One of Britain’s best-loved comedy actresses is heading to Croydon this November in a show not to be missed.

Dawn French – star of The Vicar of Dibley and French and Saunders, among others – will bring her one-woman show 30 Million Minutes to Fairfield Halls on Thursday, November 5.

Dawn was due to play the venue last November but had to cancel because of an inner ear infection.

Her critically acclaimed show takes audiences through the various lessons her life has taught her in the (approximate) 30 Million Minutes she has been alive.

She said: “"It's not a stand-up show. It's not a play. I guess it is a monologue because it's just me talking.

“It's a slide show to an extent. But not JUST a slide show. It's not like your awful, most feared auntie who's just come back from Egypt where you have to sit and watch everything.

“It's quite autobiographical, so I show you the people that have made me - so to speak. There's quite a lot about my mum and dad."

The show is directed by Michael Grandage, the man wh ran the Donmar Warehouse for a decade until 2012.

Dawn said: “I could have asked Fatty Saunders, but I thought, ‘I’m actually going to ask a proper grown up theatre person'."

And the director has helped her with a show that’s more revealing than she has been before, which she confessed she wasn’t totally easy with.

She said: “It’s a little bit, ‘Aren’t I interesting?’ I keep saying to Michael Grandage, ‘I need to take this out,’ and he says, ‘Absolutely not - that's the WHOLE point. Do NOT push it away from you. Absolutely own it and be completely strong and confident about that.’

“And so that’s what I’ve done.”

Dawn French’s 30 Million Minutes is at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, on Thursday, November 5. Tickets cost £37.50 or £42. Go to Fairfield.co.uk or call 020 8688 9291.