Editing Penelope Keith (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
Keith began her television career in programmes such as ''[[The Army Game]]'', ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'', ''[[Wild, Wild Women]]'' and ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]''.<ref name="Express26Oct07"/> In the early 1970s, she appeared in ''[[Morecambe and Wise|The Morecambe & Wise Show]]'', ''[[Ghost Story (1974 film)|Ghost Story]]'' and ''[[The Pallisers]]''. Her film appearances during this time included ''[[Every Home Should Have One]]'', ''[[Take a Girl Like You (film)|Take A Girl Like You]]'', ''[[Rentadick]]'' and ''[[Penny Gold]]''. In 1967, she had a minor role in ''[[Carry On Doctor]]'', but the scene was cut from the final edit.<ref name="Express26Oct07"/><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.carryonline.com/carryonline/reframe.html?http://www.carryonline.com/carryonline/carryondoctor.html|title=Carry On Doctor |website=carryonline.com|access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref> She appeared as a nurse in [[A Touch of Love (1969 film)|''A Touch of Love'']] 1969.

Her best known theatre appearance, in 1974, was playing Sarah in ''[[The Norman Conquests]]'', alongside [[Felicity Kendal]], her co-star in ''The Good Life''. Keith and Kendal would often film ''The Good Life'' during the day and perform on stage in the West End in the evening.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

In 1977 Keith starred in [[Brian Sibley]]'s comedy radio broadcast titled ''...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree'',<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sibley|first=Brian|date=January 2008|url=https://briansibleytheworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html|title=''...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree'' (text)|publisher=[[Blogger (service)|Blogger]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Sibley|first=Brian|date=December 9, 2013|url=https://soundcloud.com/brian-sibley/and-yet-another-partridge-in-a|title=''...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree'' (audio)|publisher=[[SoundCloud]]}}</ref> voicing a woman named Cynthia Bracegirdle whose boyfriend, Algernon Fotherington-Smythe, sends her the 364 gifts mentioned in ''[[The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)|The Twelve Days of Christmas]]''.

===Television fame===
Keith achieved popular fame in 1975 when the [[BBC]] [[British sitcom|sitcom]] ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'' began. In the first episode, she was only heard and not seen in her role as Margo Leadbetter, but as the episodes and series went on, the scope of her role increased. In 1977, Keith won a [[British Academy Television Awards|BAFTA]] award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" for her role of Margo Leadbetter.<ref name="BAFTA Awards w649">{{cite web | title=Television in 1977 | website=BAFTA Awards | url=https://awards.bafta.org/award/1977/television | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref>

From 1979 to 1981, she played the lead role of Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in the TV series ''[[To the Manor Born]]''. Following ''To the Manor Born'', Keith has appeared in the lead role in six other sitcoms: ''[[Sweet Sixteen (TV series)|Sweet Sixteen]]'', ''[[Moving (British TV series)|Moving]]'', ''[[Executive Stress]]'', ''[[No Job for a Lady]]'', ''[[Law and Disorder (TV series)|Law and Disorder]]'' and ''[[Next of Kin (TV series)|Next of Kin]]''. She also had the starring role in a TV adaptation of [[Agatha Christie]]'s play ''[[Spider's Web (play)#Publication and further adaptations|Spider's Web]]''. She won a second BAFTA award as "[[British Academy Television Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]" in 1978 for ''The Norman Conquests''.<ref name="BAFTA Awards e097">{{cite web | title=Television in 1978 | website=BAFTA Awards | url=https://awards.bafta.org/award/1978/television | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref>

In 1982 Keith starred in a TV production of Frederick Lonsdale's ''On Approval''. In 1988, she hosted one series of the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] panel show ''[[What's My Line? (British game show)|What's My Line?]]'', following the death of its former presenter, [[Eamonn Andrews]]. She had a featured role in the 1998 ITV serial ''[[Coming Home (TV serial)|Coming Home]]''.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

===Work===
Keith has regularly appeared on stage, taking the classics and new plays across the UK. These include Shakespeare, Shaw, Sheridan, Wilde, Rattigan and Congreve. She played Lorraine in [[Noël Coward]]'s ''Star Quality'', while in 2004 she played Madame Arcati in Coward's ''[[Blithe Spirit (play)|Blithe Spirit]]'' at the [[Savoy Theatre]]. In 2004, Keith starred in the first of ten full-cast BBC radio dramatisations of [[Marion Chesney|M.C. Beaton]]'s ''[[Agatha Raisin]]'' novels, playing the title role. Two years later, she appeared at the [[Chichester Festival Theatre|Chichester Festival]] in the premiere of [[Richard Everett]]'s comedy ''Entertaining Angels'', which she later took on tour.<ref name="Gardner 2006 w990">{{cite web | last=Gardner | first=Lyn | title=Entertaining Angels, Chichester Festival Theatre | website=The Guardian | date=11 May 2006 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/may/11/theatre | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref>

In 2007 she played the part of Lady Bracknell in ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' on tour, which transferred to the West End in 2008, at the [[Vaudeville Theatre]].<ref name="Billington 2008 x603">{{cite web | last=Billington | first=Michael | title=Theatre review: The Importance of Being Earnest / Vaudeville Theatre, London | website=The Guardian | date=1 February 2008 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/feb/01/theatre | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref> She has voiced adverts including ones for [[Pimm's]], [[Lurpak]], [[Tesco]] and most famously, [[Parker Pen Company|The Parker Pen Company]], which was named one of the 100 Greatest Adverts in a [[Channel 4]] programme. In 2012, she starred in Keith Waterstone's ''Good Grief'',<ref name="Live 2012 u734">{{cite web | last=Live | first=Surrey | title=Penelope Keith talks about Good Grief | website=Surrey Live | date=31 October 2012 | url=https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/penelope-keith-talks-good-grief-4808839 | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref> having previously appeared in the play's premier production in 1998.<ref name="Cooper 2012 a016">{{cite web | last=Cooper | first=Neil | title=Good Grief, King's Theatre, Edinburgh | website=The Herald | date=4 October 2012 | url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/13075525.good-grief-kings-theatre-edinburgh/ | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref>

In 1997 she starred in the radio adaptations of ''[[To the Manor Born]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jpzw|title=To the Manor Born, The Rhythms of the Earth |publisher=BBC |access-date=29 May 2017}}</ref> In 2003, she appeared opposite [[June Brown]] in the television film ''[[Margery & Gladys]]''. In 2007, she starred in a one-off ''To the Manor Born'' Christmas Special, Keith also voiced The Bear with Brown Fuzzy Hair in ''[[Teletubbies]]''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In 2009 she presented ''Penelope Keith and the Fast Lady'', a one-off documentary for [[BBC Four]] about [[Dorothy Levitt]], the [[Edwardian period|Edwardian]] motoring pioneer. She presented the four-part BBC documentary ''The Manor Reborn'' in 2011.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-14430516|work=BBC News|title=Penelope Keith hosts 'The Manor Reborn' at Avebury|date=6 August 2011}}</ref>

In 2013 she played the part of [[Lady Catherine de Bourgh]] in the BBC [[period drama]] ''[[Death Comes to Pemberley (TV series)|Death Comes to Pemberley]]'', an adaptation of the best-selling 2011 [[P. D. James]] [[Death Comes to Pemberley|novel of the same name]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=De |first1=Robert |title=The Good Life's Penelope Keith makes TV return in Pride and Prejudice sequel Death Comes to Pemberley |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/the-good-life-s-penelope-keith-makes-tv-return-in-pride-and-prejudice-sequel-death-comes-to-pemberley-8662249.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=The Independent |publisher=Independent Digital News and Media Ltd |date=17 June 2013}}</ref>

Since 2014, she has presented all three series of the [[More4]]/[[Channel 4]] programme ''Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages'' and in June 2016 she presented ''Penelope Keith at Her Majesty's Service'' again for Channel 4.<ref name="Parker">{{cite news|last1=Parker|first1=Olivia|title=Penelope Keith: 'Westminster doesn't understand rural problems'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/11842600/Penelope-Keith-Westminster-doesnt-understand-rural-problems.html|access-date=26 February 2016|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="Graham">{{cite web|last1=Graham|first1=Alison|title=Penelope Keith at Her Majesty's Service|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/d6vyx7/penelope-keith-at-her-majestys-service--series-1-episode-1|website=www.radiotimes.com|publisher=The Radio Times|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>

In December 2017, she presented ''Penelope Keith's Coastal Villages'', a continuation of the ''Hidden Villages'' series.
In early 2018, she presented the [[Channel 4]] series ''Village of the Year with Penelope Keith''. It was announced in February 2018 that Keith would be starring as Mrs St Maugham in the [[Chichester Festival Theatre]] production of [[Enid Bagnold]]'s ''[[The Chalk Garden]]'' from 25 May to 16 June 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-chalk-garden|title=The Chalk Garden {{!}} Chichester Festival Theatre|date=18 February 2018|website=Chichester Festival Theatre|access-date=18 February 2018}}</ref>