Penelope Keith

Dame Penelope Keith was educated at a convent school in Bedford, then spent two years at a drama school before going to a repertory theatre at Chesterfield in Derbyshire for six months. Early in her career, she worked in repertory in Manchester, and while there, obtained occasional television roles. When offered scripts she could usually tell within five pages if it was suitable for her. When it came to To the Manor Born (1979), which was intended as a radio series, she considered it one of the best scripts that she had read and asked to show it to BBC television light entertainment head John Howard Davies. The rest is history.