Barge Lady

... With a pleasant swirl of quiet water at its blunt bow the barge slid up alongside of him, its gaily painted gunwale level with the towing-path, its sole occupant a big stout woman wearing a linen sun-bonnet, one brawny arm laid along the tiller.

`A nice morning, ma'am!' she remarked to Toad, as she drew up level with him...

Imelda Staunton has been seen previously on Masterpiece Theatre as Mother in My Family and Other Animals. Born in Archway, north London, in January 1956, Staunton won a BAFTA for the role of post-war backstreet abortionist Vera Drake, and was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award and an Academy Award for Best Actress. Other memorable performances have included Margaret Campbell in Freedom Writers, Charlotte in 1995's Sense and Sensibility and the cook, Mrs. Blatherwick, in Nanny McPhee.

Director Mike Leigh has described Staunton as "...brilliant. She has great warmth, compassion and humanity and a great sense of humor. Also she has not a grain of sentimentality, she is very rooted in the real world." In 2006 Staunton received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to drama.

She will debut as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2007.