Lizzie can't wait to get busy again

She's better known for her clashing costumes, feathered turban and garish makeup – but for now Black Country comic Lizzie Wiggins is content to take it easy in her slippers and "civvies" while she recovers from a mild stroke.

The Express & Star revealed earlier this month that self-styled "Duchess of Dudley" had been ordered to stop working for three months by GPs to properly recover.

Today she is still smiling despite her illness - and vowed she would be back on stage entertaining fans by the end of the year. Although the 68-year-old is putting her feet up for the moment she has started to write again and today said she was feeling much better.

Lizzie, who lives in Acocks Green, Birmingham, said she was recovering and the movement was now returning in her right arm.

She has been undergoing physiotherapy and is currently waiting for tests to the heart and a brain scan.

"I have started writing again now which I could not do before and I am feeling much better. I'm not 100 per cent yet but there has been a real improvement on last week," she said.

"To begin with I was very confused and concerned about having to cancel shows. I hate to let people down. When you work as much as I do you just don't expect anything like this to happen to you. It came as a real shock."

She has been cared for her by her daughter Louisella who lives nearby.

"I have been told not to work for three months but I have been told it could become six depending on tests," she said. "However I am determined to get back on the stage."

And while Lizzie may be out of action her experiences have not dulled her sense of humour. "They were going through all the things you should do such as losing weight," she said.

"Then the doctor turned around to me and said a good way of doing this was to get a dog. I said maybe I should get a retired greyhound but my granddaughter said it would look silly because the dog would be small and slim . . . and I would be big and fat!"