Dame Sheila Hancock has signed up for a course to help with her anxiety

She told the Guardian newspaper: "I'm always desperately worried about being late. Obsessive even. I'll arrive so early that I sit for an hour in the car waiting, rather than risk being tardy or stuck in traffic.

"It's absurd. Everybody is late now; nobody is on time. Why am I the only person worrying?"

Sheila explained her fear is having a detrimental affect on her life - revealing she suffered a meltdown recently when a taxi she booked failed to arrive on time.

She said: "I called: 'Where the hell are you?' He'd missed my turning. 'Look,' I said, 'I'll come to you.' I powered along the street, in the freezing cold.

"Things dropped from my bag. I locked myself out of the house in my rush. After all that, I arrived 10 minutes early! It's madness."

Sheila went on to insist she's taking steps to deal with her issues, saying: "I'd like to spend the last few years of my life being less anxious, if I could. That would be a gift.

"[I have decided] to sign up for an anti-anxiety course. You can get it on the National Health. It's practical. None of this 'Did you have an unhappy childhood?' rubbish. More, 'What are you going to do about it?'"

Sheila concluded: "My anxiety is not an illness, just fear, for all sorts of reasons. I'm bored of normal emotions being categorised as sickness, honestly."