How long can you be a national treasure for? Alison Steadman arguably holds some sort of record: ever since her breakthrough performance in the TV version of Abigail’s Party, back in 1977, she’s been a brilliant, comforting, spiky staple of British screen and stage.
Her collaborations with ex-husband Mike Leigh (she was pregnant with their first son shooting Abigail’s Party) are what defined her early career in the public consciousness. Life is Sweet, Hard Labour, Nuts in May; later the likes of Topsy-Turvy.
But the range and depth of her work is immense. She was in The Singing Detective, Adrian Mole and Pride and Prejudice on TV; more recently the likes of Care, Gavin and Stacey, Hold the Sunset and Life. She won an Olivier award for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice on stage, as well as starring in acclaimed productions of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Blithe Spirit.
Film work includes A Private Function, Clockwise, Shirley Valentine, Confetti, Dad’s Army and The King’s Man. She’s also a keen birder and puppet-maker, has made documentaries exploring her Welsh roots and the British isles – and is currently shooting the Robbie Williams biopic (she plays his late nan, Betty).
Steadman will be a guest speaker at 2023’s Ladies’ spring lunch at Epsom Downs racecourse in Surrey, raising awareness for Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People, which works with almost 10,000 disabled children and adults every year. She has also agreed to take your questions on all and sundry. So! What would you like to ask the star everybody secretly wishes was their mum? Post your questions here by 6pm on Sunday 26 March and we’ll print her answers on Friday 31.
