Stella Feehily’s NHS-in-crisis drama THIS MAY HURT A BIT ran at the St James Theatre in London, appropriately in May 2014 after a National tour. Directed by her husband Max Stafford-Clark, the play is based on his own experience after suffering a stroke. Beloved British actress Stephanie Cole played Iris, a feisty 90 year-old suffering from bouts of memory loss. In hospital she shares a ward with a recently expired corpse and John, a vicar, who has lost his ability to speak.

“Stephanie Cole breaks your hearts with Iris’s mixture of gallantry and pathos,” wrote Jane Shilling in her Telegraph review.

Stephanie’s long and distinguished stage and screen career has seen her appear in a number of high-profile productions. Her TV roles include Aunty Joan in DOC MARTIN, Delphine Featherstone in OPEN ALL HOURS and STILL OPEN ALL HOURS and Sylvia Goodwin in CORONATION STREET. Her stage appearances include Miss Casewell in THE MOUSETRAP at the Ambassador’s Theatre in 1968 and her most prominent role as Betty in the 1994 hit comedy A PASSIONATE WOMAN at the Comedy Theatre, which enjoyed an extended nine-month run. After the final night’s curtain call she was the subject of THIS IS YOUR LIFE.

I left this sketch of Stephanie with her London agents and it came back signed with a note attached, ‘what a good portrait!’… so I guess she liked it.