Actress Clare Grogan: My favourite photograph is of us filming Gregory's Girl

“This photo was taken in July 1980 at Abronhill High School in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, where we filmed Gregory’s Girl. I’m on the left; John Gordon Sinclair, who played Gregory, is in the middle; and Billy Greenlees, who was Steve, is on the right.

In this scene, I’m finding any excuse to talk to Gregory, including asking for his help in a cookery lesson when my mixture won’t thicken. But it’s Gregory’s friend Steve who helps because he’s good at baking. Then he does something outrageous as I walk away – he smacks my bottom, leaving a flour handprint.

I’d forgotten about this scene until The One Show played a clip recently. I’d just revisited that classroom to film a report for the BBC because, sadly, the school is closing.

I never watched the film when it was released in 1981. In fact, I’ve only ever seen bits of it because I’d feel too self-conscious watching it. But one of its great features was the amount of role reversals, such as girls playing football and boys baking, which wasn’t so common then. There was a scene where my character, Susan, asked Gregory if she could walk him home to make sure he got there OK. There was something clever about giving the girls in the film all the power.

I was 17 when we made it and had just left school. The writer and director Bill Forsyth spotted me at the Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Glasgow, where I was a part-time waitress. He was a regular diner but I didn’t know who he was until, one evening, he said he was making a film and wanted me in it. I didn’t take it too seriously at the time.

It turned out to be an extraordinary summer because not only did I make my first film but my band, Altered Images, was also signed by what is now Sony.

Everything happened so quickly, it was overwhelming. you’d think it would be any young actress’s dream but I struggled. I didn’t feel worthy of all the attention, probably because everything landed in my lap.

Altered Images was over by the time I was 24. I went on to make another film with Bill Forsyth, Comfort and Joy, and my first TV appearance was in Blott on the Landscape. The most recent film I’ve made is The Wee Man, playing a mum – so I’ve gone from schoolgirl to teachers and mums.

I’m still busy: my daughter, Elle, is nine, and I do TV presenting and music. I also keep in regular contact with John Gordon Sinclair – we became great friends.

People still ask about Gregory’s Girl and they get me to recite lines from the film. Wherever I go, there is usually someone in the room who regards it as their favourite movie, and I feel privileged to have something on my CV that just about everyone likes.”

A newly restored version of Gregory’s Girl is out now on DVD and Blu-ray, and available for download and video on demand. Clare is at the Burns an’ a’ That! Festival in Ayr on Saturday.