The first thing they tell you at stage school is never to work with animals and children,” says flamboyant dame Su Pollard when I ask about Sandy, Annie’s dependable dog. “You work yourself to death and you still can’t get an awwh with little divas like that in the show. It’s dreadful really.”

Pollard, best loved as chalet maid Peggy Ollernshaw in Hi-de-Hi! and pompous Ivy Teasdale in sitcom You Rang, M’Lord?, is back in Brighton to play Miss Hannigan in a redirected version of Annie The Musical at the Theatre Royal.

The show has lost none of its appeal, despite being subject to almost 30 years of continual production up and down the country, and this version is Pollard’s third time playing the tyrannical orphanage matron.

“The first time I saw Annie, Sheila Hancock played Miss Hannigan. She was wonderful and I immediately thought it would be brilliant to do. It’s a great story, a real rags-to-riches episode about an orphan with nothing going for her who is adopted by a lonely corporate business man.”

“My criteria is VFM: value for money, and I think that’s what the audience gets. Beautiful costumes, fabulous scenery, a live band, live singing, nothing mimed. And I love it when you get the excited chatter of everybody going ‘Oh, I loved that show, didn’t we have a good evening’ at the end.”

“The story is interspersed with fabulous songs, every one is memorable, and millions of people around the world have been affected by the movie’s feelgood factor. It reminds me of a pantomime really, and Annie is like Cinderella.”

All great pantomimes have goodies and baddies, but what really gets the crowd going are great characters. Miss Hannigan is one such figure. And though she has some hilarious lines, Pollard thinks she should get more sympathy.

“She’s got nothing going for her. She’s spent her working life in an orphanage and been terrorised. The kids dangle dead mice in her face, she has no grown-up conversation, and all she has got is the radio in the afternoon and her favourite tipple, Jack Daniels, to get rid of the pain.

“Every time she gets near a man she goes berserk because she hasn’t been near a man for about 20 years. She is forced into being nasty, and to be quite honest, I feel a bit sorry for the poor cow.”

Annie is set in the time of the Great Depression and behind the saccharine gloss is an eternal message of hope for all those made homeless by the economic turmoil. Songs such as Tomorrow and We’d Like To Thank You Herbert Hoover celebrate hope through adversity and Pollard believes they explain Annie’s longevity.

“The Wall Street Crash reminds me of the credit crunch and that’s why its messages are still relevant. That’s why it has stood the test of time. It’s very truthful and, though no one knows when the next crash will be, Annie will still be relevant. Even if you’re stuck in a horrible situation, the message is always the same: never give up – the sun will come out tomorrow.”

* Starts 7.45pm (matinees Aug 20 and Aug 22 at 2.30pm) Tickets £15-£26.

To book, call 0844 8717615 or visit www.ambassador tickets.com.