- Born
- Birth namePatricia Stephanie Cole
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Stephanie Cole was born in Warwickshire, England, UK. At the age of 15 she auditioned for, and was accepted to, the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She began her career at the age of 17 playing a 90-year-old woman. She went on to play notable television roles, which included appearing in all 30 episodes of the prisoner-of-war drama Tenko (1981) and playing memorable characters in comedies such as Open All Hours (1976), A Bit of a Do (1989), Waiting for God (1990) and Doc Martin (2004), as well as legendary soap opera Coronation Street (1960).
- IMDb mini biography by: Dan Garnitz
- SpousesPeter Birrel(October 5, 1998 - June 23, 2004) (his death)Henry Marshall(1973 - 1988) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- Playing characters older than her years.
- She was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Drama, Elderly People, and to Mental Health Charities.
- She was awarded an honorary Masters of Arts degree from the University of Bristol in 2002.
- Is one of 11 Coronation Street (1960) actors to have won a Best Comedy Performance Award at the British Soap Awards; the others are John Savident, Sue Nicholls, Malcolm Hebden, Andrew Whyment, Maggie Jones, Craig Gazey, Patti Clare, Simon Gregson, Sally Dynevor and Dolly-Rose Campbell.
- Mother of Emma Battcock.
- In 2024 it was reported that she is "more or less" retired from acting.
- I'm not knocking Downton Abbey (2010) - it contains some wonderful acting - but it's anodyne. It doesn't make the viewer ask questions.
- Thinking outside the box doesn't really happen nowadays. Something like The Hour (2011) is extremely good, but it is so rare.
- Writers and producers today are, in general, out of touch with what people want. The people in charge bugger it up and muck the best writers about.
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