Pam Ferris

Pamela E. Ferris (born 11 May 1948 in Hanover, Germany)[2] is a Welsh actress. She starred on television as Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, and as Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme, and has played parts in family films based on works by British authors, such as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda and as Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and most recently as Sister Evangelina in Call the Midwife.
== Career ==
Ferris performed in her younger years at the Mercury Theatre in Auckland,[3] and later with various regional companies in the UK. She played motherly Ma Larkin in the ITV series The Darling Buds of May, which ran from 1991 to 1993. She has also acted in a succession of television dramas, including Meantime, in which she played the Cockney mother of Phil Daniels and Tim Roth, Connie, Hardwicke House, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Where the Heart Is and Paradise Heights. From 2003 to 2006, she played the gardening sleuth, Laura Thyme, in Rosemary & Thyme.
Her roles in costume dramas include parts in television adaptations of Middlemarch, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Our Mutual Friend, The Turn of the Screw, Pollyanna and Jane Eyre. In 1996, Ferris portrayed the brutish, authoritarian school headmistress Agatha Trunchbull in Matilda. In 2004, she played the callous Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In 2006, Ferris took on the role of Miriam, a motherly activist in Children of Men. She has also acted in productions for BBC Radio 4.
Her career in the theatre has included parts in Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre productions. In 2007 she played Phoebe Rice in an acclaimed revival of John Osborne's The Entertainer at London's Old Vic Theatre. In 2007, Ferris took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history. In 2008 she played Mrs General in an all-star cast BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Little Dorrit. From 2009 to 2010, she appeared in the final series of the BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey as Cath Smith. In 2010, she made a guest appearance in the sitcom Grandma's House. From 2012-2016, Ferris played the part of Sister Evangelina in the series Call the Midwife. She chose to leave as filming was moved to a different area and the extra journey time was too stressful. In June and July 2015 Ferris was the guest of Sarah Walker on BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics.[4]
== Personal life ==
Ferris was born in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, to Welsh parents, while her father was serving in the Royal Air Force. After her parents returned to Wales Ferris spent her childhood in the Aberkenfig area, near Bridgend. Her father, Fred Ferris, was a policeman, and her mother, Ann Perkins, worked in her family's bakery business.[5] In 1986 she married actor Roger Frost. She lives in Elham, Kent, South East England.[6] The couple have no children.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1983	Meantime 	Mavis 	
1996	Matilda 	Miss Trunchbull 	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2001	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Mrs. Squeers 	
2002	Death to Smoochy 	Tommy Cotter 	
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 	Aunt Marge 	
2006	Children of Men 	Miriam 	
2009	Nativity! 	Mrs. Bevans 	
2009	Telstar 	Mrs Violet Shenton 	
2009	Malice in Wonderland 	The Duchess 	
2012	The Raven 	Mrs. Bradley 	
2012	Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger 	Mrs. Bevans 	
2013	Saving Santa 	Mrs. Claus 	
2016	Ethel & Ernest 	Mrs. Bennett / Aunty Betty (voice)	
2018	Holmes and Watson 	Queen Victoria 	
TBC 	Tolkien 	Mrs. Faulkner 	Post-production
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1971 	BBC Play of the Month 	Puck and Fairie 	Episode: “A Midsummer Night's Dream”
1984 	Dramarama 	Dorothy 	Episode: “Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest”
1985 	The Bill 	Mrs. Draper 	Episode: “Death of a Cracksmen”
1985 	Connie 	Nesta 	13 episodes
1986 	Ladies in Charge 	Charlie 	Episode: “Double Act”
1987 	Hardwicke House 	Ms. Crabbe 	2 episodes
1987 	Lizzie's Pictures 	Grace 	3 episodes
1987 	Dramarama 	Anne Bailey 	Episode: “Peter”
1987 	Casualty 	Linda 	Episode: “The Raid”
1988 	The Fear 	Brenda 	Episode: “#1.1”
1988 	Valentine Park 	Mrs. Fox 	Episode: “A Rose By Any Other Name”
1988 	South of the Border 	Brenda 	Episode: “#1.6”
1989 	All Change 	Maggie Oldfield 	Episode: “The Bosom of the Family”
1990 	Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit 	Mrs. Arkwright 	3 episodes
1990 	A Sense of Guilt 	Magdalen Parry 	3 episodes
1991–1993	The Darling Buds of May 	Florence "Ma" Larkin 	20 episodes
1992 	Mr Wakefield's Crusade 	Mad Marion 	2 episodes
1992 	Cluedo 	Mrs. White 	6 episodes
1992 	Performance 	Mrs. Bryant 	Episode: “Roots”
1993 	Comedy Playhouse 	Matron 	Episode: “Once in a Lifetime”
1994 	Middlemarch 	Mrs. Dollop 	3 episodes
1994 	The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends	Aunt Pettitoes (voice)	Episode: “The Tale of Pigling Bland”
1994 	The Rector's Wife 	Eleanor Ramsay 	2 episodes
1996 	Wycliffe 	Pat Trethowan 	Episode: “Last Judgment”
1996 	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 	Mrs. Markham 	2 episodes
1997–2000	Where the Heart Is 	Peggy Snow 	36 episodes
1998 	Our Mutual Friend 	Mrs. Boffin 	4 episodes
2001 	Linda Green 	Norma Fitts 	Episode: “Victim Support”
2002 	Paradise Heights 	Marion Eustace 	6 episodes
2003 	Clocking Off 	Pat Fletcher 	6 episodes
2003–2006	Rosemary & Thyme 	Laura Thyme 	22 episodes
2004 	Agatha Christie's Marple 	Elspeth McGillicuddy 	Episode: “4:50 from Paddington”
2006 	Jane Eyre 	Grace Poole 	4 episodes
2007 	Lilies 	Alice Bird 	Episode: “The Serpent”
2008 	Little Dorrit 	Mrs. Hortensia General	6 episodes
2009 	Gavin & Stacey 	Catherina "Cath" Smith	2 episodes
2010 	Grandma's House 	Deborah Adler 	Episode: “The Day Simon Announced He Was in Control of the Universe”
2011 	Midsomer Murders 	Liz Tomlin 	Episode: “Echoes of the Dead”
2011 	Luther 	Baba 	3 episodes
2012–2016	Call the Midwife 	Sister Evangelina 	36 episodes