BEST known as the long suffering wife of accident prone Frank Spencer in hit 70s BBC TV series Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, Michele Dotrice is returning to her comic roots.

She is touring in the Ealing comedy The Ladykillers as sweet but strict landlady Mrs Wilberforce, the busybody who finds herself on the receiving end of a ridiculous murder plot.

It’s the first work she’s signed up to since the death of her beloved husband and closest adviser, the celebrated stage and screen actor Edward Woodward.

The 64-year-old actress performed in JB Priestley’s When We Are Married in the West End two years ago, but her appearance in her husband’s favourite play had already been mooted before his death from pneumonia in November 2009.

“I so miss my beloved boy Edward, but I do feel like he’s always with me and I know he would have approved of this. It would have made him laugh,”

she tells me.

“It’s very different from anything I’ve done before. I’ve never played a woman of this age for a start. Mind you, she’s not too far away from my own age. I hope I’ll be able to cope with the stairs!

“To be honest, I’m always amazed that anyone thinks of me.

“I’m happy I can work, particularly in this economy.

“It’s wonderful when a role like this comes along.

Michele, who also appeared in a host of TV shows including A Month In The Country, The Winslow Boy and Vanity Fair, enlisted the help of another important man in her life as she rehearsed for the classic black comedy, which sees little old lady Mrs Wilberforce unwittingly pitted against a gang of criminal misfits.

“Well, my friend Michael Crawford came back into my life again recently,”

she laughs as she describes her co-star in Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, from 1973 to 1978.

“With us being in America and Cornwall and Michael lives in New Zealand, we hadn’t been able to see much of each other over the years.

“But he came to see me in When We Are Married with my daughter Emily and his daughter Emma and then we went to see him when he was appearing in the Wizard of Oz.

“Anyway, he came around to the flat a couple of weeks back to help me study Mrs Wilberforce and was in hysterics. He had tears pouring down his face. He really enjoyed it. I said would you do me a favour and play her for me. We had so much fun.”

The pair don’t rule out working together again.

Michele adds: “We definitely have a sense of each other’s humour and it has stuck. I do believe we will do something together again – both he and I would like that, whether it be on stage or television. We’ll look for something I think.

“Some things are best left alone, but it was wonderful. I look at her now and think who was that woman?! I look back at Betty fondly and with great pride. It was such an important part of my life.”

Michele’s adored father, actor Roy Dotrice, the 89-year-old contemporary of her late husband, is still going strong and is hoping to be in the audience to see her when she performs alongside Shaun Williamson (EastEnders and Extras) and Clive Mantle (Casualty and The Vicar of Dibley) in Father Ted writer Graham Linehan’s adaptation of the Ealing comedy.

But she continues to miss her husband of 23 years dreadfully.

“Strangely enough, since Edward has gone, I don’t seem to have dreams any more.

“My sister Karen (another actress from the family dynasty) lives in LA and she’s a great believer in dreams.

She really gets into it all and the reasons for them.

“I no longer dream, so I wake up and make lists instead. So it will be great to keep myself occupied with this wonderful new role.”

The Ladykillers is at The Mayflower from Monday to Saturday.