FACE IS FAMILIAR: Penny Downie

Penny is currently playing Ellen in David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s new comedy, Back (10pm, Ch4). It’s the latest in a long line of TV roles going back more than 30 years…

Down under: Penny was born in 1954 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and moved to Sydney at the age of 17 to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (‘I grew up very quickly’). After starting out in theatre, she began to get roles in popular Australian TV shows such as The Sullivans and Prisoner. Seeing the light: In the early 1980s, inspired by friends who had been travelling, Penny came to the UK ‘for a look around’ and saw Derek Jacobi and Sinead Cusack in Much Ado About Nothing at Stratford – ‘I was just entranced. It was where I wanted to be.’ Moving to the UK the following year, her Aussie accent was dispensed with while touring with the RSC – ‘I probably tried too hard, and sounded more English than the English’.

True Brit: Penny was soon appearing in shows such as Minder, Inspector Morse, Poirot, Spooks, Trial & Retribution, New Tricks and Kavanagh QC; ‘I’ve been faking a British accent for so long it’s just stuck.’ So much so, that series five of Downton Abbey saw her playing aristocratic Lady Sinderby (above right), Lady Rose’s mother-in-law. Acting lessons: Despite suffering from ‘terrible pre-performance anxiety’, Penny is keen to keep moving on to the next job: ‘As an actor you never stop learning; it is endlessly challenging.’ She lives in London with her playwright husband, Nick Dear.