Felicity Kendal mourns co-star, reflects on loss.

has said she is determined to live life to the full after seeing a number of her friends and co-stars die in recent years.  

The actress' most iconic role is undoubtedly that of Barbara Good in the television series The Good Life, which has remained one of Britain's most beloved sitcoms, despite running for just four seasons in the Seventies.

Last month, Felicity became the last surviving star of the hit show following the tragic death of Penelope Keith, who passed away at the age of 86 following a battle with .

Felicity, 79, has admitted her address book has got 'completely and utterly' smaller as time has passed but through her grief, she has recognised she is lucky to still be alive and is keen to make the most of the time she has left.

She told Go Explore Radio: 'Two things happen. Your address book gets smaller.. completely and utterly.. not useless... but much smaller. The new one is a smaller version.'

'And I think (when friends die) what it does do when you get over the grief of losing someone, which can be like waves... everybody has different timings.'

'Sometimes the tsunami hits you again and you thought it was a summer day… but when you get more used to it.. on a wet day the thing is that you do is give yourself a bit of a nudge and say, "Now look here, stop whinging about plumbing and about whatever.. maybe somebody's been slightly off with you because the sun is shining and guess what? You're here"'.

'And the alternative is not any fun - as far as we know. I have seen a lot of people not living and I wish they had had longer. Don't waste it.'

Felicity found fame in The Good Life along with Richard Briers, Penelope and Paul Eddington, and she always cherished the friendship she shared with her co-stars.

She said: 'On The Good Life, we were that close, we would go round to each other's house in rotation, having dinner, on the Sundays we had off.

'To be honest we were close like a family, like a company that has been together for years because we worked together We laughed a lot.'

'It just gets you through and you see the other side of things, and I think that our thing together... we had more humour than than it was probably legal.

But things changed when Paul died aged 68 in 1995 and Richard passed away in 2013 at the age of 79.

She reflected: 'And then Paul died very early, very young, and that was the beginning of it. We didn't go to each other's house regularly any more because there was this gap and I think all three of us went into incredible depression... upset, I don't mean clinical depression.. We were just heartbroken.'

'And then when Dickie died, that was just another one. So Penny and I were the two girls left, and you know, to me, I find it's a real leveller.'

'Suddenly there's no Penny and now I'm the sort of last one of the group which is a bit of a responsibility I think.. well no it isn't .. but on the other hand, you know, she was wonderful and I think by the time we get to our age that's okay!'

Felicity heaped praise on 'lovely' Penelope and the quiet life she led.

She added: 'Penny was very private. She absolutely appreciated recognition and people telling her she's 'good' and she did a lot of charity and she was a funny, lovely woman and one brilliant cook but she didn't go on social media and show off about what she was doing or anything. She was quite private.'

Felicity has vowed never to retire, insisting her passion for acting keeps her young.

Speaking to The Lady Magazine in 2021, Felicity took umbrage when asked if she planned to slow down, responding: 'Not at all! There’s a kind of relaxation in doing the work you like doing simply for the work itself. You're judged only on how you do it.'

She continued: 'When you're younger the competition is much greater. That's quite stressful. When you get to my age there aren't so many people left, so there's less pressure.

'You've passed from ingenue to leading lady and beyond. If you can be working at 17 and still working at 70-something, you've made it through.'

Indeed, Felicity has continued taking on new projects, and can currently be seen on stage at the Barbican Theatre starring in a new adaptation of High Society alongside Helen George and Freddie Fox.