Lesley Nicol
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Born in 1953, to a mother who had worked in television, Lesley Nicol
was a shy 16-year-old at St. Elphin's Boarding School in Derbyshire
when she expressed a desire to go out and see the world - not, she
recalls, to be an actress but to kiss boys. She went to a technical
college in Manchester to study for her 'A'-level examinations and,
whilst there, she got involved with the Manchester Library Theatre. She
was paid a pound a week to play a tiny role as a 12-year-old boy in
Shaw's 'Androcles and the Lion'. It was her first and last role there
but she was encouraged to apply for entry to London's Guildhall School
of drama, from where she graduated in the early 1970s. For several
years she was best known as a stage actress, particularly in musicals,
appearing in 'Mama Mia', 'Our House', the show based on the hit songs
of Madness, and as Little Buttercup in a revival, with Gary Wilmot ,of
'HMS Pinafore'. She was also the original stage neighbor, nosy Auntie
Annie, in the play 'East Is East' at the Royal Court, reprising the
role in the 1999 film version that was also her movie debut, surprising given her
length of acting experience. She has appeared in guest roles in
numerous television series and in the mid-2000s played a character
called Aunt-Tea in a short series of commercials for Tetley tea. Since
2010 she has played no-nonsense cook Mrs Patmore in the successful
period drama 'Downton Abbey'.
