“SHE is a ghastly, bigoted and judgemental old bat, but I just love playing her,” said Jane How, the former EastEnders star, who is reaching deep inside the psyche of Mrs Railton-Bell in Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables at the Salisbury Playhouse this month.

Having spent some 40 years on film, television and stage, most notably A Good Woman, EastEnders, Don’t Wait Up and Noel Coward’s Easy Virtue in the West End, like a butterfly Jane How has emerged in her new role as the sneering Railton-Bell in this poignant comedy, which at times is far from funny.

Jane How is happy.

“I am thrilled to be here in Salisbury,” she said. “Just this morning on my way to the Playhouse I saw two kingfishers along the Avon. I thought to myself how very lucky I am to be playing this part in the most wonderful play and to be here in this glorious city. I am so happy.”

Life hasn’t always been easy for Jane. School was difficult until, at the impressionable age of 13, her headmistress at Cobham Hall Deborah Hancock took her under her wing.

“I went to various schools and was sacked from them all or rather asked to leave,” admitted Jane. “But it was at Cobham Hall when my life turned around and all thanks to my rather wonderful headmistress. I was 13 years old and I was, you could say, rather bolshie. My headmistress called me into her study and asked me to read a book, it was written by Carl Jung. She wanted my opinion. I was delighted that someone wanted to hear my opinion, I read the book twice – I didn’t understand it at first, but at this moment I no longer felt isolated. I felt a sense of belonging.

“Years later, after I had finished a play in the West End, I saw Deborah Hancock on Newsnight. I wanted so very much to thank her for turning my life around and when she phoned me back that was exactly what I did.”

Jane had always known she wanted to be an actress from an early age – disregarding her mother’s ambition for her to marry a duke and arrange flowers forever.

She clung to her dream and after leaving her cherished Cobham Hall trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. After a host of appearances on television and stage, Jane landed the role of Den Watt’s long-standing mistress Jan Hammond on the BBC soap EastEnders, at a time when her own private life was in turmoil.

“I was deeply unhappy at this time in my life,” said Jane. “But while the experience was an unhappy one, I am immensely grateful because it raised my profile. After EastEnders I played the Larita in Easy Virtue, at the Fringe Theatre. It was wonderful. We had reviews to die for.”

Now Jane is thriving as Mrs Railton-Bell and adores Rattigan’s Separate Tables.

She said: “Separate Tables is a comedy that can make you laugh one moment and cry the next. While it is a comedy, it also has great depth and there is a social commentary running through it. I believe Separate Tables is a treasure of a play and certainly a collector’s item. There are moments that are as moving as Chekhov.”

Gareth Machin is directing a deeply affecting revival of Separate Tables, delving into the lonely lives of the characters thrown together at a Bournemouth hotel, existing together in quiet desperation.

Separate Tables at Salisbury Playhouse runs from October 16 – November 8.

For tickets ring 01722 320333.