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Local fount of all knowledge (and gossip), Sadie's life gets entangled with the women's soon after their arrival in the village when they turn up at her hotel looking for a bed for the night.

At 70 years of age, running The Hope Springs Hotel is no mean feat, even if Sadie could be bothered to make the effort to do it properly. It's infested with mice and the cobwebbed bar hasn't seen a duster in living memory, so when Ellie and the girls pitch up and offer to buy Sadie out she sees them as guardian angels opening the door to a very happy retirement. They can take on all the responsibility and do all the hard work whilst she'll carry on living in the pub and enjoying their company – and drinking their booze. It's a win/win situation.

"Basically Sadie is attempting to run the hotel on her own with no help and at first when this rather unlikely group of women come tottering into the village, she doesn't know what to make of them," explains Annette, who plays the Hope Springs busy-body.

"But then after a while it looks like they're going to liven the old place up and it soon becomes clear they're going to be good news for her especially. When they offer to take the thing off her hands she really can't believe her luck."

A vision in denim and chunky knits, Sadie's no fool and can play the con as readily as these crims from down South. Like them, Sadie's a survivor. She's also wily, opinionated, idle and fit as a fiddle. "Is there any of Sadie in me? Oh there is now," admits Annette, laughing. "I'm certainly not idle but otherwise there are facets of me, definitely, that's what the audience are getting."

Sadie soon positions herself as part of the gang and, together with Ellie (Alex Kingston), Hannah (Sian Reeves), Shoo (Christine Bottomley) and Josie (Vinette Robinson), she finds a true family.

This is in stark contrast to her antagonistic relationship with her own daughter Ann Marie (played by Ronni Ancona). Ann Marie sees her mother as difficult and troublesome, Sadie sees Ann Marie as manipulative and a user. There's no love lost between mother and daughter. So it's through the girls that Sadie's lonely life is transformed.

"One has to assume that Sadie and Ann Marie have never got on. But the things they both dislike about each other are actually their similarities. Neither of them will give in and they both think they are right.

"I think it's quite usual for family members not to see eye to eye. My parents, God rest their souls, were experts at falling out with every other member of the family. By the time I left home at 19 they weren't speaking to anybody. Either we weren't speaking to them or the ones we were speaking to lived too far away so we never saw them anyway."

For the respected Scottish actress – who began her career with the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre Company in 1956 – one of the perks of signing up for Hope Springs was a chance for her to rediscover her roots.

"I suppose, if I'm honest, the first thing that attracted me was that it was going to be done in Scotland and it has been great to be back especially as we are filming in Glasgow.

"It's so comforting to be around the accent and the people, because ultimately Scotland is my home. I don't think that ever changes wherever I live and as you get older the call to go back gets stronger and stronger. Not for some people. They are glad to move away and stay away. The further away the better. But for me, well I'm just a wee homebody."

Despite a career on screen and in the theatre that spans over 50 years – and includes the likes of The Slipper And The Rose, Calendar Girls and, of course, One Foot In The Grave – Hope Springs marks a first for Annette.

"I have never done a series quite like this before. Hope Springs is not trying to be realistic or a heavy drama – it has just been great fun. The joy of this story is that it keeps swinging. You keep thinking that everything is going well and then, wow, things take a turn for the worst. It's a wild and fantastical adventure and pure escapism.

"It has also been great to work with a group of talented actresses and be part of such a strong female drama – which I think is quite a rare thing. And we have all got on well which makes life so much easier.

"That's one thing you learn as an actor. You have to get on. And as an older actor you have to try and keep the boat steady while you're in it. It's an important part of the job. I've never been someone who likes to give advice on set because it's not always welcome.

"I might do something subtly every now and again but I don't like to assume the role of 'I've been here for nearly 53 years, my dears'. That would just make me feel even older and nearer to popping my clogs than I already am!"