You know that feeling you get when you meet someone and just don’t click?

I’ve just got it and I’m talking to Stephanie Beacham.

I’m trying my best to raise a smile from the star known to millions as Dynasty’s sultry Sable Colby - but no matter how hard I try my words feel like they’re falling like the proverbial seeds on stony ground.

If we’re on different wavelengths then she’s on FM and I’m broadcasting on Long Wave.

The glamorous actress is at Bradford's Alhambra in a new cross-dressing comedy Nobody’s Perfect starring and written by that epitome of an English gent Simon Williams.

With mistaken identity, disguise, deception and an aged aunt at the heart of the comedy I suggest it holds all the ingredients of a classic English farce.

“No, it’s not a farce,” she says suspiciously before relenting a little.

“It’s more romantic than a farce. It’s got a lot of elements of farce in it. There are misunderstandings and other farcical elements in it but I think it’s got more in common with films like Notting Hill and Bridget Jones which are hugely popular at the moment.”

She said: “It’s one of the most delightful comedies I have read in recent years. It’s got an old-fashioned optimism and magic about it.”

It’s a shame that the 52-year-old actress seems so guarded with her replies because after a career that has taken her from the prison camps of Tenko to the jet-set lifestyle of American soap stardom she has a lot to talk about.

Her own life story even sounds strikingly similar to the script of a spicy TV mini-series.

On the arduous path to fame and fortune she single-handedly struggled to bring up her two daughters Chloe and Phoebe, appearing in tacky films with titles like Schizo and Inseminoid to pay the rent.

She caused a stir starring in a steamy love scene with Marlon Brando in Michael Winner’s 1971 film The Nightcomers, and appeared alongside legendary screen diva Ava Gardner in Tam Lin.

The years of perseverance and appearing in dross eventually began to pay off when she began to land the quality roles she craved such as Rose in the classic BBC series Tenko - set in a women’s Japanese prisoner of war camp - and her face became a familiar fixture on British TV.

But it wasn’t until 1985, and a phone call from Hollywood mogul Aaron Spelling, that Stephanie really struck gold.

Spelling had seen the beauty playing a sexually provocative fashion entrepreneur Connie in the ITV series of the same name and wanted to import her raunchy qualities to the US and into his hit soap Dynasty.

The million dollar Malibu condo and the tabloid frenzy followed as Stephanie battled it out with Joan Collins for the title of biggest bitch on TV. Not bad for someone who started out studying mime with Etienne Decroux in Paris before moving on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as a penniless actress.

Her subsequent success is even more remarkable when you consider that the sultry actress has had to overcome a disability that means she only has 40 per cent hearing - a quality that one would suspect is pretty important in an industry that revolves around taking cues and interacting with other actors.

Her daughters are grown up now and having children of their own, but talking to the actress it is clear that it was love of her kids that kept her going through the dark days and gave her the resilience to go on and succeed.

She said: “One of the reasons I decided to come back and do theatre was my grandson. I’m now a Glam-ma, you get that? A Glam-ma not a Grandma. And I don’t want to miss him growing up.

“They grow by the second and I’ve never had a boy before so it’s very exciting. I was there when my daughter Phoebe gave birth. It was a wonderful experience.”

I feel like I’m on firmer ground when inquiring about family matters and so I decide to probe her own history and the story I’d come across several times during my research that the star had been born among the exotic surroundings of Casablanca.

“So the myth goes,” she replies tiredly.

“I invented that at the age of 21 because it sounded so much more glamorous than Hertfordshire. Who really comes from Casablanca?

“It wasn’t posher. I came from a comfortable enough background - all red velvet curtains and lawns - but Casablanca was a little more…mysterious. I invented that to make myself sound more glamorous.

“I’ve set the record straight so many times now but people still seem to believe I’m actually from there. I’m not.”

“I don’t come from a theatrical background at all - I just sort of fell into it. I was visiting a boyfriend in Liverpool and I saw them building the stage at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and I thought this is theatre - how amazing - and that was it.”

But back treading the boards of theatres up and down the country, back where she first honed her considerable acting talents, does Stephanie sometimes pine for the luxury and pampering that starring in Dynasty offered?

She said: “I think in an ideal world I would like the money that comes with films, the television lifestyle and the theatre experience. But I love theatre and you don’t get the same thrill out of appearing on television or on a film set.

“We’re getting an excellent response in the theatres so far so I hope the audiences in Bradford will enjoy the play when we get there. I’ve never been to Bradford before in my life so I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like.”