Penelope Wilton: ‘The royals are there because we want them – not the other way round’

She doesn’t like standing ovations and thinks taking up the role of Queen Mother in her late Seventies is less work compared to being a working royal – but Penelope Wilton has never been one for an easy life. Here, she talks to Sarah Crompton about her marriage to fellow actor Daniel Massey, ‘Downton Abbey’ and what it was really like working with her best friend, Michael Gambon

Actor Penelope Wilton was recognised more after 1980s sitcom ‘Ever Decreasing Circles’ (Getty)

Penelope Wilton is considering the behaviour of theatre audiences, as she prepares to embark on a stint in the West End. “It must be awful when people start being drunk and everything. I can’t think of anything worse,” she tells me, raising both eyebrows.

She isn’t fond of the growing craze for standing ovations either. “Everyone getting up at the end seems an odd thing to do, too. I am quite happy sitting there myself. I don’t expect people to get up, but everyone seems to now. It’s another phase everyone is going through.”

She laughs. It’s quite likely that Wilton, returning to the stage at the age of 77, will herself be the subject of a standing ovation at the end of her performance as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother in Backstairs Billy, a new play by Marcelo Dos Santos. But it’s equally typical that she doesn’t anticipate one.