Di Botcher

Last updated

Di Botcher
Born
Diane F Botcher

(1959-06-02) 2 June 1959 (age 64)
Port Talbot, Wales [1]
OccupationActress
Years active1986–present
Known for Stella
Little Britain
Casualty
Downton Abbey

Diane Botcher (born 2 June 1959) is a Welsh actress. She has starred in several British television sitcoms and dramas, including the Sky comedy drama Stella , BBC comedies Little Britain and Tittybangbang and the ITV period drama Downton Abbey . In 2018, she joined Casualty as Jan Jenning.

Contents

Early life

Botcher was born on 2 June 1959 in Taibach, Port Talbot, Glamorgan, in Wales, one of the two children of parents Bernard and Glenys Botcher. She read English and drama at Warwick University, [1] and after graduating, trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art drama school in London, [2] [3] then obtained an Equity card in the 1980s.

Career

Throughout her long career on stage and screen, Botcher has been receiving warm reviews. In a performance of the musical Blood Brothers with the Sherman Theatre Company in 1986, Botcher's performance as the "warm-hearted mum" was singled out by a reviewer as one of the good points in a production which needed "beefing up". [4] Of Black Milk (2003), a reviewer wrote, "In a strong cast, Di Botcher is a beacon." [5] Her performance in the 2017/18 revival of Follies was universally appreciated [6] - “wonderful”, [7] with a "stunner of a set piece"; [8] [9]

In 2018, she began appearing in the BBC medical drama Casualty as Jan Jennings. Later that year, she also began portraying the role of Nana Margie in the BBC Three series In My Skin . [10] 2022 BBC Radio 4 The Archers as Caitlin Thomas.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1997 Twin Town Jean Lewis
2002 All or Nothing SupervisorCameo role
2002Ant MuzakDiana Fluck the Checkout AssistantShort film
2008Albert's SpeechGloriaShort film
2011 Hunky Dory Viv's mum
2012 The Gospel of Us The MotherSet in Botcher's birthplace
2013 Svengali Mrs Cooper
2013 One Chance NurseCameo role
2015 Under Milk Wood Mrs Dai Bread Two
2020 Dream Horse Nerys
2021La Cha ChaMrs. Fruitcake

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986 Screen Two Officer KyleSeries 2, Episode 2
1987 The District Nurse Eirlys ProsserSeries 3, Episode 6
1993, 1997 The Bill Mrs. Oakes/Mrs. Edwards2 episodes
1997Harpur and IlesJane MellickTelevision film
1999 Sunburn Wendy's mumSeries 1, Episode 3
1999 Kavanagh QC Tilly BurgessSeries 5, Episode 2
1999RhinocerosMegan JonesTelevision film
2001 Fun at the Funeral Parlour EdithSeries 1, Episode 4
2001 People Like Us Frances ChurchfieldSeries 2, Episode 6
2001 The Armando Iannucci Shows Tinaturnerogram2 episodes
2001 'Orrible Di ClarkRecurring character
2002 Casualty Louise TempletonSeries 16, Episode 26
2002 Tipping the Velvet Woman with Cigar2 episodes
2002 Cruise of the Gods Mrs. HatcherTelevision film
2002–2008 High Hopes Mrs. ColesRecurring character; 20 episodes
2003–2005 Little Britain Marion/Meals on Wheels Lady6 episodes
2003–2009 Belonging VanessaRecurring character
2004 Green Wing Catering ManagerSeries 1, Episode 3
2005 All About George Dorothy MickensEpisode 1
2005 The Thick of It Pauline McKendrick, Piss WomanSeries 2, Episode 1
2005 Bleak House Mrs. Woodcourt2 episodes
2006–2007 Tittybangbang Various characters5 episodes
2006–2008 Pulling MargaretRecurring character
2007 Ideal Nicki's mumVoice only
2007 Hotel Babylon Myra WalmesleySeries 2, Episode 8
2007 Murphy's Law Brothel Madam2 episodes
2007 After You've Gone SheilaSeries 2, Episode 5
2008 Coming of Age Ollie's mumSeries 1, Episode 5
2008 Dustbin Baby PatTelevision film
2008–2009 Katy Brand's Big Ass Show Various characters5 episodes
2008, 2010, 2012 Doctors Sharon Bretherton/Linda Bolton/Dorit Simpson3 episodes
2009 No Signal! Various charactersSeries 1, Episode 9
2009 Collision Mrs. Whitfield2 episodes
2010 Lennon Naked DotTelevision film
2010 Sherlock Connie PrinceSeries 1, Episode 3
2010 Coming Up BernadetteSeries 8, Episode 4
2011 Come Fly with Me Mrs. TalbotEpisode 2
2011ShirleyMrs. MorrisonTelevision film about Dame Shirley Bassey
2011 DCI Banks GraceSeries 2, Episode 3
2012 Mr Stink Woman with QuestionTelevision film
2013 Downton Abbey Nanny WestSeries 4, Episode 1
2013–2017 Stella Aunty BrendaMain role
2014 Inside No. 9 JeanEpisode 5
2014Under Milk WoodMrs. Dai Bread OneTelevision film
2015 Coronation Street Debbie Allinson2 episodes
2015Top CoppersSandra
2015 High Hopes Mrs Coles
2018–present Casualty Jan Jenning Main role
2018–2021 In My Skin Nana MargieMain role

Selected stage performances

YearTitleTheatreRole
2017–2018 Follies [11] National Theatre Hattie Walker
1997Cardiff East [12] Vera, Marge and Dolly's friend [13] [14]
1995–1996 A Little Night Music [11] Mrs Anderssen [13]
1993–1994 Sweeney Todd [12] Ensemble [13]
2010–2011 A Flea in Her Ear [12] Old Vic Olympe [15]
2009 Chicago [12] Cambridge Theatre Matron "Mama" Morton [16]
2003Black Milk [12] [5] Royal Court Auntie Pasha [17]
2000Flesh and Blood [12] Hampstead Theatre Marge [18]
1997 Beauty and the Beast [11] Dominion Theatre Madame de la Grande Bouche
1990 Sunday in the Park with George [11] London Revival
  • Frieda (Act One)
  • Elaine (Act Two)
1986 Blood Brothers [4] Sherman Theatre Mother
1986 Richard III [19] Royal Shakespeare Company at the Adelaide Festival Theatre Lady of the court
2003Terrorism [20] Royal CourtOld biddy
Cats [15] New London Grizabella
1995 Under Milk Wood [3] National TheatreMiss Price; Mrs Beynon [13]
1986–1987 A Midsummer Night's Dream [3] Royal Shakespeare CompanyTitania [21]
1987Speculators [3] Carol Cutter [13]
1999Card Boys [3] Bush Theatre Iris [22]
2010If So, Then Yes [3] Jermyn Street Theatre Welsh charlady [23] [24]
2009 A History Of Falling Things [3] Theatr Clwyd Mum
2004 Les Misérables [3] CopenhagenMadame Thenardier [25]

Related Research Articles

<i>Follies</i> 1971 musical by Stephen Sondheim

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Sondheim</span> American composer and lyricist (1930–2021)

Stephen Joshua Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborations with Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics were tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernadette Peters</span> American actress and singer (born 1948)

Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Shaw</span> Irish actress (born 1958)

Fiona Shaw is an Irish film and theatre actress. Known for extensive work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as in film and television, in 2020, she was listed at No. 29 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. She was made an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.

Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer, and comedian. She was the lone female singer of topical songs on the weekly BBC Television satirical show That Was the Week That Was, and won a BAFTA TV Award in 1964. For her work on Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Side by Side by Sondheim (1977) and King of Hearts (1978), both for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other television roles include her recurring role as Gertrude Moon in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) and Joan Margaret in Grace & Frankie (2017-2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine Stritch</span> American actress (1925–2014)

Elaine Stritch was an American actress, known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films and television series. Stritch was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruthie Henshall</span> English entertainer (born 1967)

Valentine Ruth Henshall, known professionally as Ruthie Henshall, is an English actress, singer and dancer, known for her work in musical theatre. She began her professional stage career in 1986, before making her West End debut in Cats in 1987. A five-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Amalia Balash in the London revival of She Loves Me (1994).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jermyn Street Theatre</span>

Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated on Jermyn Street, in London's West End. It is an off-west end studio theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Russell</span> British actress

Jenna Russell is an English actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in London in both musicals and dramas, as well as appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She performed the role of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George in the West End and on Broadway, receiving the Tony Award nomination and the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. She has also appeared in several television series, including Born and Bred and EastEnders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Maxwell Martin</span> British actress (born 1977)

Anna Maxwell Martin, sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a British actress. She won two British Academy Television Awards, for her portrayals of Esther Summerson in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House (2005) and N in the Channel 4 adaptation of Poppy Shakespeare (2008). She is also known for her roles as DCS Patricia Carmichael in BBC One crime drama Line of Duty (2019–2021) and Kelly Major in Code 404 (2020–present). Since 2016, Martin has starred in the BBC comedy Motherland, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Jones</span> Welsh actress, producer and writer

Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. She later co-wrote and starred in the Sky One comedy-drama Stella (2012-2017), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Screenwriter.

Tracie Bennett is an English singer and stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London. She played the role of Sharon Gaskell in Coronation Street from 1982 to 1984, returning to the role in 1999 and again in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia McKenzie</span> English actress, presenter, director, writer

Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields (1984–1986) and its sequel French Fields (1989–1991), and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple (2009–2013).

Maria Zena Schneider, known professionally as Maria Charles, was an English film, television and stage actress, director and comedienne. She was probably best known for her performance as the overbearing mother Bea Fisher in the ITV sitcom Agony. Charles also appeared on the stage in original West End productions including musicals by Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse and Sandy Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Maxwell</span> American actress

Janice Elaine Maxwell was an American stage and television actress. She was a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award winner. In a career spanning over thirty years, Maxwell was one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed stage actresses of her time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Callaway</span> American actress and singer (born 1961)

Liz Callaway is an American actress, singer and recording artist, who is best known for having provided the singing voices of many female characters in animated films, such as Anya/Anastasia in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, Jasmine in the Aladdin sequels The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, adult Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and a dancing napkin ring in Beauty and the Beast. She was also the original Ellen in the Broadway production of Miss Saigon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helena Blackman</span> British musical theatre actress (born 1982)

Helena Blackman is a British musical theatre actress, best known for being the runner-up in the hit BBC1 Reality TV programme How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?.

Marlene Sidaway is a British television, film and theatre actress best known for playing Brenda Taylor in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Doherty</span> British actress

Erin Rachael Doherty is a British actress. She played the young Princess Anne in the third and fourth seasons of the Netflix drama The Crown, and Becky in the BBC/Amazon Prime drama Chloe (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Works of Stephen Sondheim</span>

Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist whose most famous work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). He is also known for writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959).

References

  1. 1 2 Wightwick, Abbie (24 April 2016). "Stella actress Di Botcher remembers her first job at Port Talbot steelworks". Wales Online. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  2. ↑ "Di Botcher". National Theatre. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Michael Sheen Leads THE PASSION for National Theatre Wales & WildWorks in April". Broadway World. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 Adams, David (14 February 1986). "Cardiff: Blood Brothers". The Guardian : 18 (lower middle). Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 Clapp, Susannah (9 February 2003). "Toasters and shysters - Theatre". The Observer Review: 11. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Wolf, Matt (8 September 2017). "Sondheim's 'Follies' Is Back, at Once Bleak and Beautiful". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  7. ↑ Taylor, Paul (7 September 2017). "Follies, National Theatre, London, review: It's jaw-droppingly great". Independent. London. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  8. ↑ Bano, Tim (7 September 2017). "Follies review at the National Theatre, London – 'not just triumphant, but transcendent'". The Stage. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  9. ↑ Kellaway, Kate (10 September 2017). "Follies review – a stupendous Sondheim revival". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  10. ↑ "BBC orders a dark comedy about a teen and her mentally ill mum". Chortle . Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Di Botcher Broadway and Theatre Credits". Broadway World. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Di Botcher Announced As Special Guest Performer At The West End Gala Of The 12th Annual Stephen Sondheim Society". Broadway World. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Di Botcher". Theatricalia. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  14. ↑ "Cardiff East". Peter Gill, playwright and theatre director. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  15. 1 2 "Full Cast Announced For Old Vic's A FLEA IN HER EAR". Broadway World. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  16. ↑ Koenig, Rhoda (21 July 2009). "Review: Chicago, Cambridge Theatre, London". Independent. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  17. ↑ Wolf, Matt (13 February 2003). "Review: Black Milk". Variety. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  18. ↑ Tocher, Willie. "Review: Flesh , Blood/ Mike Peters Birthday Review". The Alarm. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  19. ↑ Sher, Anthony (16 August 1986). "Dirty Dick Down Under". The Age Saturday Extra. Melbourne, Australia: 1, 10. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  20. ↑ Billington, Michael (15 March 2003). "Reviews: The funny side of terror - Theatre: Terrorism". The Guardian: 18. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  21. ↑ A Midsummer Night's Dream RSC Staging History 1960-2007 . Retrieved 28 October 2018.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ "Review: Card Boys". Variety. 2 April 1999. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  23. ↑ Thaxter, John (10 September 2010). "If So, Then Yes review at Jermyn Street London". The Stage. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  24. ↑ Sierz, Aleks (9 September 2010). "If So, Then Yes, Jermyn Street Theatre First play in 30 years from the legendary absurdist N F Simpson". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  25. ↑ "Les Misérables". Whose is that face in the shadows?. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Crystal Clear app Login Manager 2.png

This Welsh biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.