Jenny Seagrove recoils when asked if she would use a dating app to look for love. "I'd rather meet a tree!" she says.
The actress, 69, who was with the theatre impresario Bill Kenwright for 29 years until his death three years ago, says she would "never say never" to having another relationship but that she isn't actively looking.
After such a fulfilling relationship, Jenny, who is best known for her portrayal of the barrister Jo Mills opposite Martin Shaw in Judge John Deed, is content in her own company.
"I'm not interested. There are too many other things in my life, you know. It's not at the top of my agenda."
Her attitude to Tinder, Hinge and other such apps?
"No, god help me, no. Oh, that fills me with horror. I'm fundamentally incredibly shy. The idea of having to go through all that again!"
Return to the stage
Jenny, who lives in London, is back on stage in The Anastasia File, Royce Ryton's play about a woman claiming to be a member of the Russian royal family who escaped execution following the October Revolution. The audience must decide for themselves whether the woman is indeed a Romanov… or an impostor.
Accompanying Jenny on her tour is her loyal springer spaniel Georgie, schmoozer of celebrities including Dame Judi Dench.
It’s Georgie’s first tour, and she sits in the actress’s dressing room during performances. "All of my other dogs have toured with me. When I tour with a dog or dogs, my car is two thirds their things and one third mine. So she'll have her bed and all her various foods and everything she needs, and I'll have a tiny little case.”
Georgie won't howl for Jenny, but there is a risk of barking.
"We're fine as long as no one knocks on the door, but the minute anyone knocks on the door, off she goes: ‘Woof woof woof.’ So I just put a sign on the door – ‘Please don't knock’ – and we're fine."
Georgie is also "head of morale" for the theatre production company Bill Kenwright Limited, part of the Bill Kenwright Group, of which Jenny has been chairperson since Bill's death. The lively spaniel has been a support for the actress as she moves through grief. She and Bill did not have children together.
© Getty Images"She's helped, absolutely. I've coped because you have to cope. Everybody grieves differently. There are, of course, pockets [when] it hits you like a truck, but I've got amazing people around me, and Georgie, the horses and other animals. You get by."
She also runs the animal sanctuary Mane Chance in Compton, Surrey. The charity, which she founded in 2011, cares for 33 horses.
Jenny has had many encounters with the royal family, including meeting the King at Highgrove, the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Royal Variety Performance and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.
Her most memorable meeting was with Zara Tindall, when the Princess Royal’s daughter visited Mane Chance. The sanctuary has also welcomed the Duchess of Edinburgh.
© Getty Images"I'll never forget it, because I learnt something from her,” Jenny says of Zara. “She's wonderful with horses. She was with my Shetlands and she took a crinkly crisps bag out of her pocket and very quickly got their attention and I thought: ‘That's clever.’"
The actress thinks that the royal family have a tough time because "they're in a fish bowl, unable to get out and with the world looking in", but she believes that they are a force for good.
"I am a huge fan of the royal family. I think that they work hard and they're extraordinary."
Jenny Seagrove stars in The Anastasia File at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford from 20 to 24 October
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