Maureen Lipman

Sandi Toksvig, Jo Brand & Maureen Lipman in fundraiser

They are joined by comediennes and 'token man' Stephen Mangan at the Royal Court for the Women of the Year Foundation.

Harvey review - Maureen Lipman struggles

Harvey is never as funny as it hopes to be. James Dreyfus is excellent playing the middle-aged man with the happy smile, as content as everyone else is discomfited.

Radio Times review

Stand-up Lucy Beaumont, the 2012 BBC New Comedy Award winner, writes and stars in this delightful sitcom pilot, a cross between a Victoria Wood sketch and a Mike Leigh film. She is Sophie, a daft ha'p'orth stuck living at home with her proud, junk-obsessed mum (Maureen Lipman).

But Sophie dreams of becoming an actress and thinks she has a shot when she gets an audition in London for "Third in the queue at Debenhams". There's a precise yet warm quality to the writing, including a rare fresh take on mishearing the Lord's Prayer, all enhanced by Lipman's peerless comic timing.

Stephen Fry's Bafta performance fails to impress

Stephen Fry, who hosted the Bafta awards, is criticised by broadcasting veterans including Sir Terry Wogan and Maureen Lipman.

Maureen Lipman takes a swipe at John Cleese

Maureen Lipman suggests John Cleese has the mental age of a 17 year-old following the news that he has married for the fourth time.

Panellists for new series of Heresy announced

Heresy, in which a panel of broadcasters pick apart everyday assumptions, will be bolstered by the presence of Peep Show star David Mitchell, Supersizer Sue Perkins, Googlewhacker Dave Gorman, actress Maureen Lipman, Private Eye medical correspondent Dr Phil Hammond and the moustachioed comedian Rufus Hound for its upcoming run.

Maureen Lipman: My greatest mistake

Making her mum the butt of so many jokes is one of the few regrets that Maureen Lipman has after 43 years on the stage.

Competitive instincts between the elderly epistlers reach a rollicking crescendo in tonight's season finale. Their exchanges go from crabby sideswipe to venomous barrage in the click of a send button. As Irene (Maureen Lipman) returns to Blighty, the misunderstandings stack up, and Vera (Anne Reid) considers legal action against her pen pal for slander and alienation of her daughter Karen's affections. Happily, all is forgotten in preparing for Karen's forthcoming wedding to posh vet St John, and even though they bicker over the buffet (fork-and-finger versus coq au vin sit-down), it's Irene who succinctly, and touchingly, sums up the ties that bind these combative curmudgeons.

Vera and Irene continue to air their frustrations with their horrifically ungrateful offspring and assorted male inadequates. But their laptop laments reveal that Vera (Anne Reid) is having way more fun than her pen-pal. After she and granddaughter Sabrina befriend an exuberant African neighbour on their council estate, Vera starts to dress like Precious Ramotswe from The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. But Irene (Maureen Lipman), stranded Down Under, is "back washing towelling nappies after a 30-year gap". Homesick and resorting to poetry, her recital of Oh, To Be in England is simultaneously ridiculous and heartbreaking. It's a touching moment that shows the series' strength in depth. But Vera staves off any sentimentality with an unexpected tribute to tripe.