and Pam Ferris Ferris performed in her younger years at the
Mercury Theatre in
Auckland, and later with various regional companies in the United Kingdom. She played motherly Ma Larkin in the
ITV series
The Darling Buds of May, which ran from 1991 to 1993. Ferris was the subject of
This Is Your Life in 1991, when she was surprised by
Michael Aspel while recording an episode of
The Darling Buds of May at
Yorkshire Television in
Leeds. Ferris has also acted in a succession of television dramas, including
Meantime, in which she played the
Cockney mother of
Phil Daniels and
Tim Roth,
Connie,
Hardwicke House,
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit,
Where the Heart Is, and
Paradise Heights. From 2003 to 2006, Ferris played the gardening sleuth Laura Thyme in
Rosemary & Thyme, starring opposite
Felicity Kendal. Her roles in
costume dramas include parts in television adaptations of
Middlemarch,
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,
Our Mutual Friend,
The Turn of the Screw,
Pollyanna, and
Jane Eyre. In 1996, Ferris portrayed the brutish, authoritarian school headmistress
Miss Agatha Trunchbull in
Matilda (a role played by male actors in the stage musical version). In 2004, Ferris played the foul-mouthed
Marge Dursley in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In 2006, she took on the role of Miriam, a motherly British activist, in
Children of Men. Ferris voiced Mrs. Bennett/Aunty Betty in the animated biographical film
Ethel & Ernest, which was broadcast on
BBC One on 26 December 2016, and played Mrs. Faulkner in
Tolkien (2019). She has also acted in productions for
BBC Radio 4. Ferris' career in the theatre has included parts in
Royal Court Theatre and
National Theatre productions. In 2007, she played Phoebe Rice in a revival of
John Osborne's
The Entertainer at London's
Old Vic Theatre. That same year, Ferris took part in the
BBC Wales programme
Coming Home about her Welsh family history. In 2008, Ferris played Mrs. General in a
BBC adaptation of the
Charles Dickens novel
Little Dorrit. From 2009 to 2010, she appeared in the final series of the BBC comedy
Gavin & Stacey as Cath Smith. In 2010, Ferris made a guest appearance in the sitcom ''
Grandma's House. From 2012 to 2016, she played the part of Sister Evangelina in the series Call the Midwife''. In June and July 2015, Ferris was the guest of Sarah Walker on
BBC Radio 3's
Essential Classics. ==Personal life==