You can sense it in her tone and hear it in her voice: Doris Roberts is having the time of her life. After decades spent playing supporting characters — and playing them consistently well— Roberts gets to be the star for a change.

“And not only that,” Roberts adds slyly, “but I get to be an angel.”

Yes, you read that right. Doris Roberts: Angel. In the yuletide- themed Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle,” based on the popular 1996 novel from bestselling author Debbie Macomber, Roberts stars as a heaven- sent housekeeper who magically transforms the lives of an emotionally depleted widower (James Van Der Beek of “Dawson’s Creek” fame) and his 6- year-old twins.

The film premieres at 8 p. m. Saturday and finds Roberts playing the Mrs. Miracle of the title. She’s an angel with an attitude and represents an opportunity “to get as far away from Marie Barone as I can get,” she says. “Marie was kind of a devil, of course. So now I’m working the opposite end of the spectrum. Gotta cover my bases.”

Not that Roberts has a thing against Marie. It was playing the agonizing, manipulative matriarch for nine seasons on the revered TV comedy “Everybody Loves Raymond,” after all, that rocketed Roberts to an unlikely stardom after more than four decades as an actress. It earned her seven Emmy nominations and four wins, including three in a row (2001-2003).

“ ‘Raymond’ was one of the great experiences of my life,” Roberts declares. “It makes me recognized everywhere I go now. That show is playing right now in 175 countries around the world. And I had to beat out more than 100 other woman to get that role.

“People ask me if I get annoyed when I’m bothered in a restaurant and asked for an autograph. I’m like, ‘Are you kidding?’ They approach me with a smile on their face and tell me how much they love me and thank me for the humor I brought into their lives. I mean, that’s when you know maybe you’ve done something right in the world.”

If anything associated with “Raymond” does annoy Roberts, it’s the “preposterous” idea that having enjoyed such a lengthy and diverse career dating to the early 1950s, that she was now — in her 70s — typecast as a comically meddling mother/mother-in-law.

“Can you believe it?” she asks with incredulity. “I’ve done far more drama on TV than comedy and now I’m stuck as Marie? I won an Emmy for ‘St. Elsewhere!’ It made no sense to me. And fortunately, it hasn’t stuck.”

No it hasn’t. The truth is that since she turned 65 just before “Raymond’s” 1996 debut, Roberts, who turned 79 on Nov. 4, has never been hotter as an actress— this, after having herself testified before a U. S. Congressional panel in 2002 about the reality of age discrimination in Hollywood. Somehow, she’s managed to steer clear of it.

“I’m in four movies this year!” Roberts announces with glee. “I’ve got a feature with Andy Griffith called ‘Play the Game’ that just came out in August; another one that hit in July called ‘Aliens in the Attic,’ where I play a crazy grandma who gets capped by aliens; and then later this year I’m in the feature ‘Another Harvest Moon’ with Ernest Borgnine. I’ve got to say, it’s great to be so busy.”

But it may be that Roberts had the greatest time of all in “Mrs. Miracle,” speaking of it with great pride and hoping that the character could become a holiday perennial.

“That would be phenomenal, because I have to say I just love this character,” she admits. “I love the kind of angel I am in this film, one with attitude who tells it like it is. There’s this one time where she says, ‘Act as if you have faith and it’ll happen. And if that doesn’t work, just fake it, baby!’ Wouldn’t it be great to have that character come alive every Christmas?”