Penelope Wilton

Dame Penelope Alice Wilton DBE (born 3 June 1946) is an English actress who was previously married to Sir Ian Holm and retains the title Lady Holm. She is known for her role alongside Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom *Ever Decreasing Circles* (1984–1989), for playing Homily in *The Borrowers* (1992) and *The Return of the Borrowers* (1993), and for portraying Isobel Crawley in the ITV drama *Downton Abbey* (2010–2015). She also appeared as Harriet Jones in *Doctor Who* (2005–2008) and as Anne in Ricky Gervais' *After Life*.

Wilton has had a long stage career and has been nominated for six Olivier Awards. Her nominations were for *Man and Superman* (1981), *The Secret Rapture* (1988), *The Deep Blue Sea* (1994), *John Gabriel Borkman* (2008), and *The Chalk Garden* (2009), before winning the 2015 Olivier Award for Best Actress for *Taken at Midnight*. Her film roles include *Clockwise* (1986), *Cry Freedom* (1987), *Blame It on the Bellboy* (1992), *Calendar Girls* (2003), *Shaun of the Dead* (2004), *Match Point* (2005), *Pride & Prejudice* (2005), *The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel* (2012), *The Girl* (2012), *The BFG* (2016), and *The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry* (2023).