PATRICIA HODGE
Patricia, 71, most recently played Penny, the overbearing mum in Miranda, and now plays Ursula, Jeremy Thorpe’s mum in BBC drama A Very English Scandal.
She lives in London and has two sons, Alexander, 29, and Edward, 26.
The Jeremy Thorpe affair was a huge scandal in the late 1970s. What’s your recollection of it?
I remember it being front-page news every day at the time. The case itself had so many twists and turns that you couldn’t make it up: a British politician accused not only of having an affair with a former male model, Norman Scott (before homosexuality was decriminalised) – but then of conspiring to have him murdered.
Was it fun to play Ursula?
It certainly was, and it was quite a departure for me. Normally I don’t play characters that are too different from how I look, but it was a lot of fun to wear her winged glasses, wig and twinsets. What I did love about her was her incredible resilience and courage. She was widowed young and left to bring up her children alone.
It’s astonishing you’re in your 70s. How do you stay so young looking? It gets harder with age, believe me, but I suppose the trick is not to give into it. I swim every day and I do gym work, too. I’m also moderate with what I eat, although I do love food. You can’t live eating cucumber alone.
You were already in your 40s when your two sons were born. Does late motherhood also keep you young? Yes, I suppose it does, because you’re still at the ‘young mother’ stage when others are becoming grandmothers. People ask me if I’m
looking forward to being a gran and I think, ‘No! I’ve only just given birth myself.’ It feels like yesterday.
It must have been hard when your husband, the late Peter Owen, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s?
Yes, it was. It started with a form of vascular dementia, which progressed to a devastating form of Alzheimer’s. It does seem sad that the decade of my 60s began with a lot of hope and ended with a lot of sadness and tragedy. In fact, the last five years have had a lot of challenges.
His death came shortly before you were awarded the OBE in 2016. That must have made the event bittersweet?
It was actually a wonderful day and
I had my sons and sister with me. I told my sister she was there to represent our mum and dad, and I told my boys, ‘You’re here for Daddy.’ The award was as much for him as it was for me, because nothing is gained by one person alone. It’s the people who support them, and he was the best support I could ever have wanted.
What’s up next up for you?
I’m about to film a Christmas comedy and in the summer I’ll be appearing in the Michael Frayn play Copenhagen.
I’m not asked yet to take the roles where you’re old enough to expect to die in each production. But I’m sure, in time, I will be!
A Very English Scandal is on BBC 1 in May.