JOANNA Lumley’s interview with Christopher Cook at Cheltenham Literature Festival went down like a fresh oyster – all salt, grit and sex appeal.

Slipping in and out of her TV personality Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous by peppering the conversation with "darlings", Lumley, 65, effortlessly entertained the audience with anecdotes from her new book ‘Absolutely: A Memoir’.

Tales of her childhood in India, through to convent school days, were delivered in the familiar sensuous drawl.

It didn’t matter what she said – it was the way she said it.

But behind the fag smoking, gin slugging Patsy, a lovely, self-deprecating Lumley emerged, laughing at her long hair and describing herself as "mutton dressed as lamb."

She stirred genuine laughter from the near capacity audience, appealing not just to women, but to their husbands.

When members of the audience quizzed Lumley, she seemed genuinely humbled that a question had been put to her.

Asked if she had any regrets, Lumley said she wished she had listened more and been a nicer person.

"If you can change it, then change it. But if it has already happened then there is no point in sitting around sucking your teeth. Edith Piaf – I probably taught her," she quipped.

Lumley confirmed that she and Jennifer Saunders have just done three more ‘Ab Fab’ programmes, for showing at Christmas, New Year and just before the Olympics.