Dame Penelope Keith DBE DL
Keith in 2017
Born	Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield (1940-04-02)2 April 1940 (age 85) Sutton,Surrey, England
Occupations	Actress and presenter
Years active	1959–present
Spouse	Rodney Timson ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	2

Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith (néeHatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in theBritish sitcomsThe Good Life andTo the Manor Born. She succeededLord Olivier as president of the Actors' Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989, and was appointedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts and to charity.^[1]

Keith joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company in 1963, and went on to win the 1976Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the playDonkeys' Years. She became a household name in the UK playingMargo Leadbetter in the sitcomThe Good Life (1975–78), winning the 1977BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance.

In 1978 Keith won theBAFTA TV Award for Best Actress forThe Norman Conquests. She then starred as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in the sitcomTo the Manor Born (1979–81), a show that received audiences of more than 20 million. She went on to star in another six sitcoms, includingExecutive Stress (1986–88),No Job for a Lady (1990–92) andNext of Kin (1995–97). Since 2000, she has worked mainly in the theatre, with her roles including Madam Arcati inBlithe Spirit (2004) and Lady Bracknell inThe Importance of Being Earnest (2007).

Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield was born inSutton,Surrey in 1940.^[2] Her father, an army officer who was a Major by the end of theSecond World War, left her mother, Connie, when Keith was a baby, and she spent her early years inClacton-on-Sea,Essex andClapham, south London. Her great uncle, John Gurney Nutting, was a partner in thecoachbuilding firm ofJ Gurney Nutting & Co Limited, and Keith recalls sitting in thePrince of Wales's car.^[3]

Although not a Roman Catholic, at the age of six she was sent to a Catholicconventboarding school run by French nuns inSeaford,East Sussex, withJudy Cornwell.^[4][5] Here she became interested in acting,^[2] and she frequently went to matinées in the West End with her mother. When she was eight years old, her mother remarried and she adopted her stepfather's surname, Keith. Whilst she did not get on with her stepfather, her mother was a "rock of love" to her. She was rejected by theCentral School of Speech and Drama on the grounds that at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) she was too tall. However, she was then accepted at theWebber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and spent two years there while working at theHyde Park Hotel in the evenings.^[6]

Keith began her career working inrepertory theatre around Britain, includingLincoln,Manchester, andSalisbury. Keith's earliest appearances were inThe Tunnel of Love,Gigi, andFlowering Cherry. In 1963, she joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company and acted with them inStratford and at theAldwych Theatre in London.^[7]

Keith began her television career in programmes such asThe Army Game,Dixon of Dock Green,Wild, Wild Women andThe Avengers.^[8] In the early 1970s, she appeared inThe Morecambe & Wise Show,Ghost Story andThe Pallisers. Her film appearances during this time includedEvery Home Should Have One,Take A Girl Like You,Rentadick andPenny Gold. In 1967, she had a minor role inCarry On Doctor, but the scene was cut from the final edit.^[8][9] She appeared as a nurse inA Touch of Love 1969.

Her best known theatre appearance, in 1974, was playing Sarah inThe Norman Conquests, alongsideFelicity Kendal, her co-star inThe Good Life. Keith and Kendal would often filmThe Good Life during the day and perform on stage in the West End in the evening.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 Keith starred inBrian Sibley's comedy radio broadcast titled...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree,^[10][11] voicing a woman named Cynthia Bracegirdle whose boyfriend, Algernon Fotherington-Smythe, sends her the 364 gifts mentioned inThe Twelve Days of Christmas.

Keith achieved fame in 1975 when theBBCsitcomThe Good Life began. In the first episode, she was only heard and not seen in her role as Margo Leadbetter, but as the episodes and series went on, the scope of her role increased. In 1977, Keith won aBAFTA award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" for her role of Margo Leadbetter.^[12]

From 1979 to 1981, she played the lead role of Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in the TV seriesTo the Manor Born. FollowingTo the Manor Born, Keith has appeared in the lead role in six other sitcoms:Sweet Sixteen,Moving,Executive Stress,No Job for a Lady,Law and Disorder andNext of Kin. She also had the starring role in a TV adaptation ofAgatha Christie's playSpider's Web. She won a second BAFTA award as "Best Actress" in 1978 forThe Norman Conquests.^[13]

In 1982 Keith starred in a TV production of Frederick Lonsdale'sOn Approval. In 1988, she hosted one series of theITV panel showWhat's My Line?, following the death of its former presenter,Eamonn Andrews. She had a featured role in the 1998 ITV serialComing Home.^{[citation needed]}

Keith has regularly appeared on stage, taking the classics and new plays across the UK. These include Shakespeare, Shaw, Sheridan, Wilde, Rattigan and Congreve. She played Lorraine inNoël Coward'sStar Quality, while in 2004 she played Madame Arcati in Coward'sBlithe Spirit at theSavoy Theatre. In 2004, Keith starred in the first of ten full-cast BBC radio dramatisations ofM.C. Beaton'sAgatha Raisin novels, playing the title role. Two years later, she appeared at theChichester Festival in the premiere ofRichard Everett's comedyEntertaining Angels, which she later took on tour.^[14]

In 2007 she played the part of Lady Bracknell inThe Importance of Being Earnest on tour, which transferred to the West End in 2008, at theVaudeville Theatre.^[15] She has voiced adverts including ones forPimm's,Lurpak,Tesco and most famously,The Parker Pen Company, which was named one of the 100 Greatest Adverts in aChannel 4 programme. In 2012, she starred in Keith Waterstone'sGood Grief,^[16] having previously appeared in the play's premier production in 1998.^[17]

In 1997 she starred in the radio adaptations ofTo the Manor Born.^[18] In 2003, she appeared oppositeJune Brown in the television filmMargery & Gladys. In 2007, she starred in a one-offTo the Manor Born Christmas Special, Keith also voiced The Bear with Brown Fuzzy Hair inTeletubbies.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009 she presentedPenelope Keith and the Fast Lady, a one-off documentary forBBC Four aboutDorothy Levitt, theEdwardian motoring pioneer. She presented the four-part BBC documentaryThe Manor Reborn in 2011.^[19]

In 2013 she played the part ofLady Catherine de Bourgh in the BBCperiod dramaDeath Comes to Pemberley, an adaptation of the best-selling 2011P. D. Jamesnovel of the same name.^[20]

Since 2014, she has presented all three series of theMore4/Channel 4 programmePenelope Keith's Hidden Villages and in June 2016 she presentedPenelope Keith at Her Majesty's Service again for Channel 4.^[21][22]

In December 2017, she presentedPenelope Keith's Coastal Villages, a continuation of theHidden Villages series.In early 2018, she presented theChannel 4 seriesVillage of the Year with Penelope Keith. It was announced in February 2018 that Keith would be starring as Mrs St Maugham in theChichester Festival Theatre production ofEnid Bagnold'sThe Chalk Garden from 25 May to 16 June 2018.^[23]

In late 2025, TVF International announced "Saving Country Houses", a new series hosted by Penelope Keith, planned to broadcast in UK on Channel 4 in 2026.^[24]

In 1978, the yearThe Good Life ended, she married Rodney Timson, a policeman. They had met while he was on duty atChichester Theatre where Keith was performing.^[4] In 1988, ten years after their wedding, theyadopted two boys, who were brothers.^[2] Keith and Timson now live inMilford, Surrey. Keith has a great passion for gardening. In 1984, she had a rose named after her.^[8][25] She is president of theSouth West Surrey chapter of theNational Trust.^[26]

In 2014 she presented4 Extra Goes Gardening in which she celebrated the work of garden designerGertrude Jekyll at her former home, Munstead Wood inGodalming.^{[citation needed]} Keith was President of the Actors' Benevolent Fund from 1990 to 2022,^[27] taking over after the death ofLaurence Olivier. She was a Trustee ofBrooklands Museum from 2009 to 2018.^{[citation needed]}

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On 2 April 2002, her 62nd birthday, Keith began a one-year term asHigh Sheriff of Surrey,^[28] the third woman to hold the post. She has also served in the past as aDeputy Lieutenant ofSurrey.^[29][30]

Keith was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1989 New Year Honours.^[31] She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2007 New Year Honours for "charitable services".^[2][32] In the2014 New Year Honours, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the Arts and to Charity.^[33]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPenelope Keith.

• Penelope Keith atIMDb

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