Christine McVie 'interested' in rejoining Fleetwood Mac

Christine McVie presented Emeli Sande with the best song prize at this year's Ivor Novello awards

Christine McVie has expressed an interest in permanently rejoining her old band, Fleetwood Mac.

The British singer-songwriter quit in 1998, but met up with her bandmates on stage at the O2 in September to perform their 1970s hit Don't Stop.

"I like being with the band, the whole idea of playing music with them," she told The Guardian. "I miss them all."

"If they were to ask me [back] I would probably be very delighted," she added, "but it hasn't happened".

"We'll have to wait and see."

McVie played with Fleetwood Mac for 28 years, and wrote some of their most famous songs, including Don't Stop, Say You Love Me and Songbird.

The band largely refrain from playing her material in her absence - and have not performed Songbird live since 1997.

Christine McVie played keyboard on her brief return to the band in September

Born Christine Perfect, she married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie and joined the group in 1971.

With the recruitment of Nicks and her boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham in 1975, the group morphed from British blues rockers to freewheeling California-based pop heavyweights.

They were also known for their tangled internal relationships. The McVies divorced in 1976 and Nicks and Buckingham split up shortly afterwards.

Their romantic tensions inspired the album Rumours, which has sold 19 million copies in the US.

Fleetwood Mac started a US tour in Columbus, Ohio, in April this year

After the success of their 1998 live album, The Dance, she decided to retire to Kent in England and has largely remained out of the limelight to this day.

When Fleetwood Mac announced their current world tour, singer Stevie Nicks said McVie did not want to fly to America so there was little chance of her rejoining the band.

But her recent, one-off appearance at the O2 seems to have reignited her love of performing.

"It was amazing, like I'd never left. I climbed back on there again and there they were, the same old faces on stage," she told the Guardian.

However, Fleetwood Mac are currently on hiatus, while John McVie is treated for cancer.

The group cancelled a series of dates in Australia and New Zealand - with no word yet on their next scheduled date, in Las Vegas on 30 December.

McVie told the Guardian her ex-husband's condition was "really good".

"He's having his treatment in LA right now, but they caught it really early so he should be up and running in a couple of months."