Stephanie Cole

How we made Cabin Pressure

'By the time we did the third series, Benedict Cumberbatch had starred in Sherlock. Suddenly the audiences were 90% young girls who'd queue round the block'

The fourth season of a sitcom that's more likely than any other current show to provoke proper, hooting, tearful mirth. Greg Davies and his collaborators have an infectious love of imaginative profanity (this week, Stephanie Cole rolls out the phrase "venison bukkake" with some relish) and a delight in methodically creating big visual payoffs: the way two subplots conspire to produce a single glorious shot of Davies looking particularly absurd is a work of comedy art.

TV review: Man Down, C4

Greg Davies returns for a fourth series of Man Down and I sense a bit of a theme emerging. He has previously had a run-in with a turkey and in the first episode of the new run of this tragic, anarchic sitcom he has an oversized chicken thrown at him. But that is just a small indignity compared to some of his other issues in this opening instalment.

John Finnemore's guide to The Queen's Speech double act

Well, I have finally finished writing this series of Double Acts - only five weeks after they started going out - and so have time to write something about Double Acts. The first of the series, The Queen's Speech, starring Stephanie Cole and Kerry Godliman, is still available on iPlayer for the next five days.

Stephanie Cole interview

Turning 75 this month, Ms. Cole's current work schedule might be the envy of many actors. "I'm in two popular series (Man Down and Still Open All Hours) and do one in the spring and the other in autumn," said Ms. Cole from her home near Bath, west of London. "That gives me time to fit a play in between."

Radio Times review

When it comes to relationships between the sexes, nothing much has changed at the Doncaster corner shop since Arkwright's day. Women are still battleaxes; men are kept under the thumb; and marriage is a prison sentence. The humour is, shall we say, nostalgic, too, with sight gags and plot developments you can see coming with your eyes shut.

In this episode Kevin, the world's most reluctant bridegroom, is due to get married so Granville employs an oversized sunflower (don't ask) to stop him escaping. At least the impending celebration puts Mrs Featherstone (the splendid Stephanie Cole) in romantic mood - "I can get quite girlish over a handsome bank account".

Radio Times review

Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2015, #30:

Rik Mayall's deranged dad character was one of the joys of Man Down's first series. How would it work without him? He left an unfillable hole, but Greg Davies skirted around it to deliver a second series as absurdly, tastelessly enjoyable as the first. Man-child Dan was if anything more oafish and disaster-prone, his misadventures more far-fetched, but now with the added peril of a mad aunt played by Stephanie Cole. Davies's scripts were never afraid to push daft ideas almost to breaking point, but he and a superb cast cartwheeled through the comic minefield.

The second series of Greg Davies's crude, clever comedy continues to deliver, despite the hole left by Rik Mayall. This week, Davies's world-worn protagonist Dan is horrified to discover that his former school bully has the lead role in a play that he is attending with his students. Cue group therapy and a lesson in resilience from Aunt Nesta (Stephanie Cole). As per, disaster-prone pals Jo (Roisin Conaty) and Brian (Mike Wozniak) get into a variety of scrapes, too.

Interview: Stephanie Cole's not Waiting for God

It may surprise many to know, but Stephanie Cole can only now finally call Diana Trent a contemporary.