Patricia Stephanie Cole (born 5 October 1941)[1] is an English stage, television, radio and film actress, known for high-profile roles in shows such as Tenko (1981–1985), Open All Hours (1982–1985), A Bit of a Do (1989), Waiting for God (1990–1994), Keeping Mum (1997–1998), Doc Martin (2004–2009), Cabin Pressure (2008–2014), Still Open All Hours (2013–2019), Man Down (2014–2017) and as Sylvia Goodwin in ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2011–2013).

She made her stage debut at the age of seventeen playing the eccentric, elderly medium Madame Arcati in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit.

The starkly realistic series was explicit in its portrayal of the horrific conditions and brutality faced by the women during their imprisonment, and dealt with issues such as rape, stillbirth, lesbianism, suicide, abortion and euthanasia.

During this same period, Cole also played the elderly, paranoid and morose customer Mrs Delphine Featherstone, nicknamed "The Black Widow", in the BBC comedy Open All Hours.

In 1988, Cole joined actresses Thora Hird, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters and Patricia Routledge in the award-winning first series of Talking Heads, featuring dramatic monologues written for BBC Television by British playwright Alan Bennett.

In 2006, Cole starred with Victoria Wood in the BAFTA award-winning World War II drama Housewife, 49 as Mrs Waite, the local head of what was then the WVS.

In April 2011, Cole joined the cast of Coronation Street, playing Sylvia Goodwin, the mother of regular character Roy Cropper.

Other work for BBC Radio 4 includes the role of Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Roger Allam in the successful airline sitcom Cabin Pressure, written by, and also featuring, John Finnemore.

[8] In 2005, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama, the elderly and mental health charities.

In 1998, Cole married fellow actor Peter Birrel after meeting him again, thirty years after they first appeared together in a production of Richard II at the Bristol Old Vic.