Lady Matilda Carbury Cheryl Campbell Assets: a son, Sir Felix, who could marry Melmotte's heiress daughter Marie, and a daughter, Hetta, whom she hopes will secure the family estate by marrying her cousin Roger. Prospects: a life of penury unless they do. For Cheryl Campbell the role of Lady Carbury, the desperate dilettante author of such dreadful books as Criminal Queens, reflects a respectable Victorian woman's nightmare. "In Victorian times, if you weren't married by a certain age, then you were frowned on," says Campbell, who recently delighted audiences as Nell in Peter Nichol's Passion Play (Donmar/Comedy Theatre). "If you were married and became a divorcee or a widow, you were also frowned upon. And if you were a spinster you were frowned on. Women had a pretty tricky time of it." And it was unforgivable, she says, not to be seen to be coping financially. "If a Victorian woman ended up penniless, there was no safety net. That's why Lady Carbury is relying on her daughter Hetta marrying cousin Roger Carbury and Sir Felix running off with heiress Marie Melmotte." Lady Carbury knows in her heart that her beloved son is a complete disaster: a gambler, womanizer, and con man. But Sir Felix is her only real asset. "If she chucked him out of the house, he'd fall apart, and she needs to keep him in the fold because she can only survive on the money he might bring in. He's her only chance of financial security." Campbell won BAFTA and Broadcasting and Press Guild Best Actress awards for Malice Aforethought and Testament of Youth and a BAFTA nomination for Pennies from Heaven. Her earliest roles included parts in the hugely popular Z Cars. More recent work includes Monsignor Renard, The Midsomer Murders, A Touch of Frost, and Inspector Morse. Other theatre work includes Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (RSC Barbican/Stratford), a 1985 SWET Actress of the Year award for A Doll's House, and Engaged (Royal National). More recent work includes The Strip (Royal Court), Volpone (National Theatre) and The Seagull (Donmar). Films include The Mill on the Floss, Chariots of Fire, Greystoke and The Shooting Party.