Caroline Quentin

Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Amanda Jane Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin 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).

Quentin was born in Reigate, Surrey, to Kathleen Jones and her husband Fred, a Royal Air Force pilot. She has three older sisters. She was educated at the independent Arts Educational School, in Tring, Hertfordshire, and appeared locally in the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival.

One of her earliest roles was in the Channel 4 comedy drama Hollywood Hits Chiswick, alongside Derek Newark as W.C. Fields.

Between 1992 and 1998, Quentin appeared as Dorothy in all 42 episodes of the sitcom Men Behaving Badly. From 1997 until 2000, Quentin starred alongside Alan Davies in Jonathan Creek playing investigative journalist Maddie Magellan, who uses Jonathan's mind to solve murder mysteries. In 1998 she starred in the first sitcom that was specifically built around her: Kiss Me Kate; that year she started the major role of Maggie Mee in the drama Life Begins, which returned for a third series in 2006. Quentin appeared in the television film Hot Money (2001), which was based on the true story of the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Bank of England.

ITV has produced five series of the police drama Blue Murder, in which Quentin plays against type in the main role DCI Janine Lewis. The pilot aired in the UK on 18 May 2003.

Quentin has appeared in Whose Line Is It Anyway?; in a pre-Men Behaving Badly role as a traffic warden in the Mr. Bean episode "The Trouble with Mr. Bean" in 1991; Room 101; Have I Got News for You; and the 2009–10 BBC comedy series Life of Riley, a sitcom about a dysfunctional blended family; and in the BBC Radio 4 improvisational comedy series The Masterson Inheritance, the Radio 4 comedy Any Bloke (starred with Jim Sweeney who was also in The Masterson Inheritance) and the popular BBC Radio 2 sitcom On the Blog. She appeared as Heather Babcock in an episode of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, in 2010. Also in 2010 she started appearing, as a 1970's standard lamp, in Marks & Spencer's revamped food range advertisements.

In March 2011, a documentary entitled Caroline Quentin: A Passage Through India aired on ITV in the UK. The documentary followed Quentin as she traveled from the North of India to the South.[10] Quentin presented Restoration Home on BBC Two. The programme looks into the history and families of the UK's derelict mansion houses which are being restored by their private owners.[11][12] In 2012, Quentin began working on another documentary series, Cornwall with Caroline Quentin, which shows her travelling across Cornwall, for which she received some criticism due to apparently aiming the show at potential second home owners. She returned to present a second series of the show in 2013. In 2013, she hosted another documentary series, Caroline Quentin’s National Parks for one series.[13] Quentin starred in the Comedy Central series Big Bad World where she played the role of Jan, the mother of the main character Ben (Blake Harrison).

In 2015, she played the role of Angela Sim in an episode of Doc Martin. She played the role of Mrs Bumble in Dickensian (2015–2016). In November 2016, she guest presented an episode of The One Show.

Starting in 2017, Quentin was co-presenter of the BBC Two programme The World's Most Extraordinary Homes with architect Piers Taylor; 12 episodes were completed and aired. Subsequently, the series streamed on Netflix.

In 2020, Quentin participated in the eighteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with Johannes Radebe. Quentin became the fourth celebrity to be voted off on 22 November 2020.[14][15][16] Quentin later commented,"I have had the honour and privilege of working with some of the greatest dancers this country has ever known I mean I really believe it, I think they are absolutely fantastic."[17]

In May 2023 Quentin was featured in the BBC coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, showing viewers around the garden of her home near Tiverton, Devon.[18]

Her early stage work had also included appearing in the chorus of the original English production of the musical Les Misérables in 1985.

In 2019 she played Lady Fancyfull in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Provoked Wife.[19] In 2022 she played Mrs Malaprop in the Royal National Theatre's production of Jack Absolute Flies Again, earning her a Laurence Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.[20][21]

In 2023 she played elder Emma Hamilton and Mrs Cadogan in Jermyn Street Theatre’s world premier production of Infamous by April de Angelis.[22]

In July 1996, Quentin released a single, a cover of the Exciters' hit "Tell Him", with her Men Behaving Badly co-star Leslie Ash under the name of "Quentin and Ash". The single spent 3 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 25.[23]

Quentin received an Ian Charleson Award commendation for her Masha in The Seagull at the Oxford Theatre Company in 1991.[24]

At the British Comedy Awards in 2004, Quentin won the "Best Comedy Actress" award for her performance in Von Trapped

In 2023, it was announced that Quentin had written a gardening book, titled "Drawn to the Garden", about her own experience in running a vegetable and flower garden at her home on Devon, which she began sharing on Instagram during the COVID-19 lockdown. Included throughout the book is various watercolours and sketches by Quentin. It will be released 15 February 2024.[25]

Quentin was married to comedian Paul Merton from 1990 until their 1998 divorce.[26] Quentin met Sam Farmer in 1998 on the set of Men Behaving Badly, where he was a runner.[27] The couple have two children, Emily Rose and William.[28] Her daughter Rose is also an actress, and has appeared alongside her mother.[29] In 2006, she married Farmer in Tiverton, Devon. They lived briefly in Morebath Manor near the village of Morebath, Devon, close to Tiverton,[30] before moving to a smaller derelict farm nearby, which they renovated. Before moving to Devon, the couple lived at Walberswick, Suffolk.[31]

Quentin has coeliac disease and is the patron of Coeliac UK.[32][33][34] She is also president of the charity Campaign for National Parks.[35]