Tessa Peake-Jones
Tessa Peake-Jones (born 9 May 1957) is an English actress. She is known for her role as Raquel in the BBC sitcom "Only Fools and Horses", whom she played from December 1988 until the programme ended in 2003. Early life and education. Peake-Jones was educated at Kenmore Park Junior School, Harrow and Downer Grammar School, now known as Canons High School, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Television. Peake-Jones is best known for playing Raquel Turner, the longtime partner of the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, in the television  comedy "Only Fools and Horses". She had a co-starring role in the 1999 TV series "Births, Marriages, and Deaths". Her other television appearances include "The Demon Headmaster", "Midsomer Murders", "Casualty", "Holby City", "The Bill", "Up the Garden Path" and "So Haunt Me". She appeared in the BBC adaptation of Iris Murdoch's "The Bell" (1982). She also played the role of the bookish sister Mary Bennet in the BBC serial adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" (1980). In both 2009 and 2011, Peake-Jones played Sue Bond in the BBC daytime soap opera, "Doctors". In 2013 she appeared in the  Doctor Who Christmas episode "The Time of the Doctor", playing a character called Marta. In March 2008 she appeared as a member of staff in the Channel 4 drama "Poppy Shakespeare". Set in a psychiatric hospital, the production also starred Naomie Harris and Anna Maxwell Martin. Since 2014 she has appeared in "Grantchester" as Mrs Sylvia Maguire, the vicar's religious and cantankerous housekeeper. In 2019, she appeared on the ITV show "All Star Musicals", singing "Mamma Mia" from "Mamma Mia!" the musical; she received a total of 17 out of 20 stars. Personal life. Peake-Jones' partner was Douglas  Hodge, who played her son Damien Trotter as an adult in the "Only Fools and Horses" episode "Heroes and Villains". They announced that they had split up in February 2013 after 27 years together. They have two children: a daughter, born in 1991; and a son, born c. 2000.