In the second of an occasional series on her fun days as a film extra, local author Joy James recalls a favourite actress - and an amusing coincidence...

I HAD been working as an extra on a romantic serial for Central TV and had got surprisingly close to a very famous and much-loved actress, Judy Loe, at that time married to the popular Nottingham-born star Richard Beckinsale.

It was most odd. Usually on set, it's an "us and them" relationship, but for some reason we really hit it off.

When I had finished my shot, she would beckon me to come over and when she had done her bit, Judy would make for the chair next to mine.

I was rather sad when my contract was fulfilled, but before she moved on to another location I had some nice pictures taken with her.

I regretted for the first time ever not asking for an autograph as a memento, but in the business it's considered unprofessional to do so.

Around that same time Ken, a good friend of ours who was in his early 30s, came to tell us his marriage had broken down and he was devastated.

He'd gone from having a stylish house in a neat Notts suburb to being homeless overnight.

I invited him to stay with our family until he got back on his feet. Gradually he came to accept being a single man again.

My then husband told me that on the couple of occasions he'd taken him out for a drink, he had been chatting up the golf club barmaid and they appeared, at least to him, to be getting close.

His divorce came through, but Sheila the barmaid helped him through it.

He came in one night a week or two later in a state of high excitement. "What are you doing Saturday?" he asked.

"Nothing as far as I know."

"You are now, you're going to a wedding."

"Whose wedding?"

"Mine."

I was dumbfounded. When I was at last able to speak, I asked him if Sheila would be wearing the traditional long white gown.

He looked at me quizzically. My second bout of brain freezing was about to hit.

"I'm not marrying Sheila!" He said it as a matter of fact.

I just stared at him open-mouthed.

"Then who?" I finally managed to blurt out.

"Her name is Maria. I met her last Wednesday in a nightclub. She's blonde and pretty and is just out of a long-term relationship. I've got a special licence to marry this Saturday."

Alarm bells clanged. "Out of the frying pan into the fire" sprang readily to mind.

We sat and talked for several hours with me doing my best to try to make him see sense. But he would not have it. He said they would wed with me and my husband as witnesses and go to a local restaurant and for a midday wedding breakfast.

She was not much more than a girl, too many years younger than he. I questioned how she would feel about such a bleak, special day and I ended up offering to put a reception on at my home and he gave me £50 to cater for it.

I have a reputation for being able to make £1 do the work of £10 and I set to with some urgency the very next day. By the wedding day, I had decorated the house, managed to get a wedding cake at cost price from Brown's bakery and a sizeable buffet out of the budget.

A little nervously, Ken, my hubby and I headed for the register office to meet his intended.

A few family and friends of the bride had gathered on the steps of the register office but there was no sign of any of the usual wedding finery – even the bride wore black, with an artificial white rose pinned on her shoulder!

At the sight of Ken, she gripped his hand like a drowning child.

The service went ahead and after a few photos we all piled in our cars and headed back to our house. The bride's family congregated in the living room with much frowning while the bridegroom – he had no family – stood huddled with his bride and friends in the kitchen.

I played the smiling hostess and made sure everyone was fed and watered. Awkward does not begin to describe the state of affairs.

I was somewhat relieved to be introduced to a couple called Pauline and John. They seemed very interested in my work.

Pauline asked me if I had worked with anyone famous.

I told her yes and named a few dozen names and then told how I'd recently worked with a very special actress whom I had got on with as if we'd known each other forever.

I got out the photos I'd had taken with her and showed them to the couple.

"Can I keep this one?" Pauline asked. "Yes, I suppose so" I replied. "But why?"

She giggled mischievously. "I want to send it to her. You see, this woman, Judy Loe, is my sister-in-law. Richard Beckinsale (Judy's husband) was my brother!"

As for the marriage. It was annulled a few months later.

Carlton-born Richard Beckinsale died in 1979. In 1997 Judy, mother of actress Kate Beckinsale, married TV director Roy Battersby.

In her next instalment for Bygones, Joy tells the story of when she was arrested in Germany.