Last week we were lucky enough to be joined by not one but two lovely showbiz ladies.

Firstly an actress, soon to tour in stage comedy Hot Flush, who was talking frankly about “relationships” back when Samantha from Sex And The City was still a figment of a scriptwriter’s imagination.

Lesley Joseph became a household name as Dorien Green in Birds of a Feather and is thrilled that the show is back and giving ITV its biggest comedy ratings for 15 years.

Lesley told us how she and the BOAF girls had been counting down “sleeps” to the show’s return on our screens like kids counting down to Christmas – but with a great deal more nerves. She described watching the first show through her fingers hoping the old magic would still be there and the relief when she realised it was.

I asked her how her career might have gone differently – jobs she turned down, roles she missed out on. She was offered a role in a play Absolute Hell but she chose to play another character in a different play. An actress called Judi Dench took on the role she’d passed on and ended up in London’s glittering West End.

I like to think it was there that the Bond producers saw Judi cast her as M. How different it might have been if Dorien Green had become the fictional MI6 boss. A licence to thrill? Definitely. James Bond wouldn’t stand a chance.

Look out for Lesley on a Kent stage next month in Hot Flush.

It’s coming to Tunbridge Wells Assembly Rooms, the Churchill Theatre in Bromley and then Dartford’s Orchard after Easter.

Star with a voice as smooth as ice

I’ve also been talking to Rebecca Ferguson – one of the biggest talents brought to our attention by the X Factor.

The Liverpool singer came on kmfm to exclusively announce that she’s setting off on a European tour which kicks off at the Margate Winter Gardens on Friday, March 14.

Rebecca gets involved in every aspect of her show from sets to lighting as well as the music itself. She recently performed flawlessly on telly’s Dancing On Ice, perched on a glittering pedestal with magical smoke swirling about her.

She looked like a romantic silver screen Hollywood goddess soaring effortlessly through the skies – and her vocals hit the same heights.

Rebecca told me though all she was thinking was: ‘Don’t fall off this box and onto that ice Becky, that’s not going to look pretty!’