Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances: portraying Dorothy in "Men Behaving Badly" (1992–1998), Maddie Magellan in "Jonathan Creek" (1997–2000), and DCI Janine Lewis in "Blue Murder" (2003–2009). Early life. Quentin was born in Reigate, Surrey, to Kathleen Jones and her husband Fred, a Royal Air Force pilot. She has three older sisters. She was educated at the independent Arts Educational School, in Tring, Hertfordshire, and appeared locally in the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival. Career. Television. One of her earliest roles  was in the Channel 4 comedy drama "Hollywood Hits Chiswick", alongside Derek Newark as W.C. Fields Between 1992 and 1998, Quentin appeared as Dorothy in all 42 episodes of the sitcom "Men Behaving Badly". From 1997 until 2000, Quentin starred alongside Alan Davies in "Jonathan Creek" playing investigative journalist Maddie Magellan, who uses Jonathan's mind to solve murder mysteries. In 1998 she starred in the first sitcom that was specifically built around her: "Kiss Me Kate"; that year she started the major role of Maggie Mee in the drama "Life Begins", which returned for a third series in 2006 . Quentin appeared in the television film "Hot Money" (2001), which was based on the true story of the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Bank of England. ITV has produced five series of the police drama "Blue Murder", in which Quentin plays against type in the main role DCI Janine Lewis. The pilot aired in the UK on 18 May 2003. Quentin has appeared in "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"; in a pre-"Men Behaving Badly" role as a traffic warden in the "Mr. Bean" episode "The Trouble with Mr. Bean" in 1991; "Room 101"; "Have I Got  News for You"; and the 2009–10 BBC comedy series "Life of Riley", a sitcom about a dysfunctional blended family; and in the BBC Radio 4 improvisational comedy series "The Masterson Inheritance", the Radio 4 comedy Any Bloke (starred with Jim Sweeney who was also in The Masterson Inheritance) and the popular BBC Radio 2 sitcom "On the Blog". She appeared as Heather Babcock in an episode of "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple", "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side", in 2010. Also in 2010 she started appearing, as a 1970's standard lamp, in Marks & Spencer's revamped food range  advertisements. In March 2011, a documentary entitled "Caroline Quentin: A Passage Through India" aired on ITV in the UK. The documentary followed Quentin as she traveled from the North of India to the South. Quentin presented "Restoration Home" on BBC Two. The programme looks into the history and families of the UK's derelict mansion houses which are being restored by their private owners. In 2012, Quentin began working on another documentary series, "Cornwall with Caroline Quentin", which shows her travelling across Cornwall. She returned to present a second series of the show in 2013. In 2013, she hosted another  documentary series, "Caroline Quentin’s National Parks" for one series. Quentin starred in the Comedy Central series "Big Bad World" where she played the role of Jan, the mother of the main character Ben (Blake Harrison). In 2015, she played the role of Angela Sim in an episode of "Doc Martin". She played the role of Mrs Bumble in "Dickensian" (2015–2016). In November 2016, she guest presented an episode of "The One Show". Starting in 2017, Quentin was co-presenter of the BBC Two programme "The World's Most Extraordinary Homes" with architect Piers Taylor; 12 episodes were completed and  aired. Subsequently, the series streamed on Netflix. In 2020, Quentin participated in the eighteenth series of "Strictly Come Dancing". She was partnered with Johannes Radebe. Quentin became the fourth celebrity to be voted off on 22 November 2020. Quentin later commented,"I have had the honour and privilege of working with some of the greatest dancers this country has ever known I mean I really believe it, I think they are absolutely fantastic." Theatre. In 2019, she played Lady Fancyfull in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of "The Provoked Wife". Her early stage work had also included appearing in the chorus  of the original English production of the musical "Les Misérables" in 1985. Music. In July 1996, Quentin released a single, a cover of the Exciters' hit "Tell Him", with her "Men Behaving Badly" co-star Leslie Ash under the name of "Quentin and Ash". The single spent 3 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 25. Recognition. Quentin received an Ian Charleson Award commendation for her Masha in "The Seagull" at the Oxford Theatre Company in 1991. At the British Comedy Awards in 2004, Quentin won the "Best Comedy Actress" award for her performance in "Von Trapped" Personal life . Quentin was married to comedian Paul Merton from 1990 until their 1998 divorce. Quentin met Sam Farmer in 1998 on the set of "Men Behaving Badly", where he was a runner. The couple have two children, Emily Rose and William. In 2006, she married Farmer in Tiverton, Devon. They lived briefly in Morebath Manor near the village of Morebath, Devon, close to Tiverton, before moving to a smaller derelict farm nearby, which they renovated. Before moving to Devon, the couple lived at Walberswick, Suffolk. Quentin has coeliac disease and is the patron of Coeliac UK. She is also president of  the charity Campaign for National Parks.