the classic sitcom Birds Of A Feather, but when we chat to the 77-year-old actress, who's currently on tour in Sister Act: The Musical, she is noticeably more subdued than her TV alter ego. In fact, Lesley is the first to admit that her stint playing Mother Superior is taking its toll.

"I am a bit tired to be honest," she tells us. "Sometimes at the beginning of the week [the tiredness] is worse than at the end because you come back after a day off and your voice takes a while to get going again."

Even so, the star - who has been working in show business for more than 50 years and lives in north London - has the energy of someone half her age and says she's inherited her mother's zest for life.

"My mother died when she was just under 104 and she was playing tennis in her nineties," Lesley says. "I sometimes don't know how I do what I do, but I just think I've got her genes, really. I look at some of the people I went to school with and I think, 'Oh my goodness, you look so old!'" 

Lesley goes on to explain that she thinks staying active is the key to having so much energy. "I did Strictly Come Dancing at 71 and I did Pilgrimage: The Road To Rome [a BBC series in which eight celebrities walked 621 miles in 15 days] at 72," she says. "I walk everywhere. When you're doing something like Sister Act, which is quite a physical show, it does give you energy. I think working keeps me young.

When we point out that Lesley looks barely a day older than when she shot to fame back in 1989, she admits she hears this all the time.