More than four decades ago she scandalised the country by frolicking in a mini-skirt while shooting a controversial film at Ramla Bay.

It was a bit shocking for Malta at the time, even though half the world was running around in minis

Now Judy Cornwell, 72, has returned to tell her tale to young schoolgirls and inspire them to chase their dreams.

The actress-turned-writer is best known for her role as Daisy, the slobbish, working-class sister of Hyacinth Bucket in the hugely successful British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

But in 1968 she was in Malta filming an avant-garde movie about sex addiction called Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

Keeping Up Appearances star Judy Cornwell has donated items from the show and two photos from her 1968 stay in Malta for auction in next week’s Puttinu Cares marathon. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The film involved several nude scenes at Gozo’s Ramla l-Hamra, where Ms Cornwell played Filigree Fondle and spent her time prancing around in a mini-skirt to the dismay of Maltese women, many of whom had not been exposed to the wave of feminism that was reaching its height abroad.

“It was a bit shocking for Malta at the time, even though half the world was running around in minis,” she says.

Maltese women hissed and spat at her on the street, she recalls in her autobiography, titled Adventures of a Jelly Baby.

Meanwhile, Maltese men were lurking behind the sand dunes, only visible by their brown tufts of hair, reminding her of “Red Indians” about to launch an attack.

“They wanted to see the minis,” she adds, with her trademark giggle.

Despite being made to feel like an alien, she remained fond of the island.

So when a schoolteacher (and huge Keeping Up Appearances fan) from St Clare’s College invited her to talk to his students, she immediately accepted.

“I love Malta,” she says, struck by the country’s wonderful culture, the sense of community and the high standard of education. “I said yes because I wanted my husband [retired BBC Arts correspondent John Parry] to see Malta, since he had never been here.”

Ms Cornwell is extremely proud of having acted in one of the BBC’s most commercially successful shows but says there was a downside to losing her anonymity. In most previous roles she wore wigs or a lot of make-up, which allowed her to remain unrecognisable in real life.

“Suddenly, here was a part where I didn’t wear make-up and wore my old jeans. So suddenly everyone was recognising me.”

Viewers got so attached to the show that they would think they were seeing ‘Daisy’ in the street.

“When my husband was with me they would come up to me and ask: hey, where’s your real husband?” referring to Onslow, the vest-wearing, beer-drinking slob on the show.

Her real husband is very different but their relationship is just as strong.

“We’ve been married for 52 years. We had our big golden wedding anniversary two years ago. That’s fairly rare in my business. But a lot of our friends are also celebrating their golden wedding. I think it was a good vintage that year for marriage,” she says.

The difference between their relationship and that of Daisy and Onslow, she says, is that she was a much stronger woman and, unlike the character she played, was never bossed around.

In fact, she was the one to propose marriage.

“I was determined to marry him because I knew there was another woman hanging around the place,” she says.

“He couldn’t see she was after him... men are so ignorant about these things. But I knew she was around so I said I better do things quickly.”

She was under 21 at the time so she had to get permission to marry from a bishop. Ms Cornwell is in Malta until Friday, where she will spend more time speaking to schoolchildren and holding book-signings.

She began her tour at St Clare’s College girls secondary, which invited her on the initiative Kenneth Formosa, teacher of Italian.

Today she will visit St Monica’s in Gżira and go in Gozo in the afternoon to sign books at Bargate stationery in Victoria.

Tomorrow she will make another appearance at St Clare’s College in an event open to the public. Ms Cornwell has also donated several treasured possessions to be auctioned during the Puttinu Cares marathon next week.

These include the grey jersey she wore on the show, two original scripts and two photos from her 1968 stay in Malta. Ms Cornwell will be sightseeing throughout and has already visited Mdina where she was treated to a fireworks display that reminded her of the ones she admired while being brought up in Australia.

“They were beautiful,” she said, squeezing her jelly-baby-like body with characteristic enthusiasm.