LEADING LADIES

Billie Piper, 34,

won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for Lorca’s Yerma at London’s Young Vic, where she played a woman struggling to conceive. Her performance was described as ‘devastating’ and ‘earth quaking’. Of infertility, she says, ‘It’s the curse of the modern woman.’

Joanna Lumley, 70, and Jennifer Saunders, 58,

were back with the bitching and Bolly as Patsy and Edina in the movie adaptation of Absolutely Fabulous. Among more than 60 celebrity cameos were turns from Kate Moss, Joan Collins and Jeremy Paxman. The film, which took £4.4 million in its debut weekend, was described by Joanna and Jennifer as ‘absolutely delicious, thrilling, glamorous and hilarious’.

Renée Zellweger, 47

(right), reprised her turn as the wanton sex goddess in Bridget Jones’s Baby, 15 years on from the first film. She said, ‘It was scary coming back – I didn’t want to disappoint. But from the moment I read the script I was reminded of how much I love Bridget and her family and friends.’

Glenda Jackson, 80,

ended a 25-year absence from the stage in King Lear at London’s Old Vic. The double Oscar-winning former Labour MP’s portrayal of the complex king was hailed by critics as ‘magnificent’, a ‘tour de force’ and ‘the return of a great actor with more to give’.

Melissa McCarthy, 46, Leslie Jones, 49, Kristen Wiig, 43, and Kate McKinnon, 32,

featured in the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters. Director Paul Feig said, ‘The best way to do it was with the funniest women I know. Heroes are heroes. It doesn’t matter what gender they are.’

Emily Blunt, 33

(right), played Rachel in the big-screen adaptation of Paula Hawkins’s bestseller The Girl on the Train. Emily hid her own secret during filming: ‘I was tired all the time, which is not my normal self, and that made it a struggle to keep going. What no one knew was that I’d just found out I was pregnant with my second child, but I was determined not to let anyone think I was using it as an excuse.’ She gave birth to daughter Violet in June.

Sheridan Smith, 35

(left), took standing ovations when she rejoined the cast of Funny Girl in London’s West End following a two-month absence caused by stress and exhaustion.

Helen McCrory, 48

(above), received rave reviews for her lead in the revival of Terrence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea at the National Theatre. She later confessed to having had a panic attack midway through one performance.

Noma Dumezweni, 47

(left), was cast as grown-up Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, an announcement that drew a torrent of racial abuse online. Noma asked people to see her ‘as a lightning rod for a very big conversation that’s happening around the world’. The sellout London production won Best Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. ➤