LAST Of The Summer Wine's Jean Fergusson has given up her wicked, wicked ways. Before she became known as Marina, the man-eating cyclist in the long-running BBC comedy series, the actress was cast as the wicked witch in pantomime on account of her deep voice.

Once Marina was established, all that changed and she found herself playing the good fairy, as she does in Dick Whittington at the Grand Opera House, York, this Christmas.

She's been Fairy Godmother to Bonnie Langford twice, Queen of Gooseland to Keith Harris and Orville, and Fairy Kindheart to Letitia Dean. But the success of Summer Wine means that now she's invariably cast as Fairy Marina.

"She's an extension of the character I play in the series. Whenever she sees a handsome young man, or even old man, she fancies him, but in a very clean sort of way," explains Fergusson. "Fairy Marina is much the same as she always was. The character in the series has possibly changed. She felt full of hope and thought wonderful things would happen with Howard. Now she knows better. She's much more resigned and knows it's not going to happen."

She enters her nineteenth year as Marina in 2002, with the prospect of filming a new series in June and August. Happily, the schedule allows her to do other work.

A few years ago there were signs the BBC intended to end the series but renewed interest led to a change of mind.

"Even the repeats over the last few weekends were getting seven-and-a-half million viewers," says Fergusson.

"Bill Owen's death was a great shock but the public felt there was the opportunity to carry on with other people. They keep watching it. For some reason, it seems to have received some sort of boost."

She had no idea when she began Summer Wine that she'd become so associated with Marina. "She's been very good to me. I've had a lot of work because of her," she says. "The good thing is that as myself I don't look too much like Marina. I'm very much in disguise on the programme."

That doesn't prevent people recognising her when she least expects it. Like the time she was travelling on the London Underground with her hair pushed up, wearing an old mac and trainers. "Suddenly, this chap looked and said, 'good god, it's Marina'. Then he stood up and told the whole carriage. Everyone came up with bits of old paper for me to sign. It was great, but unexpected," she recalls.

After finishing in York, she's teaming up again with pantomime co-star Anne Charleston (Madge in Neighbours) to tour in an American play, Five Blue Rinsed Ladies Sitting On A Green Park Bench, following a successful try-out in Lincoln earlier this year.

Her only worry is the end of the tour overlaps with Summer Wine filming in Yorkshire. "You finish in the theatre at night and travel to the location in Huddersfield, then get up at five for filming and then get back in the car to go back to the theatre. That can be a bit nasty," she says.

All of which doesn't leave her much time to work on a film treatment of comedienne Hylda Baker's life. She's already written and performed an Olivier Award-nominated one-woman show about the performer - called She Knows, You Know after Baker's catchphrase -on tour and in London's West End.

The idea was fostered while she was in pantomime in Darlington a decade ago. Now, she's expanding it into a multi-character piece for TV or film after several producers expressed interest in the project.

"The original show was written for a live audience. This new version is about her whole life, including a young man who entered her life. Really, it's his story as much as hers. The public encouraged me to keep going because they wanted it. I still get letters saying, 'when are you going to do it again?'. Now people say, 'is it ever going to be on TV?'."

While in panto in York, she'll stay with friends in the city some days and commute to her home south of Doncaster on others. "It's not quite near enough to travel home all the time, especially when we have two performances in a day," she says. "The older you get, the more aware you are it's a very tiring process. But you pick up the excitement from the audience. Even if you're tired, as soon as you hear those children having a good time and with the Christmas spirit all around, your tiredness goes and you thoroughly enjoy it."

* Dick Whittington is at the Grand Opera House, York, from December 13 to January 6. Tickets 01904 671818.