# Maggie Steed

Maggie Steed (born Margaret Baker; 1 December 1946) is an English actress and comedian.

## Career

After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, Steed left the theatre for several years. She stated: "Actresses in those days had to be 'dolly birds' and I was just Margaret Baker from Plymouth, tall with very gappy teeth, so I became a secretary instead. It was only years later, when I'd grown up politically and become interested in theatre, that I started again and ended up at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre with Clive Russell and Sue Johnston." Steed has performed with the Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and with Belt and Braces, the political theatre troupe run by Gavin Richards as well as working as a comedian in alternative cabaret.
She was one of the first women to become involved in the alternative comedy scene when it sprang into existence in 1979, and performing at the Comedy Store, with the group Alternative Cabaret and elsewhere. Her material was personal and confessional.
Her first major television role was playing Rita Moon in the series Shine on Harvey Moon. She played Margaret Crabbe in Pie in the Sky and Phyllis Woolf in Born and Bred. Her television credits include appearances on Fox, Minder, Sensitive Skin and Jam & Jerusalem.
In 2008, Steed appeared on tour in Michael Frayn's comedy Noises Off as Mrs Clackett, produced by the Ambassador Theatre Group, which included the New Victoria Theatre, Woking. The cast included Sophie Bould, Colin Baker and Jonathan Coy. In 2010 she appeared in the short film The Miserables, and the following year onstage in a comedy duo role with actress Jackie Clune in a production of The Belle's Stratagem.
In April 2017, it was announced that Steed was joining the cast of EastEnders as Joyce Murray. It was announced in March 2018 that her character had been written out of the series and subsequently would be killed off.

## Political activism

Steed was active in the Campaign Against Racism in the Media. She appeared in an edition of the BBC's Open Door series on 1 March 1979 (with the academic Stuart Hall) entitled "It Ain't Half Racist, Mum", criticising British television's discussion and representation of immigration and racial stereotypes.
She helped write and perform in the comedy benefit concert An Evening for Nicaragua, at the Shaftesbury Theatre, which was shown on British television in 1983. The cast included Ben Elton, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Emma Thompson and Rik Mayall.Steed visited Nicaragua in 1982 with Andy de la Tour.

## Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1980 | Babylon | Woman at Lockup |
| 1990 | Blood Rights | Tess Barker |
| 1992 | Clothes in the Wardrobe | Mrs. Raffald |
| 1992 | Growing Rich | Raelene |
| 1993 | Olly's Prison | Ellen |
| 1999 | Simon Magus | Muttchen |
| 2000 | Stardom | British Fashion Reporter |
| 2004 | Lawrence of Arabia Close | Doris |
| 2006 | The Painted Veil | Mrs Garstin |
| 2009 | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Louis Vuitton Woman |
| 2010 | The Miserables | Evelyn Pickleton |
| 2013 | A Promise | Frau Hermann |
| 2013 | Alpha: Omega | Dee |
| 2014 | Pudsey the Dog: The Movie | Mrs Willoughby |
| 2016 | Florence Foster Jenkins | Mrs O'Flaherty |
| 2016 | Juliet Remembered | Juliet |
| 2016 | A Cure for Wellness | Mrs Abramov |
| 2017 | Transformers: The Last Knight | Vivian's Grandmother |
| 2017 | Paddington 2 | Mrs Gertrude Biggleswade |
| 2019 | Fisherman's Friends | Maggie |
| 2022 | Fisherman's Friends: One and All | Maggie |

## Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1970 | Coronation Street | Ellen Smith | 4 episodes |
| 1980 | Fox | Bette Greene | 5 episodes |
| 1981 | The History Man | Myra Beamish | 4 episodes |
| 1982 | Minder | Sherry | Episode: "Broken Arrow" |
| 1982 | The Young Ones | Woman from Council | Episode: "Demolition" |
| 1982-95 | Shine on Harvey Moon | Rita Moon | 41 episodes |
| 1983 | Crown Court | Clare Forsyth QC | 3 episodes |
| 1984 | Charlie | Ella Pearce | 4 episodes |
| 1984 | The Young Ones | Witch | Episode: "Sick" |
| 1984 | The Young Ones | Rosemary | Episode: "Summer Holiday" |
| 1985-7 | Victoria Wood As Seen on TV | Shopper/ Marion Clune | 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Intimate Contact | Becca Crichton | 4 episodes |
| 1991 | Lovejoy | Joanna | Episode: "One Born Every Minute" |
| 1992 | Red Dwarf | Dr. Hildegarde Lanstrom | Episode: "Quarantine" |
| 1992 | Van Der Valk | Maria Thomp | Episode: "Proof of Life" |
| 1993 | Lipstick on Your Collar | Aunt Vickie | 6 episodes |
| 1994 | Martin Chuzzlewit | Mrs Todgers | 5 episodes |
| 1994-7 | Pie in the Sky | Margaret Crabbe | 33 episodes |
| 1997 | Inspector Morse | Angela Stoors | Episode: "Death Is Now My Neighbour" |
| 1998-2004 | French and Saunders | Various | 3 episodes |
| 1999 | Let Them Eat Cake | Madame Vigée-Lebrun | Episode: "The Portrait" |
| 2000 | Midsomer Murders | Rosemary Furman | Episode: "Judgement Day" |
| 2002 | Foyle's War | Margaret Ellis | Episode: "The White Feather" |
| 2002-5 | Born and Bred | Phyllis Woolf | 36 episodes |
| 2005-7 | Sensitive Skin | Victoria Dawkins | 6 episodes |
| 2006 | New Tricks | Rose Dyer | Episode: "Dockers" |
| 2006-9 | Jam & Jerusalem | Eileen Pike | 19 episodes |
| 2008 | Midsomer Murders | Lynne Fox | Episode: "Left for Dead" |
| 2009 | Lark Rise to Candleford | Mrs Herring | 1 episode |
| 2009 | My Family | Mrs Philbin | Episode: "Dog Dazed" |
| 2010 | Whites | Celia | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | 32 Brinkburn Street | Elizabeth | 5 episodea |
| 2012 | Stella | Meg | 8 episodes |
| 2013 | Midsomer Murders | Sylvia Mountford | Episode: "Schooled in Murder" |
| 2015-7 | Chewing Gum | Esther | 10 episodes |
| 2017-8 | EastEnders | Joyce Murray | 59 episodes |
| 2019 | Father Brown | Dorothy Parnell | Episode: "The Whistle in the Dark" |
| 2019 | Elizabeth Is Missing | Elizabeth | TV Movie |
| 2022 | Ten Percent | Stella Hart | 8 episodes |
| 2023 | Sister Boniface Mysteries | Vivienne Bonham-Crane | 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Changing Ends | Nan | Episode: "Mad Dogs and English Nans" |
| 2024 | Rivals | Lady Gosling | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | Ridley | Celia Machin | 2 episodes |
| 2025 | Silent Witness | Dr. Harriet Maven | 8 episodes |

## Theatre

* The Heiress – as Aunt Lavinia (National Theatre) (2000)
* The Importance of Being Earnest – as Lady Bracknell (2005)
* Relative Values – as the Countess of Marshwood (Salisbury Playhouse production) (2005)
* The History Boys – replaced Frances de la Tour as Mrs. Lintott (National Theatre) (2006)
* Noises Off – as Dotty Otley (UK Touring Production) (2008)
* Hay Fever – as Judith Bliss (West Yorkshire Playhouse) (2010)