One of Cole's most recognised and popular roles was of Dr Beatrice (Bea) Mason in the 1980s television series
Tenko, a drama which chronicled the lives of British women in
Singapore after the Japanese invasion and their consequent confinement in a Japanese
prisoner of war camp. The starkly realistic series was explicit in its portrayal of the horrific conditions and brutality faced by the women during their imprisonment, and dealt with issues such as rape, stillbirth, lesbianism, suicide, abortion and euthanasia. Cole played the role of the stern, officious yet kindly doctor over three series and a one-off special between 1981 and 1985. During this same period, Cole also played the elderly, paranoid and morose customer Mrs Delphine Featherstone, nicknamed "The Black Widow", in the BBC comedy
Open All Hours. Mrs Featherstone was the only rival to Nurse Gladys Emmanuel for the affections of shopkeeper Arkwright, played by
Ronnie Barker (who had recommended her to play the part after seeing her in
Tenko), although she was attracted to him only because she liked his stingy ways. Arkwright was scared of her advances and often hid when he saw her approaching the shop. Cole was actually only in her early forties when she took the role; playing characters much older than she actually was (notably in
Waiting for God) became a hallmark of her career. She also appeared in a single episode of
Fresh Fields as dog-trainer Mrs Robertson (1986). In 1988, Cole joined actresses
Thora Hird,
Maggie Smith,
Julie Walters and
Patricia Routledge in the award-winning first series of
Talking Heads, featuring dramatic monologues written for
BBC Television by British playwright
Alan Bennett. Cole performed the role of Muriel to great acclaim during the half-hour monologue "Soldiering On". In later years, Cole would repeat her performance of this now famous monologue on both the London stage and for
BBC Radio. Cole played bad-tempered retired photojournalist Diana Trent in the
sitcom Waiting for God, which ran from 1990 to 1994. Although Diana was supposed to be a pensioner, Cole was actually 48 years old when she took the role, for which she received the 1992 Best TV Comedy Actress award at the
British Comedy Awards. From 2004 to 2009, Cole appeared with
Martin Clunes and
Caroline Catz in the
ITV comedy-drama,
Doc Martin as Joan Norton, aunt of Clunes' character Dr Martin Ellingham. In 2006, Cole starred with
Victoria Wood in the
BAFTA award-winning
World War II drama
Housewife, 49 as Mrs Waite, the local head of what was then the
WVS. Cole also had a small role in the 2008 romantic comedy
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day as Miss Pettigrew's grumpy boss, Miss Holt. In April 2011, Cole joined the cast of
Coronation Street, playing
Sylvia Goodwin, the mother of regular character
Roy Cropper. In August 2012, she was cast in an adaptation of the 1938 thriller film
The Lady Vanishes on the BBC. In August 2013, it was announced that Cole had left
Coronation Street, just episodes after her onscreen daughter-in-law had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was initially speculated that her sudden departure was due to illness but Cole later confirmed on
Twitter that her already pending departure had been brought forward due to her brother's death. From 2013 to 2019, Cole reprised her role as Delphine Featherstone in
Still Open All Hours. She appeared with original actors
David Jason,
Lynda Baron and
Maggie Ollerenshaw. On Halloween 2018, Stephanie guest starred in the live episode of
Inside No 9 entitled 'Dead Line', she played the role of Moira O'Keefe. The episode received critical praise citing it as one of the best bits of television of 2018. In 2019 Cole appeared in the
BBC One comedy
Scarborough.
Stage Cole has also performed as a stage actress for more than fifty years. On the West End stage, she has featured in
The Mousetrap in 1968 (
Ambassadors Theatre) as Miss Casewell,
Noises Off in 1983 (
Savoy Theatre),
Steel Magnolias in 1989 (
Lyric Theatre) and
Quartet in 1999 (
Albery Theatre). Her most prominent stage role was as Betty in the hit comedy
A Passionate Woman written by
Kay Mellor. The play, directed by
Ned Sherrin, opened at the
Comedy Theatre in 1994 and had a nine-month extended run. On the West End's production's last curtain call, Cole was made the subject of
This Is Your Life.
Radio Cole has appeared in several radio series. She starred in the
BBC Radio 4 comedy, ''
Ed Reardon's Week'' as Olive, a student in Ed's writing class. Other work for BBC Radio 4 includes the role of Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, opposite
Benedict Cumberbatch and
Roger Allam in the successful airline sitcom
Cabin Pressure, written by and featuring
John Finnemore. She also played opposite Hugh Bonneville in the Sci-fi comedy
Married. In 2017, she starred as
Queen Victoria in an episode of ''
John Finnemore's Double Acts'' on
Radio 4.
Other In 1998, Cole's career in comedy was commemorated in the BBC documentary series
Funny Women. In the same year, Cole's autobiography
A Passionate Life was published. The book's foreword was written by British theatre director
Ned Sherrin. In 2020, she appeared as Ruby Dameril in an episode of
Mike Wozniak’s podcast
St Elwick’s Neighbourhood Association Newsletter Podcast. ==Honours==