IT’S 22 degrees in Brighton yet Pauline McLynn sits down in the room above the theatre and asks for ‘a nice hot cup of tea.’

The lady doesn’t notice the smile that generates, but then again it’s 20 years since she played the tea-obsessed housekeeper Mrs Doyle in cult TV sitcom Father Ted.

And Pauline has moved on. Right now, the actress has dropped her Galway accent for Manchester as she stars in the touring theatre production of East Is East.

The cult 1999 film explored the problems young Asian kids faced growing up with a Pakistani father, George, who refuses to accept western influences – yet is married to a lady from Salford.

The theatre play keeps very much to the tradition of the film. And while it has its comedic moments, Pauline points out it doesn’t shy away from the darkness.

“I’m married to an abusive man,” says Pauline of her character, Ella, who tries to forge a bridge between her kids and their tyrannical father.

“He punches me hard in the kidneys in one part of the play and you can really feel the audience reaction.

“But that’s what makes this play such powerful theatre. It can vary between the laughs you get from the kids trying to break free from the expectations on them and then you get this very angry man who feels he’s losing respect.

“As a result, he lashes out. And Ella takes the punches.”

The kids refer to George Khan as ‘Genghis’. And the play is peppered with gags that emanate from the drama.

“That’s right,” says Pauline, sipping her tea. “You need the dramatic backdrop to be able to create the laughs.

Yet, the biggest laugh in the play is the same huge, controversial laugh that appeared in the film.

George Khan has deemed that two of his sons are to be married and so arranges for the parents of two chosen brides to come to the house to meet the boys.

When the Shahs pull up outside, youngest son Sajid yells out ‘The Pakis are here!’

“I don’t think it’s racist,” says Pauline, anticipating the question. “It’s funny because it’s an Asian boy using that word, the irony because it’s coming out of the mouth of a Pakistani kid.

“And it shows how he’s grown up to think of himself as English, despite his colour and his background.”

Pauline advocates a slackening of the rope of political correctness.

“I refer to myself as a Paddy,” she says, smiling. “I don’t think that’s a term of discrimination. I am a Paddy and that’s that.

“And I’m sure I’ve been called a helluva lot worse in my day.

“And what you’ve got to remember is this play is mostly autobiographical. The writer (Ayub Khan-Din) grew up in this world and in fact his mother was Irish.

“So even though I’m playing the part as a Mancunian, I feel I’m bringing a real truth to the role.”

The pivotal character offers Pauline a chance to remind audiences she’s a world away from Craggy Island.

Not that she hasn’t confirmed this many times. Most recently, she starred in Shameless, playing lusty librarian Libby, who falls for the hapless Frank.

Pauline left the series prematurely, but she can’t reveal details because of legal restraints.

However she does offer a clue in that she didn’t get on with some of the cast.

“Some of those people weren’t acting,” she says of those who played druggies, deadbeats and low-life criminals.

Yet, she has nothing but praise for the cast of Eastenders. Pauline played Dot Cotton’s daughter-in-law in the BBC soap.

“They were a lovely lot,” she trills of the regulars. “And even though they had all been part of this show for years, they were really welcoming.”

Pauline, it seems, was destined to become a performer. In spite of a detour via Trinity College Dublin where she studied English, there was always a love of performance.

“University offered me the chance to join the drama society,” she recalls, “and I loved it. I’d always liked to show off and bit and acting took me to a special place.”

She adds, with a wry smile: “I never got the part of the Pretty Young Girl, the big female leads, but that didn’t matter. I got the character roles.”

Yet, she’s also an accomplished writer of eleven novels.

“Going on tour with the play gives me the chance to research and write.”

Pauline McLynn’s success however has not resulted in selective amnesia. She’s all to ready to remind the world it’s down to the profile she gained while wearing a floral pinny, a fake mole and the smile of a person whose not quite of this world.

“Ted was such a wonderful show,” she says, rhapsodising. “And I still watch it. I think it’s so funny.

“But here’s the amazing thing. I never thought for a minute I’d appear in it. The part called for a fifty-something woman to play Mrs Doyle and I was twenty years to young.

“It was only after they auditioned every other actress on the planet I got the part.

“The only problem was that after Ted, I seemed to be offered endless roles that were a bit similar to Mrs Doyle.”

She added: “Not that I didn’t do them, mind.”

*East Is East, the Theatre Royal, August 10-15.