Sylvestra Le Touzel

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Sylvestra Le Touzel
Born1958 (age 62–63)
Kensington, London, England[1]
OccupationActor
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2001)​
[2]

Sylvestra Le Touzel (born 1958) is a British television, film and stage actor. She was born and raised in Kensington, London, to a prominent family from Saint Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. She attended school in East Acton.

Television[]

Beginning as a child actor, Le Touzel's first television role was in the Doctor Who story The Mind Robber, playing one of the children who bedevil the Second Doctor and his companions in the Land of Fiction. She co-starred in the BBC Schools "Look and Read" series, playing Helen in their serial The Boy from Space (1971),[3] which was re-edited with a new introduction in 1980.[4] An early adult role was as Fanny Price in the BBC dramatisation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1983).[5]

Le Touzel has also been seen on television in shows as diverse as Dixon of Dock Green, The Brontes of Haworth, The Uninvited, Catherine Cookson's The Gambling Man as Charlotte Keane (1995),The Gentle Touch, The Professionals, Lovejoy, Alas Smith and Jones, Midsomer Murders, My Family and The Long Walk to Finchley (as Patricia Hornsby-Smith). In 1994, she played Sarah Teale in the TV series Between the Lines. In 2000, Le Touzel was cast as a veterinary surgeon in the sitcom Beast, written by Simon Nye, which also starred Alexander Armstrong.

In 2007, she also played the role of Mrs Allen in the ITV adaptation of Northanger Abbey. She has also played Harriet Waterhouse in the ITV drama Bonkers.[6]

She also appeared in a classic Heineken advert "The Water in Majorca" with Bryan Pringle.[7] This advert, a parody of the Rain in Spain scene from My Fair Lady, sees an upper-class woman (Le Touzel) being taught how to speak cockney by Pringle's character, by saying "The wa'er in Major'a don' taste like wot id ough' 'a" ("The water in Majorca don't taste like what it ought to"). First aired in 1985, it was ranked at number 9 in Campaign Live's 2008 list of the "Top 10 Funniest TV Ads of All Time",[8] and at number 29 in Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest TV Ads" in 2000.[9][10]

In 2011, she starred as Detective Constable Hazel Savage in Appropriate Adult.[11] In 2012, Le Touzel starred as MP Mary Drake in BBC2's The Thick of It.[12] Le Touzel starred in the second episode of Dirk Gently as Emelda Ransome. She portrayed Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon in the 2012 ITV mini-series Titanic. In 2015, Le Touzel appeared as Sandra Kendrick in the BBC TV series Death in Paradise episode 4.7. In 2017, she portrayed Lady Dorothy Macmillan in the Netflix series The Crown.[13] In 2020, Le Touzel played Christine, the GCHQ boss main character in the comedy series Intelligence.[14]

In 2014, Le Touzel appeared in the BBC sitcom Big School, playing an Ofsted Inspector.

Film[]

Le Touzel played Marianne Thornton in the 2006 film Amazing Grace [15] and appeared in Happy-Go-Lucky. [16]

In the 2012 film Cloud Atlas, she portrayed three different characters through the movie: Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest 5, Nurse Judd and Aide in Slaughtership.[17]

In 2017, Le Touzel played Nina Khrushcheva, wife of Nikita Khrushchev, in The Death of Stalin.[18]

Personal life[]

Le Touzel married Welsh actor Owen Teale, as his second wife in 2001, several years after they had met during a production of Henry IV in 1991; the couple have two daughters.[19][20] Le Touzel is a supporter of charitable theatre and in 2005 became a patron of Montage Theatre Arts, London, along with fellow actress Debby Bishop.[21]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
2006 Amazing Grace Marianne Thornton
2008 Happy-Go-Lucky Heather
2011 The Iron Lady Hostess 1949
2012 Cloud Atlas Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest 5 / Nurse Judd / Aide in Slaughtership
2014 Mr. Turner Ruskin's Mother
2017 The Death of Stalin Nina Khrushchev

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
1975 My Honourable Mrs Sarah 7 episodes
1983 Mansfield Park Fanny Price TV Mini-Series, 6 episodes
1987 The Short and Curlies Joy TV film directed by Mike Leigh
1994 Between The Lines Sarah Teale Series 3, 7 episodes
2000 Midsomer Murders Linda Marquis Episode “Beyond the Grave”
2004 Silent Witness Amanda Birley Episode: "Nowhere Fast"
2005 Judge John Deed Dr Margot Lipton Episode: "In Defence of Others"
2007 Northanger Abbey Mrs Allen TV Movie
2010 Midsomer Murders Miriam Fielding Episode “Master Class”
2011 Lewis Caroline Eagleton Episode: "The Mind Has Mountains"
2005 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Paula Marshall Episode: "In Divine Proportion"
2012 The Thick of It Mary Drake Series 4, Episodes 3 & 7
2014 Father Brown Verity Penhallick Episode: "The Mysteries of the Rosary"
2014 Big School Ms Steele Episode: "OFSTED Chemistry"
2017 Endeavour Mrs Joy Pettybon Episode: "Canticle"
2017-2018 The Crown Lady Dorothy Macmillan Series 2, 4 episodes
2020 Roadkill Dame Vanessa Pollard Miniseries, 3 episodes

References[]

  1. ^ Birth registered in Kensington, Q4, 1958. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
  2. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005
  3. ^ "Look and Read: The Boy From Space (1971)". Broadcast for Schools. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Look and Read: The Boy From Space (1980)". Broadcast for Schools. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  5. ^ Sue Parrill, Jane Austen on film and television: a critical study (2002), p. 84
  6. ^ "Bonkers". The Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
  7. ^ "Heineken commercial – Water In Majorca". Archived from the original on 29 November 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  8. ^ "The Top 10 funniest TV ads of all time". Campaignlive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  9. ^ "The 100 Greatest TV Ads". London: Channel 4. 2000. Archived from the original on 18 June 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Fun Facts". UK TV Adverts. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Appropriate Adult". tv.apple.com. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. ^ "The Thick of It (UK)Cast". tv.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  13. ^ "See the Cast of The Crown vs. the People They Play in Real Life". elle.com. 2019. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Intelligence, review: David Schwimmer's amiable spy comedy is more Carry On than Le Carré". telegraph.co.uk. 2020. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Amazing Grace". variety.com. 2006. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Happy Go Lucky". variety.com. 2008. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Sylvestra Le Touzel cv" (PDF). markhamfroggattandirwin.com. 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  18. ^ "The Death of Stalin is The Thick of It in Communist Party clothing". newstatesman.com. 2017. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2006). Burke's Landed Gentry Wales (16 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 402. ISBN 978-0971196667.
  21. ^ "Montage Theatre Arts » Sylvestra Le Touzel: patron since 2005". Montagetheatre.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

External links[]

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