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The holiday of a lifetime

GREY EXPECTATIONS – Liz Smith's Summer Cruise

Sunday 12 July on ´óÏó´«Ã½ FOUR

• Programme copy

At the cruise ship reception for new passengers, Liz Smith appears anxious. Her travelling companion, film-maker Daisy Asquith, assures her that the other guests are longing to meet her, but the actress, known to millions for her roles as Nana in The Royle Family and Letitia in The Vicar Of Dibley, is wary: "They wouldn't want me," she says. "I'm not wanted, no ... that's my complex."

It's difficult to believe that one of Britain's best-loved actresses could feel lonely but, as Liz Smith's Summer Cruise reveals, the acclaim and public affection she earned late in life has not made up for the hurt of her isolated childhood and years of struggle, writes Programme Information's Tony Matthews.

In a charming, sometimes sad and often laugh-out-loud funny documentary for the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Grey Expectations season, which explores older people's experiences and challenges preconceptions about what is possible after the age of 60, Liz was invited to do something she'd never done before – embark on a luxury cruise. The resulting film offers an intriguing portrait of a person who admits to having been deeply affected by her past.

At her home in a north London retirement block, 87-year-old Liz is presently recovering from the stroke she had at the start of this year. Although she says she is getting stronger by the day, she accepts that it means further acting roles are now beyond her. "I do get muddled and sometimes feel I have to reach for words that elude me," she says. "I was getting terribly tired anyway, although I'd like to think I could eventually write again. I've got stories in my head, but I'm nearly 90 so if I don't do much now at least I've earned a rest."

Like many older people, Liz remains young at heart. "You can get soggy when you retire," she says, "you do wonder how much time you have left and you don't want to waste that time." One thing she is determined to do is urge people to take more care of their health in the battle against strokes: "I would like to spread the word to be careful because there's a lot of it about," she says. "I'd like to say to everybody: stop smoking, lose weight and take your blood pressure regularly."

The story of Liz's Smith's Summer Cruise begins at her retirement home, where she enjoys the companionship of the other residents. "I've lived in houses by myself and have felt very lonely," she says. "Living in sheltered accommodation is lovely, as when you come back you can tell people where you've been, what you've done and get advice. Daisy came here to start the story and the ladies downstairs met around the table to discuss which cruise to go on – they'd all been on cruises and I hadn't – there were lots of alternatives but we chose a quiet one. They are dying to see themselves on the programme and I felt privileged to be chosen to go..."

The journey from Croatia to Venice was Liz's first on a cruise ship since the Second World War, when she was crammed into a cabin with 20 fellow Wrens. "I was on a troopship originally going to South Africa," she says, "but they lost our papers at Port Said, so we were stuck in the desert for months just at the end of the battle for El Alamein. We then became the first lot to go through the Suez Canal and I went to India instead. I've travelled a lot for work since then, but that ended abruptly last January."

While enjoying the on-board luxury and the thrill of a making a glorious first visit to sun-drenched Venice, Liz also reflects on her childhood in Scunthorpe. Her mother died in childbirth along with the baby sister she never knew and her father then abandoned her. "One day he met me coming out of Sunday school," she recalls. "He said 'bye bye kid, I'll write' and backed away. That's the last I saw of him." A lonely child, Liz was encouraged by her widowed grandmother who raised her to meet other children, through which she started doing plays in the church hall. "That's how it all started," she says of her passion for acting. "But I got rejections until I was 50."

Liz married in 1945, but her husband walked out 11 years later, leaving her to raise their two children alone. She was working in London's Hamley's toy shop when director Mike Leigh gave her a break, casting her in a ´óÏó´«Ã½ television play, Bleak Moments. "My husband had left and I'd had two children to bring up, but I decided to keep trying," she says. "For many years I'd worked at Butlin's, doing theatre with the Forbes Russell Repertory Company which, in those days, toured the camps. That provided us with a holiday, which was lovely. At the end of that time, as the kids were grown up, I got the chance to work with Mike and that was the beginning. I've done what I wanted to do, eventually. I have been fulfilled but it was very difficult – striving to get recognition took years and years."

The film presents a humorous and touching overview of her life. "Daisy wanted to do that," Liz says. "She wanted to share the sadness as well as the fun and I let her because it was for her to judge. I was happy to discuss my life, but still didn't really want it bringing up. I didn't know her before, but we got on well, we were together all the time. It didn't bother me that the camera was always present, I'm used to it, but it was the travel that interested me."

Contrary to Liz's initial concerns, the other passengers were friendly, eager to talk and clearly felt that they knew her – something she attributes to "having been in their living rooms".

"I always loved the way that, wherever I went, people would shout, 'Hi Nana'," she says of the role that earned her a best comedy actress award. Feeling isolated in such circumstances, she admits, is an odd mixture. "The whole point of the Royle Family is that they love each other and stay together as a family," she says. "That's what we don't do enough of, I think. It was a wonderful job. I've been lucky to play some endearing characters – Nana was an old bag really, but they liked her."

Liz was close to the other members of the tight-knit cast and remains in touch with them: "I see Sue [Johnston] who doesn't live far away and Craig [Cash] came down and saw me in hospital, but we don't have reunions because they are all so busy," she says. "I was in hospital for about two months and have been very gradually getting better ever since. I get exhausted and have to take it easy but I don't know when I'll reach my peak ... probably at the end of the year. I might be ready for a holiday then! I've never been to New York, I'd like to go on the Queen Mary 2, or on a cruise around the Scottish Islands, there are so many places to choose from."

In fact, Liz's next trip will be a little closer to home – she is off to Buckingham Palace this month to receive her MBE... "I'll be going in a pushchair!" she laughs, "I don't know who will be doing the presentation but it will be good day. I've lived in London since the end of the war, but I can't use it now, it's too busy and rushed for me. I'm ready to leave it; I'd like to live by the sea."