NOT long ago being called granny seemed a long way off for TV's popular blonde actress Liza Goddard, but, at 54, she now has four-year-old Adelaide as an adoring little granddaughter.

"She's turned out to be the most wonderful thing that's happened in my entire life," says Goddard. "She is just heavenly and I love being granny. If I'd known it was going to be this fantastic, I'd have had the grandchildren first and my children second.

"What happens is that because my daughter Sophie lives with us when I arrive home, she goes out and I have Adelaide all to myself. It's lovely and she is utterly spoilt. Her mummy says that to me and I reply 'that's my job, you tell her off and you do all the nasty things and granny spoils her'. She's granny's little helper for cooking, gardening and has a lovely time."

Adelaide is another budding performer and at last year's school nativity play decided that rather than be the Virgin Mary she'd be a king, because the robes and crown looked better.

"Everyone says 'oh God, she's going to be an actress because she's so dramatic'. At the breakfast table she said 'we can do a nativity play right here. I could be Baby Jesus, mummy can be Mary and granddad can be Joseph'. So what about granny? 'Oh granny can be (pause) oh, the camel'. So I'm hoping she's not growing up to be a director."

Child acting star Goddard grew up to be a well-known face in TV comedy-dramas like Take Three Girls, back in 1969, and more recently Mrs Jessop in children's series Woof.

Now she's taking on Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife, which ran for 16 weeks last year and 12 weeks in 2004. Most reviewers are quite coy about how her character, Constance Middleton, pays her philandering husband back when she can't accept his infidelity and doesn't like the upheaval of throwing him out.

"It's such an amazing thing that she does to deal with it. Back in 1926, when it was written, people found it totally shocking and people find it quite shocking now, which is amazing. I love playing Constance, I love her to bits, she's quite extraordinary. She's clever, witty, warm, funny and all-knowing."

Is it hard maintaining the high level of comedy required for this classic play?

"There's a wonderful quote from Olivier which says 'of all the things required to play leading roles, the most important is stamina'. You've got to have talent and training, but amazing amounts of stamina because Constance never stops talking. She's on stage all the time sweating and running about, so it requires a tremendous amount of energy. You have to be born with a certain amount of stamina, then you have to sleep well, eat well and not drink too much alcohol," says Goddard, who often eats only a banana before a show and is 'the one on the still water' after the show.

"I just love getting laughs. When I do a straight play I think 'my God this is dull'."

Co-star Susan Penhaligon is earning mixed reviews playing Constance's dowdy sister, but Goddard was quick to defend her fellow actresses' portrayal. "Everyone says 'God, you look a wreck', but that's acting for us old girls who like to do proper acting. Dowdy is wonderful, it takes about two-and-a-half minutes, but when you have to look glamorous it takes you bloody hours to get ready."

Goddard freely admits she's not wanted on the telly and has been delighted to join the current cast of famous faces on the theatre circuit. This is her fourth tour with Bill Kenwright's company and has seen her star in three Oscar Wilde plays and now The Constant Wife.

"Fortunately, with two-thirds of the country being 45-plus it means there are plenty of audiences for good stories, well told. I come from the old days when TV had a play of the month, play of the week and Play For Today using mostly new writers."

Going back to the days of 1926, she feels the comedy's upper class characters weren't terribly affected by the changes going on at that time.

"It wasn't until after the Second World War that all these walls started coming down. Today there is still an A-list of people and the aristocracy seems to have been mixed in with the Beckhams and things. There's still a little bastion of people who think they are above everyone else, mostly to do with wealth as it was then."

Goddard sees herself as a jobbing actress with a family to keep. "Quite frankly, I'd rather be doing this than some crappy old thing on the telly, though I'd do telly because it would be much more money and much less work. I know from experience, I did two years on Skippy and that's all you do... no acting required. Skippy's never been off the telly and how I wish I'd got a percentage of the profits. All I get is something like £2.50 for a whole repeat showing of Bergerac."

She's actually delighted that her grand-daughter prefers walking her five dogs to watching the TV, even if it's a re-run of Skippy.

"She'll only watch for five minutes and be bored. All her friends are constantly demanding disgusting food that's advertised on television. She comes home and asks 'what are Power Rangers?' because she has no idea what they are."

l The Constant Wife runs at Darlington Civic Theatre until Saturday. Box Office: (01325) 486 555