Andria Lawrence was a TV star in her day from On The Buses as Reg Varney’s “bit on the side”— one of many comic roles she was cast in as well as dramas like Coronation Street and a string of films.

So she was overjoyed when staff at Aarandale Manor care home in Mill Hill - where she lives these days - put on a special ‘memory lane’ tea party with pictures of her starring as ‘Turnaround Betty’, the bus garage canteen girl in the 1970s sitcom.

“Andria would sing and entertain the other residents when she first moved here,” the care home’s manager Kirsty Harris said.

“But her dementia has affected her ability to take to the stage — so we decided to entertain her with a special themed afternoon.”

Staff put Andria’s pictures in lights on their mobile interactive trolley used for sensory activities.

The 88-year-old retired actress relived her memorable TV moments at the home at Holders Hill Circus, with re-runs of the show that made her famous.

Her career included roles in films like Hammer's Countess Dracula in 1971 and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell in 1974.

Staff at the home had researched her life in TV and the movies to ‘personalise’ her care to help remember her showbiz days, having noticed a decline in her memory.

“Andria wasn’t able to fully communicate how she felt,” Kirsty added. “But her face lit up when she saw On the Buses memorabilia and she smiled all afternoon long.”

‘Reminiscence’ therapy is used at Aarandale Manor to help those with dementia.

The therapy took Andria back to the highlights in her life.

Her performance as ‘Turnaround Betty’ in the 1971 film version of On the Buses showed the amorous comic roles she was most often cast for. These included For the Love of Ada with Wilfred Pickles and Irene Handl the following year, then Man About the House with Richard O’Sullivan and Yootha Joyce in 1974.

There had been the serious stuff too, in her early career which began in 1960 with TV’s No Hiding Place crime drama and a role in Ken Loach’s acclaimed gritty Cathy Come Home in 1966.

Andria — never one to let life slip by — turned to writing after retiring from showbiz with her novel The Olive Tree published in 2016.