Patricia Hodge
Whether treading the boards or starring on screen, actress Patricia Hodge has had an illustrious and incredibly diverse career – and one which shows no sign of stopping.
in 2017, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to drama, but in a scenario worthy of the stage itself, the all-important letter from the Palace nearly ended up in the bin. By mistake, I should add…
“The day it arrived happened to be my late husband Peter’s birthday, and I also had to go to a friend’s memorial, so it was a bit of a gloomy day really…” Patricia recalls
“I opened the post box and saw this rather flimsy envelope - it said something about the cabinet office but I thought that it was probably just a political pamphlet because it was coming up to the election - sometimes they put things on the envelope to make you think it’s terribly important! So I thought ‘yeah yeah…’!
Luckily Patricia did eventually decide to open the envelope and learnt of the significant honour to be bestowed on her, but instead of shouting the news from her Barnes rooftop she instead hid the letter in a drawer, as you do.
“At first I didn’t tell a soul – not even my sons! I think I was a bit embarrassed about it really…I was a bit stunned! It was really the last thing I was expecting,” she explains modestly.
“I think, particularly at the age I am, if there was ever a time when I was going to peel away and do my own thing this stops you from doing that, which I am really pleased about. I think one does have a contribution to make to society in all manner of ways, but I think that keeps the blood coursing through your veins and it keeps you young, so it’s an incentive” she adds
“But I really believe that things are rarely achieved just by one person, it’s the support unit that you have, and Peter deserves at least half of it”
Patricia’s theatrical achievements have of course been many; after graduating from the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) she made her West End debut in 1972 before starring in the 1973 West End production of Pippin, directed by theatre legend Bob Fosse. She went on to co-star with Dame Judi Dench in the 1995 London revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music and receive two Olivier Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical, before winning the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the play Money at the Royal National Theatre.
“I’ve had some very joyful theatre experiences” she beams.
“But theatre is hard work - you’ve got to be an athlete really! But if it’s worth doing it – that’s what carries you”
On screen Patricia has experienced similar success; in 1987 she was nominated for a BAFTA for her role in the television adaptation of Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac, she played the female lead in the 1983 film Betrayal and the 1986 TV adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and was of course QC Phyllida Erskine-Brown in Rumpole Of The Bailey for almost 15 years. More recently she appeared as the formidable Mrs Pelham in ITV’s Downtown Abbey, and is of course well known for her role as Penny in the hugely successful BBC sitcom Miranda, playing the mother of the eponymous main character.
“I think people see Miranda as us just pranking around and having a joke, but it’s not like that. You’ve got to unpick and hone exactly what the rhythms of the laughs are going to be and how you’re going to make it work, so it’s pretty intense. The difficult thing about situation comedy is that you are bowing to two Gods – you’ve got the studio audience and the camera, and you have to keep both happy’ she explains pragmatically.
“But it’s great fun too of course! And we are all great friends in real life. Miranda actually calls me ‘mum two’ – she has her own really lovely mother who, by the way, is not like my character in the show!’
Off screen Patricia lives on the river in Barnes and has two sons Alexander, 28, and Edward, 25, with her late husband Peter Owen, who sadly died last year.
“We were together for 42 years so things are…very different. You just have to think differently - you have to re-model accordingly,” she explains quietly.
“I am really fortunate that I’ve been able to do the job that I’ve done, that I’ve wanted to do, and that I was married to someone who was so incredibly understanding and empathetic with what the requirements are. As a musician he had the same mental disciplines, and an understanding of priorities and so on, and the demands of it all”
It was in fact Peter’s career that brought the couple to Barnes many moons ago as his work in the music industry often involved time spent at the Olympic Studios, once a renowned recording studio and now a popular restaurant, bar and boutique cinema on Barnes High Street.
“I’d been to Barnes a couple of times to visit friends and there was something about it that was so redolent of my childhood. I don’t know why because I was brought up in Lincolnshire, which is of course miles away! But I think it was that sense of the old houses, the village, the pond. It was a landscape that I could relate to” Patricia explains fondly.
“And now of course I love going to the Olympic! When I come out of a seeing a film in the evening and the fairy lights are all lit up in the trees – it’s like Cherry Tree Lane in Mary Poppins” she adds
“I love to walk down the tow path into the village and visit all the local shops, although my dream at the moment is to get a bike! But I have to think about whether I am too old for a bike…!”
With her youthful energy and boundless enthusiasm I suspect that Patricia would give Bradley Wiggins a run for his money; she is up with the lark without fail for her daily swim and spends a considerable amount of time supporting various charitable causes, such as Child Bereavement UK. She is also Patron of the Southbank Sinfonia orchestra, a trustee at LAMDA and sits on the Development Council of Historic Royal Palaces, all whilst maintaining her career. Phew. Next of course she will be expected at the Palace to collect her award, which she is understandably rather excited about.
“I mean you couldn’t not be pleased!” she beams.
“But I think it brings with it a sense of responsibility as well – I think gosh, I better keep being a good person, if that’s what they think I am!’
Published in The Barnes Magazine, The Richmond Magazine, and online at Essential Surrey and SW London
