Linda Bassett

Acting

Born February 4, 1950, Pluckley, Kent, England, UK

Linda Bassett was born in the Kentish village of Pluckley - location for the television series The Darling Buds of May (1991). She was brought up in Pimlico, South London, by her typist mother and police officer father. She became interested in acting as a child when she was frequently taken to see plays in London, most notably at the Old Vic, the famous classical theater. On leaving school, Linda went to work at the Old Vic as an usherette and catering manager, before going to read English at Leeds University. However, she dropped out after a year and became involved in a local drama group which put on plays in community-based locations, such as schools. She regards this as her theatrical schooling, having had no formal training. She made her London stage debut at the age of 32 in 1982 and, in 1991, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Although she was a well-regarded stage performer, it was the 1999 film version of the play East Is East (1999) (in which she had been an original stage cast member) which brought her to a larger audience and, throughout the 2000s, she has been a familiar face in a variety of films and television series. In the late 1980s, she returned to live in Pluckley.

Filmography

• 2026Bare Roots — Sue
• 2023The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry — Queenie
• 2018Careful How You Go
• 2017Carnage: Swallowing the Past — Dr Yasmine Vondenburg
• Strike — Joan Nancarrow
• 2014Effie Gray — Anna
• 2013National Theatre Live: People — Iris
• Spies of Warsaw — Maika Rosen
• Call the Midwife — Phyllis Crane, Nurse Phyllis Crane
• The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby — Mrs. Smike
• Grandma's House — Grandma Lily
• 2010West Is West — Ella Khan
• 2008Cass — Doll
• Lark Rise to Candleford — Queenie Turrill
• Sense and Sensibility — Mrs. Jennings
• 2008The Reader — Ms. Brenner
• 2005Colour Me Kubrick — Trolley Lady
• 2005Kinky Boots — Mel
• 2005Separate Lies — Maggie
• 2005The English Harem — Monica Pringle
• 2004Spivs — Auntie Vee
• The Brief — Maureen Tyler
• 2003Calendar Girls — Cora
• 2003This Little Life — Nurse Nina
• 2002The Hours — Nelly Boxall
• 2001The Martins — Anthea
• 2000Don Quixote — Housekeeper
• 2000Lounge Act
• 1999Beautiful People — Sister
• 1999East Is East — Ella Khan
• 1998Far from the Madding Crowd — Maryann Money
• Far from the Madding Crowd — Maryann Money
• Our Mutual Friend — Abby Potterson
• Out of Hours — Carol-Anne Kumar
• 1998Spoonface Steinberg — Mrs. Spud
• 1998The Life and Crimes of William Palmer — Mary Thornton
• dinnerladies — Peggy
• Midsomer Murders — Eileen Carnack
• 1997Oscar and Lucinda — Betty Stratton
• 1996Alive and Kicking — Doctor
• 1996Mary Reilly — Mary's Mother
• No Bananas — Ellen Slater
• 1995A Village Affair — Gwen
• Bramwell — Maud
• 1995Haunted — Madame Brontski
• Kavanagh Q.C. — Miss Haddon QC
• 1995Loved Up — Mum
• 1994In The Cold Light Of Day — Mrs. Loveless
• 1994Skallagrigg — Susan
• Frank Stubbs Promotes — Eileen
• A Touch of Frost — Mrs Cornish
• Heartbeat — Beryl Palmer
• 1991A Small Dance — Sandra Matkin
• 1991Let Him Have It — Mrs. Miles
• 1990News Hounds — Virginia Lyddon
• 1989Paris by Night — Janet Swanton
• Traffik — Rachel Lithgow
• 1987Waiting for the Moon — Gertrude Stein
• Casualty — Olwyn Humphries
• The Bill
• Dramarama — Meg Crawford
• American Playhouse — Gertrude Stein