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Patricia Hodge

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Patricia Hodge
OBE
Born (1946-09-29) 29 September 1946 (age 78)
Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
OccupationActress
Years active1971–present
Spouse
Peter Douglas Owen
​
​
(m. 1976; died 2016)​
Children2

Patricia Ann Hodge, OBE (born 29 September 1946) is an English actress. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in Jemima Shore Investigates (1983), Penny in Miranda (2009–2015) and Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small (2021–present).

Hodge made her West End debut in 1972 and the next year starred in the West End production of Pippin directed by Bob Fosse. Hodge has received two nominations for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and in 2000, she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the play Money.

Her other screen credits include the 1983 film Betrayal, the 1986 TV adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and the TV film Hotel du Lac (1986). For her role in Hotel du Lac, Hodge received a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress.

Early life

Hodge was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.[1] The daughter of Eric and his wife Marion (née Phillips), the manager and manageress of the Royal Hotel in Grimsby,[2] Hodge attended Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby and then St Helen's School, Northwood, Middlesex, before attending Maria Grey College in Twickenham (later becoming part of Brunel University London), to train as a teacher.[3] She taught English and drama at Russell County Primary School in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, while also applying to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[4] She started at LAMDA when she was 22, and was awarded the Eveline Evans Award for Best Actress on graduation.[5]

Career

Hodge made her professional stage debut in the Howard Barker play No-One Was Saved at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 1971. She made her West End debut in Rookery Nook in 1972, and worked with Bob Fosse in 1973 on Pippin. However, when applying for television work she found she had become classed as a theatre actress. Having made the breakthrough in the role of Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey, she found when trying to make the occasional return to theatre work that she had been classed as a television actress.

She has appeared in roles as diverse as in The Naked Civil Servant opposite John Hurt, shortly after she featured in the BBC's 1975 Christmas production Great Big Groovy Horse, a rock opera based on the story of the Trojan Horse shown on BBC2 starring Julie Covington, Bernard Cribbins and Paul Jones.[6] It was later repeated on BBC1 in 1977.[7] She featured as Myra Arundel in the 1984 BBC version of Noël Coward's Hay Fever, as Margaret Thatcher in The Falklands Play, and in 2007 as Betty, the wife of tycoon Robert Maxwell, in the BBC TV drama Maxwell opposite David Suchet.[8] She took the female lead in the 1983 film, Betrayal (based on Harold Pinter's play Betrayal), a roman à clef derived from the playwright's affair with broadcaster Joan Bakewell.

She was nominated for a BAFTA for her role in a television adaptation of Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac in 1987, and was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the production of Money at the National Theatre.[9]

She bought the rights of the book Portrait of a Marriage and is credited with developing a TV series of the same name in association with the BBC in 1990[10][11] adapted by writer Penelope Mortimer.

She co-starred with Dame Judi Dench in the 1995 London revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, at the National Theatre, as Countess Charlotte Malcom. In 2003, Hodge featured in His Dark Materials, one of Nicholas Hytner's early productions as its Artistic Director, her third role on the Olivier Theatre stage.

Hodge is an Honorary Graduate (DLitt) of Brunel University and one of the founder members of the Brunel Club.[12] From 2009 to 2015, she played a comedy role in the BBC sitcom Miranda, as the mother of the eponymous main character. Hodge reprised the role alongside the rest of the cast for the 2017 Royal Variety Performance. In 2012 she toured in Christopher Luscombe's revival of Dandy Dick, starring alongside Nicholas Le Provost. She is Joint President of Grimsby's Caxton Theatre and a Trustee of LAMDA, her alma mater.

In 2008, she guest starred in an episode of Hustle within the 4th series, playing the character of Veronica Powell. After the BBC commissioned the show for a 5th series in February 2008, it was planned Hodge would make an additional appearance, however due to on-set filming issues the episode her character would have appeared in was never finished, and subsequently never aired. The release of the 5th series was delayed as a result.

In 2018, Hodge played Ursula, the mother of Liberal MP and party leader Jeremy Thorpe (played by Hugh Grant) in BBC Television's A Very English Scandal.

In April 2021, it was announced that Hodge would play the role of Mrs. Pumphrey in the television series All Creatures Great and Small taking over from Diana Rigg who had died the previous year.[13]

Delayed for a year from autumn 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hodge was invited by Nigel Havers to star opposite him in Noël Coward's Private Lives, the inaugural production of the Nigel Havers Theatre Company, directed by one of her previous collaborators Christopher Luscombe.

Personal life

Hodge married music publisher Peter Douglas Owen on 31 July 1976 in Tonbridge. The couple had two sons. Douglas died in May 2016, according to Hodge, from heart complications.

Hodge was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[14]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1977 The Disappearance Young Wife
1978 Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse Sister Belter
Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang Courtroom Choir Singer
1980 The Elephant Man Screaming Mum
1981 Charlotte Teacher
Riding High Miss Hemmings
1983 Betrayal Emma
1986 Hud Edward's Wife
1988 Sunset Christina Alperin
Just Ask for Diamond Betty Charlady/Brenda von Falkenberg
1996 The Leading Man Delevene
1998 Jilting Joe Gwennie
Prague Duet Olivia Walton
2002 Before You Go Violet Mary Heaney
2018 Surviving Christmas with the Relatives Aunt Peggy
2021 The Laureate Amy Graves

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1973 Menace Charmian Episode: "Valentine"
1975 The Girls of Slender Means Anne Baberton All 3 episodes
1975 Quiller Kate Episode: "Night of the Father"
1975 The Naked Civil Servant Ballet Teacher TV film
1975 Great Big Groovy Horse TV film
1976 Softly, Softly: Task Force Chris Stroud Episode: "A Shot in the Dark"
1977 Jackanory Playhouse Tisiphone Episode: "The Apple of Discord"
1978 Target Laura Bentley Episode: "Figures of Importance"
1978–1992 Rumpole of the Bailey Phyllida Erskine-Brown 17 episodes
1978 Disraeli Rosina Bulwer Lytton 2 episodes
1978 Edward & Mrs. Simpson Lady Diana Cooper 3 episodes
1978 The One and Only Phyllis Dixey Maisie TV film
1979 Lieutenant Kije Princess Sasha Voice; TV film
1980 The Professionals Ann Holly Episode: "Involvement"
1980–1981 The Other 'Arf Sybilla Howarth 6 episodes
1980–1982 Holding the Fort Penny Milburn All 20 episodes
1981 Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years Lady Londonderry Episode: "His Own Funeral"
1981–1982 Nanny Dorinda Sackville 4 episodes
1983 Jemima Shore Investigates Jemima Shore All 12 episodes
1984 Hay Fever Myra Arundel TV film
1985 Time for Murder Margaret Tutting Episode: "Dust to Dust"
1985 Behind Enemy Lines Elizabeth Beaumont TV film
1986 The Life and Loves of a She-Devil Mary Fisher All 4 episodes
1986 The Return of Sherlock Holmes Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope Episode: "The Second Stain"
1986 Robin of Sherwood Queen Hadwisa Episode: "The Pretender"
1986 Screen Two Monica Episode: "Hotel du Lac"
1987 The Death of the Heart Anna Quayne TV film
1987 First Sight Estelle Episode: "Exclusive Yarns"
1988 Thieves in the Night Lady Joyce TV film
1989 Inspector Morse Lady Hanbury Episode: "Ghost in the Machine"
1989 The Shell Seekers Olivia TV film
1989 Victoria Wood Moira Episode: "Staying In"
1989 Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming Lady Evelyn TV film
1990 Heat of the Day Stella TV film
1991 Rich Tea and Sympathy Julia Merrygrove All 6 episodes
1992 The Cloning of Joanna May Joanna May Both 2 episodes
1996 The Legacy of Reginald Perrin Geraldine Hackstraw All 7 episodes
1996 The Moonstone Lady Julia Verinder TV film
1999 The People's Passion Procula Pilate TV film
2002 The Falklands Play Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher MP TV film
2002 Waking the Dead Lady Alice Beatty Episode: "Special Relationship"
2003 Sweet Medicine Georgina Sweet All 10 episodes
2006 Agatha Christie's Marple Mrs. Evadne Willett Episode: "The Sittaford Mystery"
2007 Hustle Veronica Powell Episode: "Getting Even"
2007 Maxwell Betty Maxwell TV film
2009–2015 Miranda Penny All 20 episodes
2012 In Love With... Clare Episode: "In Love with Coward"
2013 Agatha Christie's Poirot Madame Olivier Episode: "The Big Four"
2015 Downton Abbey Mrs. Miranda Pelham Episode: "The Finale"
2018 A Very English Scandal Ursula Thorpe 3 episodes
2019 Four Weddings and a Funeral Mrs. Thorpe-Blood Episode: "The Winner Takes It All"
2020 Roadkill Lady Roche 2 episodes
2021– All Creatures Great and Small Mrs. Pumphrey Series 2 onwards
2022 Murder in Provence Florence Bonnet Recurring

Stage

  • No-One Was Saved, 1971
  • Rookery Nook, 1972
  • Popkiss, 1972
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1973
  • Pippin, 1973
  • Hair, 1974
  • The Beggar's Opera, 1975
  • Pal Joey, 1976
  • Look Back in Anger, 1976
  • Then and Now, 1979
  • The Mitford Girls, 1981
  • As You Like It, 1983
  • Benefactors, 1984
  • Lady in the Dark, 1988
  • Noël and Gertie, 1989–90
  • Shades, 1992
  • Separate Tables, 1993
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1994
  • A Little Night Music, 1995
  • Money, 1999–2000
  • Summerfolk, 1999–2000
  • Noises Off, 2000–01
  • His Dark Materials, 2003–04
  • Dream Me a Winter, 2006 (part of the Old Vic's '24 Hour Plays')
  • Boeing Boeing, 2007
  • The Country Wife, 2007–08
  • The Clean House, 2008
  • Calendar Girls, 2008–09
  • The Breath of Life, 2011
  • Dandy Dick, 2012
  • Relative Values, 2013–14
  • Travels with My Aunt, 2016[15]
  • Copenhagen, 2018
  • A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, 2019
  • Private Lives, 2021–22
  • Watch on the Rhine, 2022–23

Awards and nominations

Year Award Work Result
1981 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical The Mitford Girls Nominated
1987 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress Hotel du Lac Nominated
1990 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical Noel and Gertie Nominated
2000 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress Money Won

References

  1. ^ "Miranda actress Patricia Hodge speaks at Everyman Club meeting". Grimsby Telegraph. 12 September 2013. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Patricia Hodge Biography (1946–)". Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  3. ^ Lacey, Hester (9 May 2014). "The Inventory: Patricia Hodge". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Events – LAMDA". Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  5. ^ "The Big Interview: Patricia Hodge". OfficialLondonTheatre.com. 2 May 2007. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Great Big Groovy Horse – BBC Two England – 25 December 1975 – BBC Genome". Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Great Big Groovy Horse – BBC One London – 21 December 1977 – BBC Genome". Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  8. ^ Dessau, B (29 September 2007). "A taste of plummy". The Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  9. ^ O'Toole honoured at Oliviers BBC News – 18 February 2000
  10. ^ Credit as creator on imdb
  11. ^ Wolf, Matt (19 July 1992). "Love, Infidelity and Commitment in Bloomsbury". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  12. ^ Southbank Sinfonia and Patricia Hodge Archived 29 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine Brunel University – 2004
  13. ^ Hirons, Paul (8 April 2021). "All Creatures Great And Small: Patricia Hodge to replace late Diana Rigg as Mrs Pumphrey". Entertainment Daily.
  14. ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B12.
  15. ^ "Travels with My Aunt review". The Guardian. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
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