June's first taste of Summer Wine

Having now reached the milestone of 80, actress June Whitfield has joined the cast of Last of the Summer Wine, and recently made an appearance in ITV's latest Miss Marple series. One of our favourite TV stars, she says she has no plans to slow down.

Not only has she joined the cast of Last Of The Summer Wine - having already made her first appearance in the Christmas special, she'll be back in the show when it returns later this year - she also played a pivotal role in the latest Marple TV adaptation, By The Pricking Of My Thumbs.

"Do I ever think about retiring?" she says. "Well, I think about it after every job really. And then the phone rings. "I suppose when the phone stops ringing I will be retired," she laughs. Of course given her past form, the demand for June Whitfield looks unlikely to quieten down. Her career spans six decades and has seen her work with the likes of Tony Hancock, Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd and Noel Coward.

June worked for Coward during the 50s, which, she says, is the part of her career that brings back the fondest memories. "I worked for Noel Coward in Ace Of Clubs, the musical," she says. "It was wonderful. When you were working for him you became part of the family. And so I went to parties at his house and stayed for the weekend. And during that time I used to go to Cafe de Paris to see all the stars like Liberace, Kay Thompson, the Williams brothers and Marlene Dietrich. It was a really exciting time."

Throughout the 80s June played one of her most famous roles - June Medford opposite Terry Scott's Terry Medford. Terry & June was hugely popular and a big ratings hit for the BBC, despite it suffering criticism that it was the epitome of the bland middle-class sitcom. Terry & June finished in 1988 and little could June know she would be involved in yet another sitcom smash throughout the 90s.

Jennifer Saunders always said she wanted June Whitfield to play her mum on screen and, when she created Absolutely Fabulous, that dream came true. And for June the role heralded a career renaissance.

"Since I did that show I've probably worked more than in any of the years since Terry & June finished in 1988," says June. "As Joanna Lumley says, Ab Fab made us born-again actresses."

Appearing in Ab Fab was vastly different to anything June had worked on before but it didn't change her way of working. "People sometimes ask how have I adapted to these different forms of television and radio," she says, "and I always say that I'm doing exactly the same thing. It's what's around me that's changed."

Although June is best known for her comedy roles, she was an obvious choice to be included in the cast for the latest series of Marple, a line-up that has some of the biggest names in British acting talent. In By The Pricking Of My Thumbs she plays Mrs Lancaster, a resident at the Sunny Ridge nursing home. While sleuths Tommy and Tuppence, played by Greta Scacchi and Anthony Andrews, are visiting an elderly aunt, Tuppence is intrigued by Mrs Lancaster's ramblings about a dead child behind the fireplace. When her Aunt Ada dies, and Mrs Lancaster goes missing, Tuppence starts investigating, helped by another resident's friend - a sharp-minded old lady by the name of Miss Marple, played by Geraldine McEwan.

"Like all Agatha Christie stories everyone is a suspect until proved otherwise," says June. "Even my character? Oh, absolutely," she grins.

It's not the first time June has entered the world of Miss Marple. She has already played the character herself for the BBC in a series of plays on Radio 4. "It's marvellous how Agatha Christie's writing has stood the test of time," says June. "She's so clever in the way she twists things and comes up with a conclusion and I suppose that's why people love it. They enjoy guessing who did what and to whom, and it's very seldom who you think it is."

After filming Marple, June didn't stay away from comedy for long. She was approached to star in yet another sitcom classic - Last Of The Summer Wine and we'll finally be seeing the results this spring. She admits she jumped at the chance to join the cast of the show.

"It was great fun because Roy Clarke's writing is so daft," laughs June. "But I still feel like the new girl at the moment, it's been going so long and they all knew each other. After all these years, I still get nervous on a new job."