Patricia Hodge

Patricia Ann Hodge, OBE (born 29 September 1946) is an English actress. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in Jemima Shore Investigates (1983), Penny in Miranda (2009–2015) and Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small (2021–present). Hodge made her West End debut in 1972, and the next year, starred in the West End production of Pippin directed by Bob Fosse. Hodge has received two nominations for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and in 2000, she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the play Money. Her other screen credits include the 1983 film Betrayal, the 1986 TV adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and the TV film Hotel du Lac (1986). For her role in Hotel du Lac, Hodge received a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. Early life Hodge was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. The daughter of Eric and his wife Marion (née Phillips), the manager and manageress of the Royal Hotel in Grimsby, Hodge attended Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby and then St Helen's School, Northwood, Middlesex, before attending Maria Grey College in Twickenham (later becoming part of Brunel University London), to train as a teacher. She taught English and drama at Russell County Primary School in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, while also applying to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She started at LAMDA when she was 22, and was awarded the Eveline Evans Award for Best Actress on graduation.