Alison Steadman

Alison Steadman OBE
Steadman during a recording of You'll Have Had Your Tea for BBC Radio 4 in 2006
Born	(1946-08-26) 26 August 1946 (age 78) Liverpool, England
Alma mater	East 15 Acting School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Mike Leigh ​ ​ (m. 1973; div. 2001)​
Partner	Michael Elwyn
Children	2

Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for Abigail's Party, the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film Life Is Sweet and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in the original production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. In a 2007 Channel 4 poll, the '50 Greatest Actors' voted for by other actors, she was ranked 42.^[1]

Steadman made her professional stage debut in 1968 and went on to establish her career in Mike Leigh's 1970s TV plays Nuts in May (1976) and Abigail's Party (1977).^[2] She received BAFTA TV Award nominations for the 1986 BBC serial The Singing Detective and in 2001 for the ITV drama series Fat Friends (2000–2005). Other television roles include Pride and Prejudice (1995), Gavin & Stacey (2007–2010, 2019, 2024) and Here We Go (2022–present). Her other film appearances include Clockwise (1986), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Confetti (2006), Burn Burn Burn (2015) and Better Man (2024).

Early life and education

Steadman was born in Liverpool, the youngest of three sisters born to Marjorie (née Evans) (1912–1996) and George Percival Steadman (1912–1991),^[3] who worked as a production controller for Plessey, an electronics firm.

Steadman was educated at Childwall Valley High School for Girls, a state grammar school in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall, followed by East 15 Acting School, at which she secured a place in the autumn of 1966 and where she met Mike Leigh during her second year.^[4]

Career

Stage work

Having left the East 15 Acting School in Loughton, Essex, Steadman worked in various regional repertory theatres, starting at Lincoln in 1968, where her first role was the schoolgirl Sandy in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She created the role of the monstrous Beverly in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, which she reprised with the original cast on television. She won an Olivier Award for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and also appeared in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Hotel Paradiso, and others in locations as diverse as the Royal Court, the Theatre Royal, the Old Vic, the Hampstead Theatre, the Nottingham Playhouse, the Everyman Liverpool and the National Theatre. She starred as Elmire in the 1983 RSC production of Molière's Tartuffe, which was adapted for BBC television. ^{[citation needed]} 2002 saw her play the role of Hillary in Debbie Isitt's The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at the West End's Ambassadors Theatre to widely positive reviews.^[5] In 2010 Steadman played Madame Arcati in a revival of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit.^[6][7] In 2014 Steadman appeared as Madame Raquin in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Emile Zola's Thérèse Raquin.^[8][9]

Film

Steadman has appeared in many films, including P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982), Champions (1983), A Private Function (1984), Number One (1984), Clockwise (1986), Stormy Monday (1988), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Shirley Valentine (1989), Wilt (1989), Life Is Sweet (1990), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Topsy-Turvy (1999), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), Confetti (2006), Burn Burn Burn (2015), Dads Army (2016) and 23 Walks (2020),

Television

Steadman is credited with sharing the first lesbian kiss on British television with Myra Frances. Broadcast on 25 February 1974, Girl is the story of the love affair of two WRAC soldiers. “When I was first offered the part I felt quite nervous,” she said and was relieved that her “mum said it was great and was very moved by it.”^[10]

An early television appearance came in 1976 which saw Steadman cast as Cheryl Baker in the Granada Television daytime series Crown Court. Her character was the secretary of a confidence trickster found guilty of fraud.

Other television work includes Fat Friends as Betty, Grumpy Old Women, Stressed Eric, Let Them Eat Cake, The Singing Detective, No Bananas, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years as Pauline Mole, opposite James Bolam in the television film The Missing Postman, and Pride and Prejudice as Mrs. Bennet. In 1991, she also appeared as Edda Göring in Selling Hitler and as Lauren Patterson in Gone to the Dogs, which was then followed up by Gone to Seed.

Television productions directed by Leigh in which she has appeared include Nuts in May, Hard Labour and Abigail's Party. She also appeared in the BBC comedy The Worst Week of My Life. In 2007 she featured in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history, with roots in Trefarclawdd and Ruabon.

In October 2007 Steadman appeared in Fanny Hill on BBC Four.

From May 2007 to January 2010 Steadman starred in the BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey as Pam Shipman. She returned to the role for the Christmas specials in 2019 and 2024 respectively.^[11][12] She appeared in Lewis as the Reverend Martha Steadman in 'Intelligent Design' in 2013.

In 2014 Steadman starred as Joyce in the first series of the BBC comedy Boomers, followed by a Christmas special in 2015 and a second series in 2016.^[13] In 2016 she presented the three-part series Little British Islands with Alison Steadman on Channel 4. The series visited Gigha, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay in episode 1, Jersey, Alderney and Sark in episode 2 and the Isles of Scilly in episode 3. In 2016 she appeared as Abigail in the Midsomer Murders episode 'The incident at Cooper Hill'.

In 2018 Steadman made a return to BBC1 with John Cleese in Hold the Sunset. On 9 December 2018 Steadman appeared in the BBC1 Drama 'Care' in the role of Mary. Also in 2018 she featured in ITV1 mini series Butterfly where she played Maxine Duffy’s Grandmother

Radio

On radio, Steadman's talent for mimicry and character voices was given full rein in the 1970s, mainly at BBC Manchester, in comedy sketch shows including Week Ending, Castle's on the Air and The Worst Show on the Wireless. In the second and third of these she played the over-protective mother to Eli Woods's long-suffering Bunty/Precious. From 1982 to 1984, also at BBC Manchester, she joined Eli Woods and Eddie Braben (Morecambe and Wise's scriptwriter) in 13 episodes of the radio comedy The Show with No Name, written by Braben, which can best be described as an updated version of the comedy sketch show Round the Horne. In the early to mid 1980s Steadman also had a spell in Roy Hudd's long-running comedy sketch series The News Huddlines. From 2002 she co-starred as Mrs Naughtie in the situation comedy series Hamish and Dougal. In December 2009 she starred in Mike Stott's My Mad Grandad on BBC Radio 4.^[14] From 2012 she played Ginny Fox, a parody of Virginia Woolf, in the sitcom Gloomsbury. In 2018 she made a guest appearance in Radio 4's The Archers as Olwen, a friend of Jill Archer.

Personal life

In 1972 director Mike Leigh drove to Liverpool to see Ted Whitehead's play The Foursome, which featured Steadman. He asked her to be in his film Hard Labour, during which, both said, they "got together".^[15] They married in 1973 and had two sons.^[16] The couple lived with their sons in Wood Green, London.^[17] They separated in 1995 and divorced in 2001.

Steadman's partner is actor Michael Elwyn.^[18] The couple live in Highgate, London.^[19]

She is a birdwatcher^[20] and in November 2016 became an ambassador for London Wildlife Trust.^[21]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Nuts in May	Candice Marie	TV film
1977	Abigail's Party	Beverly	TV film
1980	Moving Pictures	Mrs. Arnolfini	TV film
1982	P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang	Miss Land	TV film
1983	Tartuffe, or the Impostor	Elmire	TV film
1984	Champions	Mary Hussey
	A Private Function	Mrs. Allardyce
	Number One	Doreen	TV film
1985	The Caucasian Chalk Circle	Kato / Natella / Aniko	TV film
1985	Coming Through	Kate	TV film
1986	Clockwise	Gwenda Stimpson
1987	The Finding	Mum	TV film
	The Short & Curlies	Betty	TV short film
1988	Coming Through	Kate	TV film
	Stormy Monday	Mayor
	The Adventures of Baron Munchausen	Daisy
1989	Shirley Valentine	Jane
	Wilt	Eva Wilt
1990	Life Is Sweet	Wendy
1992	Blame It on the Bellboy	Rosemary Horton
1994	Degas and Pissaro Fall Out	Emma Dumay	Short film
1996	Secrets & Lies	Dog Owner
	The Snow Queen's Revenge	Pearl	Voice role
1997	The Missing Postman	Christine Peacock	TV film
	The Ugly Duckling	The Hen	Voice role
1998	Queen's Park Story	The Squirrel	TV short film. Voice role
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Madame Leon
	Santa's Last Christmas	The Sorceress	TV film. Voice role
2001	Chunky Monkey	Beryl
	Happy Now?	Bronwyn Race
	Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember	Bunty Ferguson (The Mayoress)	Video. Voice role (UK dub)
	Ivor the Invisible	Auntie Barbara	TV film. Voice role
2002	D.I.Y. Hard	Woman	Short film
2003	Philip Larkin: Love and Death in Hull	Narrator	Voice role
	Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale	Mrs. Meisling	TV film
2004	Bosom Pals	Joan	TV film. Voice role
	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Casting Agent
2005	Bob the Builder: Bob's Big Plan	Bunty Ferguson (The Mayoress)	TV film. Voice role (UK dub)
	The Housewife	Narration / The Housewife	Short film
2006	Confetti	Sam's Mum
	Dead Rich	Maggie	Short film
	Loony in the Woods	Crazy Butcher
2007	The Dinner Party	Juliet	TV film
	Who Gets the Dog?	Jenny Evans	TV film
2009	Second Chance	Billie Shackleton	Short film
2010	Come Rain Come Shine	Dora Mitchell	TV film
2012	A Civil Arrangement	Isobel	TV film
	The Day My Nan Died	Jean	Short film
	Notes	Allison	Short film
2014	Peterman	Auntie Jean
2015	Burn Burn Burn	Diana
2016	Dad's Army	Mrs. Fox
2017	French Exchange	Mrs. Phillips	Short film
	We Can Be Heroes	Granny Evans
	Yours Faithfully Edna Welthorpe (Mrs)	Edna Welthorpe	Short film
2018	Bertie	Ann	Short film
	Ghosted	Alison	Short film
	Care	Mary	TV film
	Three Sacks Full of Hats	Mum	Short film
2019	Off Grid	Grace Tanner	Short film
2020	23 Walks	Fern
	Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse	Dora	TV film
2021	The King's Man	Rita
2024	Better Man	Betty

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Bel Ami	Fencer	Episode: "Madeleine"
1973	Z-Cars	WPC Bayliss	2 episodes: "Suspicion" and "Nuisance"
1973–1974	Frost's Weekly	Various roles	7 episodes
1973–1981	Play for Today	Various roles	9 episodes
1974	Crown Court	Mary Chatham	3 episodes: "Good and Faithful Friends: Parts 1–3"
	Second City Firsts	Jackie	Episode: "Girl"
1975		Helen	Episode: "Early to Bed"
	Tarbuck and All That!	Various roles	Series regular
	Oil Strike North	Paula Webber	Episode: "First Lion"
	The Wackers	Bernadette Clarkson	7 episodes
1976	Crown Court	Cheryl Baker	3 episodes: "Scard: Parts 1–3"
	Red Letter Day	Margaret Hudson	Episode: "Bag of Yeast"
1977	Esther Waters	Sarah	3 episodes
1978	ITV Playhouse	Norma Hardy	Episode: "Ten Days That Shook the Branch"
1979	Two's Company	Pamela	Episode: "The Silence"
1985–1987	Nature in Focus	Helen	12 episodes
1986	The Singing Detective	Mrs. Lili Marlow	Mini-series, 5 episodes
	In Sickness and in Health	Mother	Episode: "Christmas Special"
1989	Screen Two	Brenda Ogdon	Episode: "Virtuoso"
	The Jim Henson Hour	Perriwinkle	Episode: "Monster Maker"
	Screenplay	Marjorie	Episode: "A Small Mourning"
1990	Screen One	Jackie Johns	Episode: "News Hounds"
1991	Selling Hitler	Edda Goering	Mini-series, 1 episode
	Gone to the Dogs	Lauren Patterson	Mini-series, 6 episodes
1992	Gone to Seed	Hilda	Series regular, 6 episodes
1994	The Wimbledon Poisoner	Elinor Farr	Mini-series, 2 episodes
1995	Kavanagh QC	Evelyn Marie Kendall	Episode: "Nothing But the Truth"
	Pride and Prejudice	Mrs. Bennet	Mini-series, 6 episodes
	Coogan's Run	Annette	Episode: "The Curator"
1995–1998	Crapston Villas	Marge Stenson	Series regular, 20 episodes
1996	Karaoke	Mrs. Haynes	Mini-series, 2 episodes
	Cold Lazarus	Mrs. Haynes	Mini-series, 1 episode
	No Bananas	Evelyn Hamilton	Series regular, 10 episodes
1998–2000	Stressed Eric	Mrs. Perfect	Series regular, voice role, 13 episodes
1999	Let Them Eat Cake	Madame de Plonge	4 episodes
2000–2005	Fat Friends	Betty Simpson	Series regular, 23 episodes
2001	Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years	Pauline Mole	Series regular, 6 episodes
2002	Celeb	Grandma	Episode: "The Love Child"
2003	Lenny Henry in Pieces	Various roles	4 episodes
	Comic Relief	Professor Minerva McGonagall	Sketch: "Harry Potter and the Chamberpot of Azerbaijan"
2004	Dalziel and Pascoe	Marion Mattis	Episode: "Soft Touch"
2004–2005	The Lenny Henry Show	Mrs. Twelvetrees	2 episodes
2004–2006	The Worst Week of My Life	Angela Cook	Series regular, 17 episodes
2005	Twisted Tales	Margery Faversham	Episode: "Fruitcake of the Living Dead"
	Bob the Builder	Bunty Ferguson (The Mayoress)	Voice role (UK dub). Episode: "Bob's Big Plan"
2007	The Last Detective	Karen Horner	Episode: "The Man from Montevideo"
	Agatha Christie's Marple	Kirsten Lindstrom	Episode: "Ordeal by Innocence"
	Fanny Hill	Mrs. Brown / Madam	2 episodes: "#1.1" and "#1.2"
	The Omid Djalili Show	Mrs. Dashett	Episode: "#1.2"
2007–2010, 2019, 2024	Gavin & Stacey	Pam Shipman	Main role; 22 episodes
2012	Playhouse Presents	Tina	Episode: "King of the Teds"
	Inspector George Gently	Esther Dunwoody	Episode: "The Lost Child"
	Little Crackers	Alison's Mum Mrs. O'Grady	Episode: "Alison Steadmans Little Cracker: The Autograph" Episode: "Paul O'Grady's Little Cracker: Boo! A Ghost Story"
2013	Lewis	Rev. Martha Seager	2 episodes: "Intelligent Design: Parts 1 & 2"
	The Syndicate	Rose Wilson	Series regular, 6 episodes
	Love and Marriage	Pauline Paradise	Series regular, 6 episodes
2014	Comedy Blaps	Mum	Episode: "A Liam Williams 'Blap': Episode 3 – Home"
	The Great War: The People's Story	Hallie Miles	Mini-series, 3 episodes
	The Secrets	Angela	Episode: "The Dilemma"
2014–2016	Boomers	Joyce	Series regular, 13 episodes
2015	Inside No. 9	'Madam Talbot' / Anne	Episode: "Séance Time"
2015–2016	Orphan Black	Kendall Malone	5 episodes
2016	Midsomer Murders	Abigail Tonev	Episode: "The Incident at Cooper Hill"
	Yonderland	Barbara Maddox	Episode: "It's the Thought That Counts"
	Comedy Playhouse	Brenda	Episode: "Broken Biscuits"
2017		Cath	Episode: "Static"
	We Have Been Watching	Narrator	Series regular
2018	Butterfly	Barbara	Mini-series, 3 episodes
	The Reluctant Landlord	Debbie	Episode: "Mama's Boy"
	The Crystal Maze	Fairy God Mumsie	Episode: "Celebrity Christmas Special"
2018–2019	Hold the Sunset	Edith	Series regular, 13 episodes
2019	Moominvalley	Emma the Stage Rat	Voice role, 2 episodes: "Little My Moves In" and "Moominsummer Madness"
2020	Unprecedented	Liz's Mum	Episode: "#1.3"
	Housebound	Jane	Episode: "#1.12"
	Life	Gail Reynolds	Mini-series, 6 episodes
	Pandemonium	Sue Jessop	BBC One comedy (pilot episode of Here We Go)[22]
2022	Rules of the Game	Anita Jenkins	Mini-series, 4 episodes[23]
2022–present	Here We Go	Sue Jessop	8 episodes (including pilot and 2023 Christmas Special)[22]
2023	Alison & Larry: Billericay to Barry	Herself	Gold celebrity travel show[24]

Awards and nominations

• 2000: Invested as Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1987	The Singing Detective	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actress	Nominated
1991	Life Is Sweet	Taormina International Film Festival	Golden Mask	Won
1992	Life Is Sweet	National Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Actress	Won
1993	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Olivier Award	Best Actress	Won
1996	Pride and Prejudice	CableACE Award	Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	Nominated
1998	The Memory of Water	Olivier Award	Best Actress	Nominated
2001	Fat Friends	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actress	Nominated
2016	N/A	British Independent Film Award	Richard Harris Award	Won

References

1. "The Stage Talk". The Stage. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
2. "Alison Steadman" Liverpool John Moores University Honorary Fellowship Award speech July 2010 Archived 16 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 June 2011
3. "Alison Steadman Biography (1946–)". www.filmreference.com.
4. Michael Coveney, The World according to Mike Leigh, p.90
5. "Theatre review: The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at New Ambassadors". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
6. "Review: Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward, Theatre Royal Bath". Wiltshire Times. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
7. Billington, Michael (10 March 2011). "Blithe Spirit – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
8. "Theatre Royal Bath – Main House". Theatre Royal Bath. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
9. Cavendish, Dominic (8 August 2014). "Thérèse Raquin, Theatre Royal Bath, review: 'rudimentary'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
10. Rennison, Nick (2022). 1974: Scenes from a Year of Crisis (1st ed.). London: Oldcastle Books, Limited. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-85730-582-4.
11. Craig, David (10 May 2024). "Gavin & Stacey icon confirms return for final ever episode - but hasn't 'seen the script'". Radio Times.
12. Weaver, Matthew (3 May 2024). "Gavin and Stacey to return for last-ever episode on Christmas Day, BBC confirms". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
13. Kelly, Steve (15 August 2014). "Who are the stars of Boomers? Veteran stars line up for new BBC comedy". The Mirror. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
14. "My Mad Grandad", BBC, 28 December 2009
15. Coveney, p. 90
16. Michael Coveney, p. 18
17. "Profile: Mike Leigh". The Guardian. 19 October 2002. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
18. Steadman, Alison. "The Alison Steadman Page". Pandp2.home.comcast.net. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
19. Woods, Judith (23 October 2016). "Alison Steadman: How my mum was mistreated by the NHS". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
20. Kellaway, Kate (22 November 2009). "'To a birdwatcher, one glimpse, one moment is happiness enough'". The Observer. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
21. "Actress Alison Steadman is standing up for London's wildlife as our latest ambassador". www.wildlondon.org.uk.
22. "Here We Go: Meet the cast of the new BBC comedy series". BBC Media Centre. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
23. "Rules Of The Game". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
24. Harrison, Phil; Seale, Jack; Verdier, Hannah (14 August 2023). "TV tonight: old friends from Gavin & Stacey take a ride from Billericay to Barry". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2023.

External links

• Alison Steadman at IMDb
• Biodata at Debrett's
• Alison Steadman at British Comedy Guide