I Can't Wait To Play The Queen Mum

Gracing screens, treading boards, royal roles much-loved actress Dame Penelope Wilton has done it all!

- ALISON JAMES

It's not every day that a theatrical Dame graces your local cinema in person, but Penelope Wilton just happens to be at mine.

She's not popped into the west London picture house to watch a film but to be part of a special event celebrating the life and work of Lord Richard Attenborough, the acclaimed actor, writer, director and producer.

Penelope starred in his award-winning 1987 film Cry Freedom as Wendy Woods, wife of journalist Donald Woods who became a friend and champion of murdered black activist Steve Biko.

She is about to return to the West End stage to portray another real-life person, in the form of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The play, Backstairs Billy, co-stars Welsh actor Luke Evans as the Queen Mum's long-serving, ever-loyal page, William "Billy" Tallon, and focuses in on a seismic episode in their mistress-andservant relationship.

"It's a wonderful script - very, very funny," Dame Penelope tells us. "I can't wait for us to open.

"I like making people laugh. There is a certain responsibility that comes with playing people who actually lived - especially one like the Queen Mother, whom everyone remembers and loved. I hope that everyone will like my portrayal of her and also enjoys the play." It's not the first time she's played a member of the royal family. In 2016, she starred in Steven Spielberg's cinematic interpretation of the Roald Dahl classic The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), playing Elizabeth II.