PEOPLE still talk about the Brookside siege almost 40 years later, says Glasgow actor Sheila Grier, in awe.

“They have been rerunning old episodes on the TV, and that has also given it a new lease of life,” she adds.

“I’m very grateful I got the chance to work on the show, with actors like Sue Johnston and writers like Jimmy McGovern.”

In fact, the Channel 4 soap became the fastest show ever to reach one million streams on STV Player when reruns started last year. After just one week, the Liverpool based show had been streamed by more than 130,000 users.

For a generation of soap fans, Sheila will always be nurse Sandra Maghie, held hostage by a psychopathic gunman along with a fellow nurse and a hospital porter in the famous 1985 storyline.

“I don’t think I realised it at the time - I was only about 25 - but now in my 60s, looking back, I think - actually, I was ****ing good,” she says, smiling.

Sheila GrierSheila Grier (Image: Newsquest)

Sheila is making her A Play, A Pie and A Pint debut in Blast Off, Starburst, Catriona MacLeod’s timebending drama at Oran Mor this week (November 4 to 9).

It is the story of Shona, bereaved and very reluctantly in therapy, sorting through her relics of childhood with the help of her fabulous aunt Mags.

“I’m thrilled,” says, Sheila. “The play is beautifully written, all about grief, the universe, time not standing still…I play Shona’s Aunt Mags, who is larger than life, a bit glam, and an important presence in Shona’s life.”

She adds: “Everyone has an aunt Mags….”

Sheila with Mark McManus on TaggartSheila with Mark McManus on Taggart (Image: STV)

Sheila’s own “aunt Mags” was her mum’s youngest sister. “She was incredible,” she sighs. “She smoked, had a beehive, knew people like Billy Connolly and Jerry Rafferty, and was part of the Paisley folk scene of the 60s.

“I will definitely be channelling some of her in the play.”

Sheila is now a glam auntie herself.

“I’m Auntie Shla Shla to my great-nieces and nephews,” she beams. “As an auntie, you get away with a lot more. Your auntie always feels like your ally, and there is definitely an element of that in the play too.”

Sheila studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), graduating in the early 80s straight into theatre and TV roles, including a short spell on Take The High Road.

She appeared in many big TV shows of the 80s and 90s, including Taggart, Scotch and Wry and Heartbeat, but her first professional role was actually at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow.

“I was understudy to Mary Lee in panto, acting with Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy, if you can imagine,” she says, smiling.

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“It really was a golden age of theatre in Glasgow at that point – I was so lucky to learn my craft from people like Jack and Rikki and Jimmy Logan. I did pantos and theatre but then Brookside came along and changed everything.”

With recent roles in CBeebies hit Dog Squad, Scottish comedy horror movie Midgies, and scary short film Unraveling, Sheila says she is enjoying “reinventing herself”.

She adds: “I also did Still Game, which was fantastic and of course, THAT Irn Bru advert, of which I am extremely proud….”

(For younger readers, the risqué “steamy windows” advert for Scotland’s other national drink featured a shocked lad discovering his half-naked parents - and next-door-neighbour - in his living room.)

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“For a while, I stepped away, had my daughter, ran a business with my husband…” she says. “I never stopped acting completely, though.

“And now it’s getting really good again. You don’t expect much, and then things happen. Seize the day has always been my motto.”Working with Megan Lovat and Rebecca Elise for PPP has been a joyous experience, says Sheila.

(Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

“I have been working with lots of younger actors recently, which is great, because they are the future of the industry,” she says.

“I do feel for them, though, as there is no time given any more. There are so few theatre companies now where you can learn the ropes - everything needs to be done yesterday. It’s hard.”

Sheila adds: “It’s lovely to be working with a female director, and two other female actors, it’s great. I’m learning a lot from Rebecca and Megan, who have done much more theatre in the last 20 years than I have. I’m relying on them.”

Sheila pauses, adding with a grin: “I bring the gossip. When I think back to being 26, I remember sitting in a Winnebago with Ian Bannen listening to him name-drop like a luvvie.”

She groans. “And now, I realise, that’s me….”