Penny Downie

Acting

Penny Downie

Born 1954-01-01 · Queensland, Australia

Penny Downie is an Australian actress known for her stage and television appearances in the United Kingdom. From 2017 until 2021 she played Ellen in the British TV sitcom Back. She plays the US ambassador’s house manager Frances Munning in the 2023 Netflix political thriller series The Diplomat.

Acting credits

London Has Fallen poster
6.2

In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders.

London Has Fallen

2016

Invictus poster
7.2

Newly elected President Nelson Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's rugby union team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

Invictus

2009

Breathe poster
7.4

Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.

Breathe

2017

Jackie poster
6.5

An account of the days of First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

Jackie

2016

W.E. poster
6.3

In 1998, an auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor causes great excitement. For one woman, Wally Winthrop, it has much more meaning. Wally becomes obsessed by their historic love story. As she learns more about the sacrifices involved, Wally gains her own courage to find happiness.

W.E.

2011

The House of Mirth poster
6.3

In early 20th century New York City, an impoverished socialite desperately seeks a suitable husband as she gradually finds herself betrayed by her friends and exiled from high society.

The House of Mirth

2000

Falling poster
7.9

Television drama based on the novel by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Author Daisy Langrish buys a tranquil country cottage as a bolt-hole from the pressures of her busy London life, but doesn't expect her new home to come complete with a would-be suitor. The day she moves in, local gardener Henry Kent is immediately on hand to help and offer his friendship, but are his intentions sinister?

Falling

2005

The Girl in the Café poster
7.0

Lawrence, an aging, lonely civil servant falls for Gina, an enigmatic young woman. When he takes her to the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, however, their bond is tested by Lawrence's professional obligations.

The Girl in the Café

2005

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking poster
6.4

The corpse of a shabbily dressed young woman has been discovered in the mud flats of the Thames at low tide. Police assume she's a prostitute, but Dr. Watson suspects something more and goes to his old friend Holmes, now retired and at very loose ends.

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking

2004

Boss Cat poster
NR

When her mother suddenly dies, Sonja is thrown into tumult. Dealing with early-twenties existential angst and a sense of responsibility for her teenage younger sister Emma, she has a lot on her plate. Suddenly under the care of her controlling grandma and—as a young woman living with Down syndrome—constantly faced with a society that judges what she’s capable of, Sonja is desperate to be herself and take charge of her own life. When a chance encounter with the charismatic Hakim leads her to a krump class, Sonja discovers a life-changing outlet for expression.

Boss Cat

2026

Hamlet poster
7.3

David Tennant stars in a film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning production of Shakespeare's great play. Director Gregory Doran's modern-dress production was hailed by the critics as thrilling, fast-moving and, in parts, very funny.

Hamlet

2009

Crime and Punishment poster
6.5

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1998

Lionheart poster
5.6

A young knight sets out to join King Richards crusaders. Along the way, he encounters The Black Prince who captures children and sells them as slaves to the Muslims. It is Robert Narra's sworn duty to protect the children and lead them to safety.

Lionheart

1987

Wetherby poster
6.0

The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.

Wetherby

1985

Crosstalk poster
5.3

A computer genius is confined to a penthouse after a car accident, with only a nurse to look after him. But the advanced computer systems designed to make his life easier appear to be taking control.

Crosstalk

1982

Lost for Words poster
6.5

Deric Longden and his wife, Aileen, come to terms with the fact that his mother, Annie, is getting too old to live on her own. Annie suffers her first stroke and a nursing home is the obvious solution, but which one and where?

Lost for Words

1999

Byron poster
4.8

Life and adventures of lord George Gordon Byron. BBC dramatization of the poet's final thirteen years

Byron

2003

Food of Love poster
4.0

A group of ex-university students reunite to perform a Shakespeare play in a quaint English village.

Food of Love

1997

Murder in Rome poster
7.0

Cicero, the future Consul of Rome, is just starting out as a trial lawyer in crime-ridden Rome where assassinations for political advantage and for estate grabbing had become de rigueur. The matriarch of a prominent family hires him to defend a relative on a charge of patricide. He faces one of the shrewdest criminal trial prosecutors in the Republic who is backed by powerful political forces with motives to see that his client is convicted and executed in one of the most horrible manners possible.

Murder in Rome

2005

The Jester from Transylvania poster
NR

What happens when you pick up a hitchhiker? Michael, an American scriptwriter, soon finds out when he picks up an Englishman in the middle of a Transylvanian forest. Touchstone - in fact the ghost of a former court jester - places him in some unimaginable situations of life and death. Despite being a firm believer in non-violence, Michael is forced to become a cold-blooded serial killer.

The Jester from Transylvania

2024

Paradise poster
NR

A father can't afford to take his family on holiday so he forces them to spend a week in their basement. He sets up lounge chairs and paints palm trees on the walls. At one point the family hears a burglar upstairs but the father refuses to allow them to investigate as they are supposed to be away at a resort.

Paradise

1994

Ex poster
10.0

Griff Rhys Jones stars as a writer on a popular television soap opera who falls in love with the show's leading lady but finds himself unable to break his ties with his ex-wife and their children.

Ex

1991

Vivian Stanshall: The Canyons of his Mind poster
8.0

Documentary about the life of the Bonzo Dog Band singer.

Vivian Stanshall: The Canyons of his Mind

2003