ELAINE C. Smith is sipping cappuccino and sharing half a lemon drizzle cake.

But fish food would be more appropriate. Every few minutes a passer-by by recognises Scotland’s comedy grand dame and waves or gives the thumbs up.

Inside, several customers can’t resist the chance of a selfie with the lady from Lanarkshire.

Yet, while Elaine’s fan base grows, so too does the demand for her services.

Elaine is currently starring in Annie at the King’s Theatre, playing the outrageous dipso child-hater that is Miss Hannigan.

“The danger is you play her simply as evil and bad - but no one is simply evil and bad,” the actress explains, smiling.

“So you try to put her in context. The story is set during the Depression, with fifteen million unemployed and Miss Hannigan is also a victim of that.

“She ends up in an orphanage full of kids who have been abandoned and Hannigan’s attitude is ‘I’m doing okay, I’ve got free food, gas and electric.’ So you can see where she’s coming from. She’s a survivor.

“And this is a story which will resonate with the audiences today. It’s a story about the huge economic divide. Daddy Warbucks is Donald Trump.”

Today’s billionaires however aren’t allowed to take little girls home for the weekends.

“Yes, well, that part of the storyline is a bit suspect. But let’s put it down to the naivety of the period, when we didn’t assume the dangers we know of today.”

Who does Elaine channel to find her inner Miss Hannigan? “This may sound actory but I just try and find the truth in the character and then add the comedy.

“Playing Mary Nesbitt, for example, was all about finding the truth and then crafting the comedy on top. I get the character first, and then become the clown.”

Miss Hannigan is Mary’doll in charge of a concentration camp. But she’s troubled. “She self-medicates with a lot of alcohol. She’s not happy in her world. She needs more. Love?

“And when Annie gets to go and live with Daddy Warbucks it’s all about envy. I think people will understand Miss Hannigan.”

The actress can’t quite believe she’s playing the role.

“When I was a schoolteacher in Edinburgh (she initially studied Drama at RSAMD, later taking a teaching qualification) I took my kids to London and one of the first shows we saw was a new production of Annie with Sheila Hancock as Annie.”

She adds, with a very grateful smile; “I never thought for a moment I’d one day be playing that same role.”

The mother of two daughters, Hannah and Katie, can afford to smile these days. Her new BBC 2 series Two Doors Down, which goes out in March, is set in a Glasgow suburb and takes a Brillo pad to the pretentiousness of aspirational life in Scotland.

Elaine’s character, Christine, isn’t posh, but she trashes everyone mercilessly. Forty years ago she was the sort of creature Stanley Baxter had so much fun with.

“One of my favourite speeches features Jonathan Watson and Alex Norton’s characters about to go on holiday and Christine cuts in and says ‘Where are you flying from? Glasgow? Oh, that’s some place since that terrorist incident. It’s like Fort Knox, now. Ah know a wee lassie that works there, spraying the perfume . . . But you know, the hours they’ve got the staff working! She’s all for setting fire to herself just to get oot of the place. And whit’s the world like wi’ that Al Qaeda and that Boko Haram? We used to worry about the IRA - but at least you knew where you were wi’ them.’”

Christine makes Mary Nesbitt look like Abby Clancy. The Two Doors Down character has her hair scraped back, wears zero make-up and an expression that makes dour seem delirious by comparison.

How did she feel about presenting that look to the world?

“Would you ask a guy that question?”

She shrugs; “To be honest, I guess it’s a question I’ve asked myself, as a woman, over the years. I’ve looked at myself in the mirror when I’ve played the less glamourous roles and said ‘Oh God, look at the state of you!’

“And it’s not wrong to feel like that because we are all vain, we all want to present the best version of ourselves to the world.

“But you know, the next question I ask myself ‘Is the script funny?’ If it is, you do what you have to.”

She adds; “But male actors don’t get these comparisons. If Robert De Niro looks and sounds less attractive, he’s acting.”

Elaine is smiling again. And why not? She’s a panto star, Two Doors Down will get great audiences and her Burdz Eye View of Scotland travelogue goes out again on STV at the end of February.

“And I do feel very blessed in lots of way. My wee sister (Diane) was fifty last week, and was diagnosed with cancer ten years ago, and we’re so thankful she’s still with us.”

There’s also granddaughter, Stella, to delight in, named after Smith’s own mum who passed away in 2005 after contracting breast cancer. “To hear the baby call me ‘Gran’ is absolutely wonderful,” she says, beaming. “Although she seems equally taken with Peppa Pig, which is of course crack cocaine for kiddies.

“But the great thing is we get to say the name ‘Stella’ again without feeling so sad. And yes, life is wonderful.”

She pauses and laughs; “Christ, I sound like Oprah now.”

*Annie, the King’s Theatre, February 8-20,