IT WAS the steamy windows that first attracted the passer-by to the car parked suspiciously in the middle of the Yorkshire countryside.

He knocked impatiently on the window, demanding “what are you doing?”.

It wound down to reveal inside, not a pair of entwined teenagers, but Howard and Marina from Last of the Summer Wine locked in a battle of travel Scrabble.

This is just one of many amusing tales Jean Fergusson has to tell about her 26 years as the mini skirt-clad bit-on-the-side from BBC1’s long running comedy.

She is sharing her memories on a visit to New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion, where she will star as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella this Christmas.

“In all the years we’d been together we never had an argument and we’d been in some weird situations,” she says of Bob Fyfe, who played her nervous beau Howard Sibshaw.

“Once we were standing in a river up to our necks, and they went off to film something else.

“We were left under the bridge for ages, just stood in the water and my wet suit had sprung a leak.

“When they got back they said, ‘oh sorry we forgot about you’.”

Being left behind was a regular occurance during filming on location at the town of Holmfirth.

“There was a time when, in full costume, they left us sitting in directors chairs at the side of the road and said ‘we’ll be back to finish that scene later’,” recalls Fergusson.

“For the public, they see Howard and Marina in full costume sitting on two little chairs by the side of the road but there’s no sign of the film crew and they start to think ‘are they real?’.”

Sadly for the cast, they were not made aware during the filming of the last series, that the show was being axed.

There was no opportunity to say goodbye to the many people they had worked with over the years, including the residents of Holmfirth.

Fergusson is hoping one of the drivers – known to the actors as Jimmy La because of his Liverpool accent – will cross the river to see her in panto.

“It was fun and that’s really what you miss – that and the people,” she says.