A stellar acting career and a passion for the sea unite in Celia Imrie’s latest role – and thoughts of lifeboats are never far away

As someone who regularly takes the ferry journey from Southampton to the Isle of Wight, awardwinning stage and screen actress Celia Imrie is no stranger to being a passenger on a large vessel. But the ship she has been boarding in her latest acting role has taken quite some getting used to – and has put sea rescue to the front of her mind. Well known for appearances in TV comedies Acorn Antiques and Dinnerladies, and films such as Nanny McPhee and Calendar Girls, Celia is now filming a TV series about perhaps the most famous ship of all time: The Titanic.

‘It’s been unusually hot work,’ reports Celia during a short visit to London between filming. The series is due to be broadcast in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the steamship’s sinking while en route from Southampton to New York. Filming is taking place in Budapest in landlocked Hungary – home to the largest filming tank in Europe. It’s also a city that has experienced freakishly high temperatures. ‘As passengers we’re supposed to look freezing cold but it’s been boiling,’ explains Celia. ‘My character has a pet dog so I’ve been carrying a Pekinese around under my arm who has been giving the game away by panting.’

Despite the heat, the role is one that Celia seems to be revelling in. ‘It’s like a fairy story. I find the whole thing about the ship magical – the total, total luxury and excitement and glamour is wonderful. It makes the real story all the more ghastly, because it had such a terrible ending,’ she explains, adding that the sea is her ‘first love’, possibly because her father was a Navy doctor in both World Wars. ‘It’s in my blood. The sea makes you feel courageous and like you could rule the world, but at the same time totally insignificant, and that you needn’t make such a fuss about everything.’

Whether she’s on the deck of a passenger vessel or looking out to sea from her house in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, Celia is mindful of how dangerous our waters can be. ‘I know it can catch anyone out. I’ve done my RYA Powerboat Level 2 exam so I’ve done a bit of boating. The seas around the Isle of Wight can be especially busy and hazardous.’

It’s this recognition of the sea’s power that has led Celia to support the £1M RNLI Cowes appeal. This aims to raise enough funds to refurbish the town’s old Custom House building, providing a new station and launching facilities for the Cowes lifeboat crew. The current Cowes Lifeboat Station is a small, temporary facility at Shepards Wharf Marina, but the old Custom House site is near the mouth of the River Medina, and its position would reduce lifeboat launching times by 4 minutes.

‘I greatly admire the work of the RNLI,’ says Celia, who has been a Cowes resident for over 20 years. ‘Because I live there, the appeal is really important to me. I’m struck by the thought: “How many things can you think of that rely on volunteers in the way that the RNLI does?” I know there are people with good hearts everywhere who volunteer for charities and hospitals and so on. But RNLI crews sometimes risk their lives – which is something else again.’

When not relaxing by the sea between acting jobs, Celia’s other passions include music and dance. As she reveals in her autobiography, The Happy Hoofer, Celia dreamed of becoming a ballerina when she was growing up, but was told she was the ‘wrong size’. Still determined to take to the stage, she instead found work as a chorus girl (or ‘Hoofer’) and later moved into acting.

‘I love doing musicals – any excuse to get some dancing in somewhere. When I hear music, I rarely stay still. Today I’ve been marching around to March of the Toys,’ she laughs, referring to one of her BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs. The list of records chosen by the actress featured a mixture of sad and comedic tunes. ‘Comedy and drama – that’s been my career, and is the way I’ve lived too,’ Celia muses. ‘You can’t have one without the other.’

For more information on the Cowes appeal, see rnli.org.uk/cowesappeal.