Alison Steadman has a wealth of starring roles and her latest is Spirit of Christmas, as she tells Katherine MacAlister

Alison Steadman is having the time of her life and landing parts at 67 that most actresses would die for.

That she’s already a lauded actress is a given, her iconic roles in Abigail’s Party, Pride and Prejudice and Gavin & Stacey securing her a place in every generation’s hearts. But it doesn’t end there. Her recent part in ITV’s Love and Marriage (a silversurfer version of Shirley Valentine) created a national debate about a woman’s place in the home. And next up is Grey Mates which she starts shooting for the BBC in the spring about three couples who retire to Norfolk.

“June Whitfield is in it,” she says with a Beverlyesque screech. “I watched her on TV when I was young and she’s my absolute hero, So that’s very exciting. And although June’s 88 she’s sharp as a button, and comes in wearing trendy jeans and great trainers and we all ask her where we she got them. She’s amazing,” Alison sighs.

What Steadman doesn’t realise is many of us feel the same way about her, which is why the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has asked her to lead its Spirit of Christmas concert at the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral on December 3.

Because apart from being a vociferous actress, Alison is a staunch and loyal supporter of the causes close to her heart. “I’m not involved with Muscular Dystrophy for any reason other than that it’s a terrible illness with a very unpleasant end, so if we can do anything to help the research process, we should because none of us know what’s around the corner.”

Her crusade to save animals and the world from ourselves is also omnipresent. “I haven’t used a plastic bag for four years and when I turn them down in shops people get terribly confused so I tell them about the turtle who died after eating 280 plastic bags. The man in Fortnum & Mason didn’t know what to do with himself,” she laughs.

“You’ve opened a can of worms now. I can talk about it all day.”

You can imagine her there at the till, chatting away to some bewildered teen, trying to change the world in her own private, determined way, Beverly and Mrs Bennett always lurking in the background.

But if actresses are a sum of their parts, then Alison Steadman is ever growing, because with Grey Mates and a role in the First World War centenary already under her belt for next year she shows no signs of slowing down. So does she mind that certain pivotal roles are always called to mind? “No because they are my favourites too. Take Gavin & Stacey. I loved, loved, loved doing it and we had a sense that it was going to be great because it was so much fun.”

Is it always that way? What about Abigail’s Party? “We filmed that at the BBC and the lights would always go off at 10pm and yet the cameramen kept filming until past midnight and then came up, shook my hand and said it was a pleasure and privilege to be part of, so I had an inkling then,” she smiles. So many iconic parts. What about Pride and Prejudice, did she know then it would so successful? “I think that had a lot to do with Colin Firth don’t you? But was it as much fun to make as it looked.”

Daunting though? “Yes, I remember someone from the Jane Austen Society coming up to me during a break from filming, to say the eyes of the world were upon me. So I told her she wasn’t being very helpful and I could only do my best.” Is it hard seeing it redone then by the likes of Keira Knightley? “No, you have to let it go. You can never covet any role because it’s been done before and will be done after, so you just move on to the next job. And this is my job, so I don’t mind when someone stops to asks for a photo because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have a job at all.”

Famously married to Mike Leigh, with whom she had two children, she now lives in Hampstead with her partner of 18 years, the actor Michael Elwyn. When awarded her OBE in 2000 however she took her sisters instead to whom she’s very close: “Yes, I got a letter ‘dear Miss Steadman...’ and it was a great honour. So we all went out and bought hats and went along to the palace and met the Queen. I was surprised though that we didn’t get a glass of bubbly afterwards, just water, so we went to The Ritz for lunch instead,” she smiles. Underneath the glamour however, there is still a Beverly-like rod of steel running all the way through, keeping her working in the midst of the cosmetic surgery age which she refuses to humour: “They all look like dolls in boxes for God’s sake. I just want to be me. I like clothes and looking my best but I won’t be wearing a miniskirt or having surgery. I hate knives, hospitals and dentists so I’m hardly going to volunteer am I? I just don’t want to.” She doesn’t need to either with parts pouring in faster than she can play them.

But then actresses don’t retire do they? “Well look at June,” she says. Which says it all really. Jane Austen would be proud.

  • Spirit of Christmas
  • Alison Steadman will join a host of other stars from stage and screen with all funds going to Muscular Dystrophy Campaign
  • Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford n Tuesday, December 3, 8pm
  • For tickets, visit muscular-dystrophy.org, 020 7803 2856 or email z.williams@muscular-dystrophy.org