‘George Lucas told me off for wearing lipstick’: Celia Imrie on Traitors, Star Wars and treating the lens like a lover

The actor answers your questions about trapeze lessons, Bond villain ambitions and Michael Caine’s top tips

You looked as if you had such a good time on Celebrity Traitors last year – you had them hanging on your every word. What was it like? Who have you kept in touch with? breezehillpete They absolutely didn’t hang on my every word. I’m fascinated to watch it now, because at a distance, I can see how people follow each other. That herd mentality is very evident at the round table, but I always went in a different direction and people didn’t follow me. Then, of course, I accused Alan [Carr] at the end: “I think you are one, aren’t you?”, so I had to go the next day. I didn’t quite know what I was letting myself in for, but I had a great time.

Kate [Garraway] and I had to go on that Uncloaked thing after. She turned to me and she said: “Oh, but Celia, we’re now all one big happy family, aren’t we?” I said: “Well, frankly, I don’t want to see any of them ever again in the whole of my life,” and everybody laughed. But truthfully, we haven’t really run into each other since. Nevertheless, I think I was with a marvellous company, and I liked them all.

You appeared to be most attentive during the 1987 BBC Michael Caine Acting in Film class, which is now something of a hit on YouTube. He seemed to be a really generous and informed tutor. What techniques did you learn that you’ve taken with you? PaulyVLondon

Maria Aitken asked me if I’d like to take part. Some of my friends said: “Oh God, you don’t want to look like a student on television.” I said: “What are you talking about? I’d like to be able to say good morning the way Michael Caine does on film.” I was thrilled to be part of it. One of his famous things was: don’t blink in a closeup. He also said to work out any props the night before, and something rather marvellous: that you have to think of the camera as your lover. The camera is ready to love you, so you must reciprocate. I’ve remembered all of that.

So I sit down to watch Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and who do I see flying a spaceship? How on earth did you end up doing that? Bisleys_Jaffa_Cakes Bizarrely, I was doing a play called The Hothouse with the late, great Harold Pinter. One matinee, little did I know that the casting director for Star Wars was sitting in the audience. She took one look at me in my nightie and thought: “She’d make a marvellous fighter pilot.” And I’m absolutely delighted that I became Bravo 5.

By the way, I have no idea whether I got shot down, whether I killed anybody, whether I survived or whose side I was on. I have absolutely no idea, except that I was Bravo 5. I got told off by George Lucas for wearing lipstick because I was the only girl – the only female fighter pilot.

What has been your experience of Hollywood? Too many weird offers, or have you just not been keen to spend the time there? nivlek47 No, I absolutely adore Hollywood. I spent five very, very happy seasons doing Better Things. I didn’t get any weird offers, funnily enough. I love Hollywood, everything about it, and I’d go back at the click of a finger.

Did your son, Angus Imrie, who has played Josh Archer since 2014, ever let slip any spoilers from The Archers? And if so, did you keep the secret? JamesMoriarty I’ve just spoken to my son, funnily enough, who is filming in San Francisco. And he was quite amused by the question and my answer, because my answer is: “No, he didn’t,” because I never listened to it. Some loyal mother am I.

I used to live in the same block as you in south London. Were you in to hear the cheer echoing around the courtyard the night The Gathering Storm was on TV, when you made your first entrance as Churchill’s secretary, Violet Pearman, opposite Albert Finney as Churchill? Kalundborg It’s a terribly sweet idea that people cheer when I come on the television. I was completely thrilled to be Churchill’s secretary with Albert Finney. It was a small part, but I used to come in every morning and say: “Actually, I’ve got an idea,” put it on his desk, and he’d say: “Oh, not another bloody idea,” which made me roar. But honestly, life’s not like that. I don’t remember being cheered, I’m sorry, but it’s a lovely idea.

Which painting do you covet? I ask because you briefly stood next to me at the Van Gogh exhibition at Tate Britain in 2019. i7777i My favourite paintings are Monet’s paintings of the River Thames, which are completely breathtaking. There is another artist called André Derain, who produced a very colourful painting called Barges on the Thames. I would love to have that.

What was it like playing Edina’s PR archrival, Claudia Bing, in Absolutely Fabulous? Was the name a nod to Crystal Bing, who my mum knew and remembers referring to you as “dear Celia” in a very grand, Lady Bracknell-type voice. Fposte Of course, I absolutely adored playing the archrival of Jennifer Saunders – who wouldn’t? It’s such a marvellous series. Especially because everybody understands greed and overindulgence, so it appeals to us all, doesn’t it? I got to wear some marvellous clothes as well, so I was rather thrilled to be part of it.

I did have a relation called Crystal Bing. I think she might have been a second cousin or something. When I first went to Los Angeles to film Calendar Girls, I got into the lift and this gentleman turned to me and said: “Oh, Claudia Bing – bing and bing,” and then pressed the “bing” on the lift and we went up together. He was the first person to recognise me in America.

What continues to inspire you to take on such varied work when you could simply be enjoying yourself? orangekeeps When you say “take on such varied work when you could be simply enjoying yourself” – enjoying what? Simply enjoying myself doing nothing? If that’s the alternative, absolutely not. I love keeping people second-guessing, because I don’t want to be caught doing the same thing. I want to keep on switching things up and challenging myself and making the most of – without being dramatic – what time I’ve got ahead. I loved playing the barrister in War, because it took me to watch real cases at Southwark crown court. I can’t really be a Bond girl, but I wouldn’t mind being a Bond villain. I had trapeze lessons for [the film] Love Sarah, because Mimi was part of the circus. I can’t go particularly high, but I used to be a chorus girl, so I’ve got a bit of dance up my sleeve and can do a bit of a twirl.