Back On The Big Screen!

As her latest feel-good film opens in cinemas, here’s the reason Dame Penelope Wilton’s star still burns so brightly...

- MITYA UNDERWOOD

No matter what role she's playing, Dame Penelope Wilton has a knack for bringing all our emotions to the surface, good and bad! And it might have something to do with the fact she's intensely private about her life offscreen, but watching her in character in Downton Abbey as Isobel Crawley, or Anne in Ricky Gervais's After Life, is more than just a night in front of the telly, it's a journey.

"The thing about being an actor is that you turn into other people," she explains.

"You have to hide yourself a bit in order to let that other person come out.

"If people know your inside leg measurement, they're going to say when they see you, 'Oh look, there's Penelope Wilton in Ethat part".

While lots of people know her from Downton, many of us remember her as Ann in Ever Decreasing Circles alongside Richard Briers, or as protective Homily in the charming The Borrowers.