Q: Do people still talk to you about Howards’ Way? Tracey: Absolutely! The series was a huge favourite with so many people that someone is always coming up to share a memory with me, it’s lovely. I particularly get people who are now in their forties chatting to me about growing up with the series and what a huge part of their Sunday family life the show was.

Q: Will it ever come back on our screens? Tracey: Wouldn’t that be fun?! In the first place, it would be great to have a re-run of the original six series and see how well they stand up to modern drama. But also, I think it would be great to film a new series now – the child I was pregnant with, at the end of the last series, would now be 23 and would have inherited Charles Frere’s fortune. There would be so many rich storylines for the children and grandchildren of the original cast and those of us that are left (we have sadly lost too many of our wonderful cast) – Jan Harvey, Stephen Yardley, Susan Gilmore, myself and so on could swan around picking up the pieces!

Q: Do you sail? Tracey: Absolutely not! I learnt for the series and was good enough to cope with all of the filming but I have to be paid to be enticed onto a yacht! 

Q: Are you getting people recognising you in the street from Howards’ Way? Tracey: Not around the Nuffield Theatre, no, because being a University Campus most people are too young to remember the show. However, stepping onto the streets of Southampton brings some great reactions. Everyone has been lovely so far and it is terrific that the show had such an excellent following.

Q: Have you been down to Hamble yet? Tracey: Not yet. We have had a busy first week with rehearsals and previews but there will be lots of time to go and look up some old haunts within the next two weeks and I am really looking forward to seeing how things have changed – or not!

Q: What made you start producing? Tracey: In 2009 Matthew Kelly and I were playing George and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by Andrew Hall. The production received superb reviews and was offered a transfer to the Trafalgar Studios in London but there was no producer to take it in so Andrew Hall and I joined forces and produced the transfer ourselves and LOVED IT! We are now Hall and Childs Ltd and have just produced our first national tour of Alan Ayckbourn’s Haunting Julia and have several other productions in the pipeline.

Q: Do you prefer acting or producing? Tracey: Yes! I am very good at loving whatever I am doing at that precise moment so, right now, it is gorgeous to be on a stage again – I have been filming the new David Tennant series Broadchurch recently but haven’t been on a stage for three years – but I adore producing. After 38 years as an actress, waiting for the ‘phone to ring’, it is wonderful to be proactive and be able to get out and create work for other actors, designers and artists. I didn’t think I would ever find anything I loved as much as acting but Miss Bossy Boots has found her metier!!!

Q: How did you find rehearsals for God of Carnage? Tracey: Glorious! Patrick Sandford, our Director, is a joy to work for and creates such a wonderfully creative, free atmosphere in rehearsals that you believe anything is possible. We also have a superb cast – Mr Kelly and I work together whenever possible but this is the first time I have ever worked with Miranda Foster and James Clyde and it has been a superb experience, they are so talented. Also having four actors over forty in the cast means everyone is really up for it – experience helps enormously and you can work at a more intense pace.

Q: How has the reception been? Tracey: Brilliant! People love this play. It is the only play to win Best New Play awards in London, Paris AND New York. The themes are universal and everyone can sympathise/empathise/agonise with someone in the play – even if you don’t have children.

Q: Are the characters in God of Carnage too French to be recognisable in the UK? Tracey: Not at all – the play is about parents meeting to discuss a problem with their children. A situation that happens the world over. However, it was interesting in rehearsals – quite often, if we got stuck, we would realise it was because we were being ‘too English and polite’ in our acting. The real difference is that these French characters are a little more volatile, more on the front foot emotionally, more likely to flare up and say all the things we Brits would love to say but repress out of courtesy. And, of course, it is that volatility that leads to so many of the comic moments. The play is very funny.

Q: What’s your character like? Tracey: Veronique is a Mother and Wife who believes passionately in fighting evil, poverty and violence in the world. She works in an art/history book shop and has written a book on Darfur. She is liberal and loving and always wants to do ‘the right thing’. By the end of the play (a brief 80 minutes – we’re in the bar by 9pm!) her view of the world and, more importantly, herself has been changed dramatically. She is a joy to play and I am having a lot of fun.

Q: How is it being ‘married’ to Matthew Kelly? Tracey: Gorgeous but not unusual. Matthew and I first worked together 27 years ago and have been great mates ever since. In that time we have worked together eight times and regularly play husband and wife. I adore working with Matthew, he is a superb actor and a gorgeous friend. It also means when we work together that I never have to worry about how this ‘wife shows her love for her husband’ as my genuine love for Mr Kelly shines through!

God of Carnage continues at the Nuffield in Southampton until February 23.