Joining us for Christmas Crackers we have…
Caroline & Rose Quentin – Actress, broadcaster and television presenter Caroline Quentin will be joining us with fellow actress and daughter Rose Quentin for a joint performance. Caroline became known for her television appearances: portraying Dorothy in Men Behaving Badly (1992–1998), Maddie Magellan in Jonathan Creek (1997–2000), Kate Salinger in Kiss Me Kate and DCI Janine Lewis in Blue Murder (2003–2009). Rose is best known for her work on York Witches’ Society (2022), Doc Martin (2004) and Tiny Cow (2021).
Ronnie Ancona – Actress, comedian, impressionist and writer Ronnie Ancona will also be joining the line up, best known for BAFTA-winning The Big Impression, which she co-wrote and starred in and which was, for four years, one of BBC One’s top-rated comedy programmes. Ancona also starred in the first series of the BAFTA-winning ITV series The Sketch Show, and has also appeared in the BAFTA-winning Last Tango in Halifax since its creation in 2012.
Miles Jupp – Seasoned actor, singer, and comedian Miles Jupp began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children’s television series Balamory. He also played John Duggan in The Thick of It, Nigel in the sitcom Rev and has appeared on many comedy panel shows including Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. In September 2015, Jupp replaced Sandi Toksvig as the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4, and you might have seen him more recently in cinema epic Napoleon, playing the role of Emperor Francis I.
Barrie Rutter – Actor and the founder and former artistic director of the Northern Broadsides theatre company, Barrie Rutter will be compèring proceedings throughout the evening!
Sylvestra Le Touzel – Born and raised here in Kensington, Sylvestra Le Touzel is a radio, television, film and stage actor. She has 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) and Midsomer Murders. In 1994, she played Sarah Teale in the TV series Between the Lines, and in 2000 was cast as a veterinary surgeon in the sitcom Beast, written by Simon Nye, which also starred Alexander Armstrong. In 2007, she played the role of Mrs Allen in the ITV adaptation of Northanger Abbey and in 2017 she portrayed Lady Dorothy Macmillan in the Netflix series The Crown.
Alan Cox – Born close to the borough in Westminster, Alan Cox followed in his father’s footsteps (Scottish Emmy Award-winning actor Brian Cox) with a career in acting. He portrayed the young John Mortimer in the 1982 TV adaptation of his play A Voyage Round My Father, starring opposite Laurence Olivier, and is probably most widely known for his role in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), where he played a teenage version of Dr. Watson. Other films include An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Mrs. Dalloway (1997), and The Auteur Theory (1999). In 2011, Cox also co-starred as a nudist named Cory Beck in the independent comedy Act Naturally.
Humphrey Ker – Actor, writer and comedian Humphrey Ker is known for being a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls, who have performed their Victorian sketch shows across Britain, including at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. As well as this, Ker is also a football executive for Welsh team Wrexham A.F.C., alongside co-chairmen and fellow actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Patricia Hodge – Hodge is best known for her on-screen performances playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in Jemima Shore Investigates (1983), Penny in Miranda (2009–2015) and Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small (2021–present). Hodge made her West End debut in 1972, and the next year, starred in the West End production of Pippin directed by Bob Fosse. Hodge has received two nominations for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and in 2000, she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the play Money.
Unfortunately, Patricia Hodge is now indisposed and unable to attend.