View for person of id: 1249
Penelope Wilton
Born: 3rd Jun 1946 Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK
Dept: Acting
Dame Penelope Alice Wilton DBE (born 3 June 1946) is an English actress. She was formerly married to fellow actor Sir Ian Holm, and as she has not remarried, she retains her married style of Lady Holm.
Wilton is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–1989), playing Homily in The Borrowers (1992) and The Return of the Borrowers(1993), and for her role as the widowed Isobel Crawley in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015). She also played the recurring role of Harriet Jones in Doctor Who (2005–2008) and Anne in Ricky Gervais' Netflix dark comedy After Life.
Wilton has had an extensive career on stage, receiving six Olivier Award nominations. She was nominated for Man and Superman (1981), The Secret Rapture (1988), The Deep Blue Sea(1994), John Gabriel Borkman (2008) and The Chalk Garden (2009) before winning the 2015 Olivier Award for Best Actress for Taken at Midnight. Her film appearances include Clockwise (1986), Cry Freedom (1987), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Calendar Girls (2003), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Match Point (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), The Girl (2012), The BFG (2016) and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023).
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Film and Tv Credits
Total number of credits listed: 88
Film: 60 (68%)
Television: 28 (32%)
Remaining genres not in graph: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Horror, Talk, Action & Adventure, War, Music
Filmography
(No release date supplied. Possibly still in production.)
14-year-old Maria is sent to live with Catholic nuns as her mother is dying. Her arrival at the convent turns sinister when one of her caretakers beco ... view
Character:
(No release date supplied. Possibly still in production.)
A drama about a woman who survived a joint suicide pact with the love of her life and was subsequently arrested and charged with his murder. ... view
Character:
Mavis Eccleston (4 ep.)
2026
Librarians Mr. and Mrs. Meek indulge their demanding daughter Myrtle's every wish. When she wants a Fing, they search deep in the jungle. After findin ... view
Character:
2025
Stars of the beloved period drama Downton Abbey reunite at London's Savoy Hotel to share memories and behind-the-scenes tales, plus a sneak peek at th ... view
Character:
Self
2025
When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial strife, the entire household grapples with the threat of soci ... view
Character:
Isobel Merton
Mar 2024 (first aired)
5 years ago, Elliot came home to find his soulmate Peter had vanished—with nothing left behind but his finger in a puddle of blood. Still living wit ... view
Character:
Francine (6 ep.)
Dec 2023 (first aired)
England, 1954. On a train to London, Fitzwilliam meets Miss Pinkerton, who tells him that a killer is on the loose in the sleepy English village of Wy ... view
Character:
Miss Pinkerton (2 ep.)
2023
Harold Fry is an unremarkable man who has made mistakes with all the important things: being a husband, a father and a friend. And now, well into his ... view
Character:
Maureen Fry
2022
A profile of the actress from a strict Quaker upbringing in Yorkshire, through her staunch determination to make it as a thespian. There's also a look ... view
Character:
Self
Jun 2022 (first aired)
What are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential ... view
Character:
Unknown/various (1 ep.)
2022
The Crawley family goes on a grand journey to the south of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess's newly inherited villa. Meanwhile, a ... view
Character:
Isobel Merton
2022
In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain w ... view
Character:
Hester Leggett
2020
When Jane is rejected by life, she spirals into a chaotic, schizophrenic world where love and normality collide with humorous consequences. ... view
Character:
Vivian
2020
A woman during the Second World War opens her heart to an evacuee after initially resolving to be rid of him. ... view
Character:
Older Alice
2019
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England w ... view
Character:
Isobel Merton
Mar 2019 (first aired)
Tony had a perfect life. But after his wife Lisa suddenly dies, Tony changes. After contemplating taking his own life, he decides instead to live long ... view
Character:
Anne (18 ep.)
2018
Young Tom and his misfit friends fight to save 'Buster' the baby elephant during the German air raid bombings of Belfast in 1941. ... view
Character:
Denise Austin
2018
Free-spirited writer Juliet Ashton forms a life-changing bond with the delightful and eccentric Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, when sh ... view
Character:
Amelia Maugery
2017
After 43 years together, Helen finds out her husband is leaving. ... view
Character:
Helen
Jul 2016 (first aired)
In the early 1980s the lives of four ordinary women, their husbands, mothers, families and community are turned around when they become Ann Summers pa ... view
Character:
Pauline (6 ep.)
2016
An orphan little girl befriends a benevolent giant who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading ... view
Character:
The Queen
2016
An exploration into the history of Shakespeare's plays, from the silent era to the modern day featuring archive interviews with movie directors includ ... view
Character:
Narrator (voice)
2015
As the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining vacancy - posing a rooming predicament for two fresh arrivals - Sonny pursues his expans ... view
Character:
Jean Ainslie
2013
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the National Theatre of Great Britain presents National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage, bringing together the best Brit ... view
Character:
Delia
2013
Dido Elizabeth Bell, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, plays an important role in the campaign to abolish slavery in Engl ... view
Character:
Lady Mary Murray
2012
British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, the Mari ... view
Character:
Jean Ainslie
Feb 2011 (first aired)
The lives and loves of a 1930s Yorkshire town explored in a passionate tale of politics in small places. South Riding charts the story of Sarah Burton ... view
Character:
Mrs Beddows (3 ep.)
Sep 2010 (first aired)
A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effe ... view
Character:
Isobel Merton (47 ep.)
2010
In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theat ... view
Character:
Self
2009
At the age of forty Dame Margot Fonteyn is considered to be past her best as a prima ballerina and Ninette de Valois is reducing her roles at the Roya ... view
Character:
B.Q.
Mar 2008 (first aired)
The Passion is a television drama serial that tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus. ... view
Character:
Mary (6 ep.)
2007
A middle aged house-sitter meets two tearaways, and together they form a surrogate family ... view
Character:
Jean
2007
All the action takes place in a swish London restaurant where two coarse-grained strategy consultants are dining with their respective wives. At an ad ... view
Character:
Julie
Jan 2007 (first aired)
Thriller series which tracks five 24-hour periods in a police investigation. ... view
Character:
Barbara Poole (10 ep.)
2006
The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambrid ... view
Character:
Mrs. Bibby
2005
Chris, a former tennis pro, takes a job as an instructor and befriends his wealthy young student, Tom. After being introduced to his family, Chris is ... view
Character:
Eleanor Hewett
2005
A story of love and life among the landed English gentry during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet is a gentleman living in Hertfordshire with his overbeari ... view
Character:
Mrs. Gardiner
Mar 2005 (first aired)
The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a ... view
Character:
Unknown/various (0 ep.)
Harriet Jones (3 ep.)
2005
Television drama based on the novel by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Author Daisy Langrish buys a tranquil country cottage as a bolt-hole from the pressures ... view
Character:
Daisy Langrish
2004
Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threa ... view
Character:
Barbara
2003
Members of a Yorkshire branch of the Women's Institute cause controversy when they pose nude for a charity calendar. ... view
Character:
Ruth
Jun 2003 (first aired)
Comedy Connections was a BBC One documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 2003 to 2008. The show looked at the stories behind the p ... view
Character:
Unknown/various (1 ep.)
2003
A rollicking adaptation of Kingsley Amis's first novel, Lucky Jim stars Stephen Tompkinson as Jim Dixon, a luckless lecturer at a provincial British u ... view
Character:
Celia Welch
2001
True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheime ... view
Character:
Janet Stone
Sep 2001 (first aired)
Gay thirtysomething schoolteacher Robert 'Bob' Gossage finds himself attracted to a woman, Rose Cooper, exploring their unconventional relationship an ... view
Character:
Monica Gossage (5 ep.)
2001
The passionate love story that was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's lengthy marriage. Beginning in 1837, the year of King William IV's death and 18- ... view
Character:
Princess Mary Louise Victoria
2001
A bank employee, Laura Tracey, places herself and her family in mortal danger after reporting irregularities in the firm's overseas accounts to the Na ... view
Character:
Heather Graham
2000
The comedienne stars in this festive sketch show, alongside a host of celebrity guests. ... view
Character:
Mrs. Cratchit
2000
An old woman in a rocking chair listens to a disembodied voice (her own) that recounts her life and that of her mother's. When the voice stops, she ca ... view
Character:
Old Woman
Nov 1999 (first aired)
The life of doctor's daughter Molly Gibson changes gradually after her widowed father chooses to remarry. The union brings into her once-quiet life an ... view
Character:
Mrs Hamley (2 ep.)
1999
When Tom's brother Peter gets measles, he is sent to stay with his Uncle Alan and Aunt Gwen in a flat with no garden and an elderly landlady, Mrs Bart ... view
Character:
Aunt Melbourne
1999
In 1945, the new Polish government asked for the heart of Chopin previously buried in Paris. A woman called Paulina Czernika approached the government ... view
Character:
Delfina / Paulina
1998
A modern adaptation of the classic children's story 'Alice through the Looking Glass', which continued on from the popular 'Alice in Wonderland' story ... view
Character:
White Queen
1995
A middle aged couple, housekeeper and chauffeur sit in the huge bare kitchen of a country house pursuing their own thoughts aloud in a ghastly semblan ... view
Character:
Beth
1995
Painter Dora Carrington develops an intimate but extremely complex bond with writer Lytton Strachey. Though Lytton is a homosexual, he is enchanted by ... view
Character:
Lady Ottoline Morrell
Jan 1995 (first aired)
John Thaw dons the silks as barrister James Kavanagh Q.C., one of the most highly respected criminal advocates in London, commanding admiration from c ... view
Character:
Barbara Watkins (1 ep.)
1994
Hester Collyer is rescued by a neighbor after attempting suicide in the flat she shares with her young lover, ex-RAF pilot Freddie Page. The neighbors ... view
Character:
Hester Collyer
Nov 1993 (first aired)
The Borrowers leave their new home and find a model village just the right size for them. They find George but the village's owner also finds out abou ... view
Character:
Homily (6 ep.)
1993
Upon her father's death, a woman comes into emotional and psychological conflict with her young lover, her overbearing sister and her alcoholic stepmo ... view
Character:
Marion French
Nov 1992 (first aired)
The Borrowers are small, 15cm high humans who live in the English hinterland. They live out their lives in mouse-hole sized nooks in human homes, and ... view
Character:
Homily (12 ep.)
Mar 1992 (first aired)
An 8 episode BBC One sitcom from 1992. Written by Carla Lane, it follows three middle-aged women, former school-friends and now sharing a home togethe ... view
Character:
Unknown/various (8 ep.)
1992
Mike Lawton, Maurice Horton, and Melvin Orton are three men who come to Venice. One of them is a hit man sent to take out a mobster. Another is a lech ... view
Character:
Patricia Fulford
Oct 1991 (first aired)
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances. ... view
Character:
Beth (1 ep.)
Hester Collyer (1 ep.)
Apr 1988 (first aired)
Six monologues tell the stories of six different repressed souls: a man dominated by his mother, a vicar's wife, an inveterate letter writer, a hopefu ... view
Character:
Rosemary (1 ep.)
1987
A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods ... view
Character:
Wendy Woods
1986
School headmaster Brian Stimpson is obsessed with timeliness, order, and discipline. Brian misses his train after meticulously preparing a speech for ... view
Character:
Pat Garden
Apr 1985 (first aired)
C.A.T.S. Eyes is a British television series made by TVS for ITV between 1985 and 1987. A spin-off of the series The Gentle Touch, Maggie Forbes leads ... view
Character:
Unknown/various (1 ep.)
1984
A farmer becomes an unintentional celebrity when, because of a strike, he has to walk his 500 geese 100 miles to market at Christmastime. ... view
Character:
Alice Singleton
Jan 1984 (first aired)
Martin Bryce lives in a quiet suburban close with his wife Anne. He does his best to "organise" the leisure time of all of the other inhabitants of th ... view
Character:
Unknown/various (26 ep.)
Character:
Beatrix Potter
1982
An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one. ... view
Character:
Regan
1981
In 1945, the Carlions assemble at an English country house for a family gathering. During the event, they must determine who is to take over the famil ... view
Character:
Virginia Carlion
1981
Iago and a comrade-in-arms are outside the Venice home of Desdemona's father, who does not yet know that she has eloped with Othello. Iago confides to ... view
Character:
Desdemona
1981
In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters ... view
Character:
Sonia
1980
Colin Pasmore tests his strength against his family ties but finds them stronger than he ever imagined. ... view
Character:
Helen
Jan 1978 (first aired)
An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, p ... view
Character:
Self (1 ep.)
1977
Thomas Able, once a successful writer, has not written since the war. He lies paralysed and dying. His family gather at the family home. ... view
Character:
Journalist
Oct 1977 (first aired)
The trilogy presents a comically fraught weekend from three different perspectives, as family and in laws gather at the decaying country home of their ... view
Character:
Annie (3 ep.)
1977
Lady Booby alias 'Belle', the lively wife of the fat landed squire Sir Thomas Booby, has a lusty eye on the attractive, intelligent villager Joseph An ... view
Character:
Mrs. Wilton
1975
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youn ... view
Character:
Regan
1972
Performed in 1902, after being banned by the censor for eight years, Shaw's indictment of the hypocrisy surrounding prostitution still shocked its aud ... view
Character:
Vivie Warren
1972
Tommy Adams has become quite the grown man. Now 19 years old, he is the man of the house, working full-time and supporting his widowed mother. He has ... view
Character:
Rachel Sullens
Aug 1972 (first aired)
An anthology series adapted from plays and short stories by A.E Coppard and H.E. Bates, depicting English country life and rural romance at the turn o ... view
Character:
Rachel Sullens (1 ep.)
Oct 1970 (first aired)
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more tha ... view
Character:
Virginia Carlion (1 ep.)
Oct 1965 (first aired)
A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a ... view
Character:
Regan (1 ep.)