Alison Steadman

Alison Steadman interview

Alison Steadman, 68, on stage fright, her first boyfriend, and the 'dark days' of her latter years.

Radio Times review

It's Thurnemouth Day, when the Norfolk seaside home of our 60-somethings celebrates its history. That means stolid Trevor (James Smith) donning a Nelson outfit to cut a ribbon and busybody Joyce (Alison Steadman) marshalling her choral society. "I think her goal is to take over every society in Thurnemouth," groans husband Alan. "And then invade Poland."

There are some easy-to-see-coming jokes and creaky bits of comedy based on awkwardness - wry smiles rather than laughs-out-loud - but when the likes of Smith and Philip Jackson as Alan get to underplay things, there's also the sense of a group of people who know themselves and each other almost too well, which could get interesting.

Alison Steadman & Philip Jackson shine in this sitcom

After watching the first episode of Boomers, I really feel as if Richard Pinto's sitcom could be a success.

Boomers TV review

A spirited cast, including Alison Steadman and Nigel Planer struggle in a sitcom about newly retired baby boomers.

Boomers, a comedy-by-numbers thing set in Norfolk and apparently phoned in by a pig's bladder on a stick, is about comfortably-off fiftysomething baby-boomers going through non-crises. It features Nigel Planer, Alison Steadman and Russ Abbot, and diminishes all of them.

Radio Times review

This sitcom from Richard Pinto (Citizen Khan) will be clasped to the bosom of anyone who loves New Tricks, as Boomers centres on a group of old-timers, friends from years back, who find themselves out of kilter with the modern world.

The humour is broad and painted with the widest brush strokes and there are echoes of Victor Meldrew's curmudgeonly head-butting against the idiocies of political correctness and life in general. The cast includes some solid comedy names, including Russ Abbot as the dourest member of the group and Nigel Planer as the wide boy with the newly acquired young Eastern European wife (feel free to let out a weary groan).

The women (Alison Steadman, Paula Wilcox, Stephanie Beacham) always win out in any given situation as their hopeless blokes go to the pub. In the opening episode, everyone gathers at a funeral.

Imagine a world where Russ Abbot is shacked up with Stephanie Beacham, but threatened by the appearance of Nigel Planer, who has a thirtysomething Lithuanian wife. Welcome to the first episode of this frisky 60-plus sitcom, which is ushered in with a funeral. Even though the cast don't get any hilarious one-liners to show off yet, there's also the charming promise of Alison Steadman as Joyce, the ringleader for the newly retired and easily-bored posse, as well as June Whitfield, who's set to appear later in the series.

The final episode of this amiable comedy drama is nicely bittersweet, and we are left with the feeling that life in the Paradise family will continue to be turbulent, long after the credits have rolled. But, though it's been a good-natured six weeks, I'm not sure I want to see any more. Sometimes, you know, things just end and that's fine.

Pauline Paradise (Alison Steadman) continues to carve a new life away from her dull, lugubrious husband Ken (Duncan Preston). He, in turn, decides he must move on and takes steps to get rid of all traces of his estranged wife, which doesn't go down well with the rest of the family. Meanwhile, horrible, self-obsessed Heather confides her big secret in her nearest and dearest. Uh-oh.

A toe-curling date was the centrepiece of Love And Marriage, when retired lollipop lady Pauline (Alison Steadman) went for a drink and a movie with widowed teacher Peter (Bruce Alexander).

We know that Pauline is a dating novice - she's only been out with one man, and she's been married to him for 40 years. But last week she left him, and moved in with her flighty sister (Celia Imrie), who really should have explained some dating basics. Such as, if your hubby phones you during the date, don't answer. And if you do answer, don't have a blazing row. And if you do have a blazing row, remember that your date can hear everything you're saying about him.

The show is fragmenting into a collection of sketches, starring energetic but two-dimensional characters. The most interesting is daughter Heather (Niky Wardley), boiling with jealousy if her younger husband even speaks to another woman.

There's a sort of charm about Pauline's car-mad husband Ken, too. When Heather tells him she's just seen her mum being whisked off for her date in Peter's flashy E-Type Jaguar, Ken looks torn between feeling hurt and being impressed. 'E-Type? What year?' he asks.

Pauline's sister is thoroughly dislikable - the sort of shallow, brittle schemer that Imrie plays so well. Envious for decades of her sibling's happy marriage, she's delighted to help break it up. 'You've left a world of pain, not a man,' she assures Pauline.

This is the sort of comedy-drama that signals its 60-something characters are Being Free and Living Life, by having them blow up a space hopper and bounce round the living room. But like Dates [Channel 4's drama], it needs to start tying its story strands together.