
Linda Bassett
Linda Bassett was born in the Kentish village of Pluckley - location for the television series The Darling Buds of May (1991). She was brought up in Pimlico, South London, by her typist mother and police officer father. She became interested in acting as a child when she was frequently taken to see plays in London, most notably at the Old Vic, the famous classical theater. On leaving school, Linda went to work at the Old Vic as an usherette and catering manager, before going to read English at Leeds University. However, she dropped out after a year and became involved in a local drama group which put on plays in community-based locations, such as schools. She regards this as her theatrical schooling, having had no formal training. She made her London stage debut at the age of 32 in 1982 and, in 1991, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Although she was a well-regarded stage performer, it was the 1999 film version of the play East Is East (1999) (in which she had been an original stage cast member) which brought her to a larger audience and, throughout the 2000s, she has been a familiar face in a variety of films and television series. In the late 1980s, she returned to live in Pluckley.
58 acting credits
Acting · 58

Midsomer Murders
1997

Casualty
1986

Call the Midwife
2012

Heartbeat
1992

A Touch of Frost
1992

The Bill
1984

Strike
2017

Lark Rise to Candleford
2008

Kavanagh Q.C.
1995

Bramwell
1995

Dramarama
1983

The Reader
2008

Sense and Sensibility
2008

dinnerladies
1998

Our Mutual Friend
1998

Frank Stubbs Promotes
1993

The Hours
2002

Spies of Warsaw
2013

Grandma's House
2010

Haunted
1995

The Brief
2004

Calendar Girls
2003

Mary Reilly
1996

East Is East
1999

Kinky Boots
2005

The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby
2012

Effie Gray
2014

No Bananas
1996

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
2023

Oscar and Lucinda
1997

Cass
2008

Carnage: Swallowing the Past
2017

Colour Me Kubrick
2005

The Martins
2001

Separate Lies
2005

Let Him Have It
1991

Don Quixote
2000

Loved Up
1995

Far from the Madding Crowd
1998

Spivs
2004

Far from the Madding Crowd
1998

West Is West
2010

Paris by Night
1989

Alive and Kicking
1996

The Life and Crimes of William Palmer
1998

A Village Affair
1995

Waiting for the Moon
1987

Careful How You Go
2018

Beautiful People
1999
The English Harem
2005

A Small Dance
1991

This Little Life
2003
Lounge Act
2000

News Hounds
1990

Spoonface Steinberg
1998

National Theatre Live: People
2013

In The Cold Light Of Day
1994

Skallagrigg
1994