Despite counting such critical heavyweights as Frederico Fellini and Ken Tynan among her many fans, Fenella Fielding, above, will be forever known as Valeria Watt, the slinky vamp from Carry On Screaming. On the eve of a North-East visit, she talks to Nigel Burton about her Carry On legacy and why, at 87, she has no intention of putting her feet up just yet

“I ONLY appeared in two Carry Ons, you know,” the voice down the phone is unmistakable, slightly reproachful yet husky, each word perfectly pronounced. “But I had a lovely time in both, and Screaming was rather good, wasn’t it?”

Age has not diminished Fenella Fielding’s vocal powers. She sounds as sultry at 87 as she did 50 years ago, when she essayed the role of Valeria Watt, Kenneth Williams’ alluring sister, in Carry On Screaming.

She’s busier than ever, too. A few days earlier she had been on BBC Radio 4 reading out rude gardening words (that voice again) and she’s currently touring the country giving readings from Mary Shelley’s classic horror tale, Frankenstein.

Afterwards, she gives the audience a chance to quiz her about a 60-year acting career which has encompassed everything from Harold Pinter to The Magic Roundabout. But somehow the questions always come back to Carry On Screaming.

It was made in 1966 when Hammer Films were at the height of their international popularity. Carry On director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers were on a roll. Having sent up Hollywood blockbusters in Cleo, westerns in Cowboy and James Bond in Spying, Brit horror was the obvious next choice.

Fenella was already a Carry On veteran. She’d had a part (Miss Panting) in Carry On Regardless and been offered the coveted role of Cleopatra in Carry On Cleo, which eventually went to Amanda Barrie when she declined. In looking for someone who could play Valeria in Screaming (an actress who could measure up to Yvonne De Carlo and Carolyn Jones, of The Munsters and Addams Family fame respectively), the producers only ever had Fenella in mind.

“I didn’t have to audition,” she remembers. “They offered me the role and I said yes immediately. I’d enjoyed Carry On Regardless because of the camaraderie on the set – everyone was very matey. I thought Screaming would be more of the same and, anyway, it was only a couple of weeks’ work.”

So there was no sense of Screaming being a career-defining moment? “Goodness no, it was just an acting job, a bit of fun. No one who worked on them thought they would become a kind of national institution. People did them for fun, or just as a way of working. We had no sense that they would become a big thing.”

Just in case any of the cast did, Rogers and Thomas cannily inserted a clause into all their contracts saying a Carry On appearance was for a one-off payment. “There were no repeat fees, darling,” purrs Fenella. “It think one or two members of the cast who appeared in a lot of them felt jolly angry about that later on.”

Screaming reunited Fenella with an old comedy companion, Kenneth Williams, with whom she had worked with on Pieces of Eight, a comedy written by Harold Pinter and Peter Cook. In his diaries the waspish Williams was dismissive of Fenella’s talent, referring to her as “La Fielding” and a “madam” (as in, what a little madam). “Sometimes he was lovely and sometimes he wasn’t,” she recounts. “Although he wanted me to be play well opposite him, he couldn’t stand it if I got better reviews. If I had a good idea, he just pinched it. I’m sure you’ve met people like that; they can be beastly.”

This was largely forgotten when they did Carry On Screaming together and Fenella says there was no simmering animosity, even afterwards when the London critics (who hated the series) lauded her performance and dismissed the rest as “typical Carry On”.

The good notices came at a cost, though. For awhile afterwards, Fenella was only offered broad comedy roles. She did a couple of Doctor films (“And I was offered another Carry On, but couldn’t do it”) then moved into television. Hers was the ‘village voice’ in The Prisoner, she did The Avengers opposite Patrick MacNee (but says, contrary to her Wikipedia page, that she was never considered for the Cathy Gale role which went to Honor Blackman) and worked with Morcambe and Wise four times (“They were lovely. Eric was the boss and he took it very seriously. We had two weeks to rehearse, which was a long time by TV comedy standards”) .

Now into her 80s she shows no signs of slowing down. She is active on social media, has her own website (fenellafielding.com), has recorded albums and recites poetry. Now she’s doing Frankenstein and, in a way, things have come full circle.

Next month she’s in Darlington, as guest of honour at a showing of Carry On Screaming. “I’m looking forward to it,” she says. “I haven’t seen it in awhile and it will be lovely to watch it with an audience. Who’d have thought after all these years that people would still want to see it?”

With a voice like that, who would be able to resist?

Fenella Fielding is appearing at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, on Sunday, August 2, reading from Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' then taking part in a Q&A session about her career.

The following day she will be at Darlington Film Club for a screening of Carry On Screaming followed by another Q&A . Tickets cost £7.50 and the show starts at 8pm.