I'm very excited. I also feel slightly like I'm having an out-of-body experience, like I'm on some sort of tour of The Traitors, not actually going to be in it. So now I’m nervous. I'm nervited - nervous, and excited. I love a compound word.

Why did you decide to take part?

My decision making in life generally, and certainly work, is follow the joy. I haven't done much TV work for a long time, having only recently come out of long-term ill health issues and when I was offered this, my whole body sort of relaxed, I smiled, and I just wanted to jump about like a schoolgirl with joy. It's just fun. It's outdoors, it’s games. All the stuff I love. It's play basically. And I'm passionate about encouraging people to play more generally, and this game is that in spades. It’s a brilliant television show – the only flaw in taking part is that as a fan of the show it will be less fun to watch it with myself in it!

When it was announced you’d taken part, we saw you mentioned potential galloping…

When someone said on Instagram, "Oh, I hope you gallop in the castle,” I foolishly replied, "Right, I now take that as a dare.” So that was idiotic of me. I will have to at some point gallop down a corridor. I’ll gallop when no one’s watching…or who would be the best person to encourage to gallop? I don't know. I mean, Kenny probably doesn't even know who I am. So, if I could get him to gallop…I could get a new generation galloping.

It's good to have you back on our screens, how are you feeling now?

I'm still living with elements of ME, and that brings fatigue and pain to manage, but I have come to a point where I feel well enough to step out, and that's also partly why I'm doing this. The joy of mucking about on television again will hopefully outweigh some of the challenges. And I think it will be challenging on my body, so it'll be interesting, and it'll take some courage as this is a big next step. When you live with a chronic illness, it's invisible, so people don't know that you're sitting there in pain. But then it reminds you that everybody's got their thing. So, I'm also really looking forward to making friends and looking after each other and hopefully they can carry me up a hill or whatever we're going to have to do!

Would you call yourself a team player, a leader or a bit of a lone wolf?

I’m a bit of all of those things. I think I'm a lone wolf in that I love my alone time. So being with people constantly all day will be very new for me (I’ll either not stop talking or will have to tell people to pipe down!). But then I love being a team player because I used to be an athlete back in the day, so was part of sports teams which I always miss. I’d probably prefer to not be the leader but part of the team. Being in the ensemble is often better than being the lead role.

Are you better at telling lies or spotting them?

Well, she says boldly at the beginning of the experience, I think I'm excellent at both. When I watch Would I Lie to You?, about 90% of the time I get it right. I very much see myself as a psychological sleuth with no training whatsoever and nothing to back that claim up. I like to think that I could guess when people are lying. I don't like lying in real life, but when it comes to playing games in the family or whatever, I'm scarily good at lying. Also, I’ve been nominated for seven BAFTAs, never won one, and we've got Michael Sheen in the building. But you know…

Have you got any hobbies that we might not know about that might be useful in the game?

My favourite thing in life is being in or on water. Love swimming. Love being on a boat. Sitting by a river, in a river, on a river, slash sea, slash loch. I don't mind a bit of cold water swimming. So, if there’s a mission that requires a large woman to bob about in water, I’m there.

Do you want to be a Traitor or a Faithful?

Why did you say Traitor first?! Do you think I’m going to be a Traitor?

I know nothing… you are wearing an outfit that is the same green as the Traitors’ cloaks already though…

Oh God! People are going to read into that. The game has begun before it's begun. I initially thought, well, I’d like to be a Traitor, because you feel like you're just having more of the experience, but now I've gone the other way and I want to be a Faithful. I think it would be more fun to try and guess. I like the idea of figuring it out, weeding them out and getting a Faithful win. And we can't let another stupid comedian as a Traitor win. None of that, please!

Are you still in touch with all of the cast Miranda?

Oh yes, we’re really good friends. I got messages in the WhatsApp group about this. Everyone’s so excited.

(Image: BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge)

Interview supplied by publicists