“I always wanted to perform, but I was terribly nervous, which creates a barrier between you and the audience” British actress Patricia Hodge said of when she first tread the boards at the Bush Theatre in the mid-seventies. She obviously broke that barrier at the small, intimate theatre and went on to a stellar stage and screen career.

Best known to TV viewers as Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown, the “Portia of our Chambers” in John Mortimer’s Rumpole of the Bailey, who usually sided with Rumpole, eventually becoming a QC and then a judge. She also featured in BBCs Miranda from 2009-2013.

After earlier  nominations, she eventually won the Olivier Award in 2000 for Best Supporting Actress in Money.

Patricia is currently at the Harold Pinter Theatre in Noel Coward’s Relative Values directed by Trevor Nunn until this weekend (21 June). She signed my sketch after last night’s performance.