Biography
Lindsay Vere Duncan, CBE (born November 7, 1950) is a Scottish stage and television actress. She is the recipient of three BAFTA nominations and one Scottish BAFTA nomination, as well as two Olivier Awards and a Tony Award for her work on stage. She has starred in several plays by Harold Pinter. Duncan's film credits include Prick Up Your Ears (1987), The Reflecting Skin (1990), City Hall (1996), An Ideal Husband, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Mansfield Park (all 1999), Under the T...
Known For
Complete Filmography

National Theatre Live: Dear Octopus
2024
as Dora
When a golden wedding anniversary reunites the Randolph family on the eve of WWII, Dora and Charles must reckon with the adults their children have be...

Doctor Jekyll
2023
Recluse Dr. Nina Jekyll befriends with her newly hired help, Rob. They must work together to prevent Hyde from destroying her life.

Call Me Back
2023
as Grace
Grace returns home from the funeral of her husband, George accompanied by her daughter, Lucy. Mother and daughter clash, leading Grace to attempt to m...

Last Call
2023
as Kate
A desperate mother is trying to reconnect with her son. Navigating an obvious void, she will finally have the chance to ask the questions that have ha...

A Banquet
2022
as June
Widowed mother Holly is radically tested when her teenage daughter Betsey experiences a profound enlightenment and insists that her body is no longer ...

No Ordinary Joe
2021
as Marion Barbara "Joe" Carstairs
The eccentric lesbian icon Joe Carstairs looks back on her adventurous life together with her faithful little companion, Lord Tod Wadley. The story un...

Made in Italy
2020
as Kate
A bohemian artist travels from London to Italy with his estranged son to sell the house they inherited from his late wife.

My Zoe
2019
as Kathy
Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe, with her contentious ex-husband. Zoe means everything to h...

National Theatre Live: Hansard
2019
as Diana Hesketh
It's a summer's morning in 1988 and Tory politician Robin Hesketh has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with his wife of 30 years,...

Little Joe
2019
as Psychotherapist
Alice, a single mother who is more dedicated to her work as a genetic engineer than to her teenage son Joe, develops a new variety of flower that is s...

November 1st
2019
as Bonnie
A woman and her angry mother travel together to the execution of a man they never met.

Blackbird
2019
as Liz
A terminally ill mother invites her family to their country house for one final gathering, but tensions quickly boil over between her two daughters.

Gifted
2017
as Evelyn Adler
Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.

Carnage: Swallowing the Past
2017
as Maude
It's 2067, the UK is vegan, but older generations are suffering the guilt of their carnivorous past. Simon Amstell asks us to forgive them for the hor...

He Does Not Want Peace
2016
as Rachel Englebright
When a man witnesses a profound event, it threatens to destroy his family.

Alice Through the Looking Glass
2016
as Helen Kingsleigh
Alice Kingsleigh returns to Underland and faces a new adventure in saving the Mad Hatter.

Churchill's Secret
2016
as Clemmie Churchill
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill suffers from a stroke in the summer of 1953 that's kept a secret from the rest of the world.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
2014
as Tabitha
A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night appr...

Last Passenger
2013
as Elaine Middleton
Independent British thriller starring Dougray Scott and Kara Tointon. Lewis (Scott), an overworked doctor, is on his way home from London with his you...

Le Week-End
2013
as Meg Burrows
Nick and Meg Burrows return to Paris, the city where they honeymooned, to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary and rediscover some romance in thei...

Lawless
2013
as Lady Justice MacNeil
It's Lila Pettitt's first day as the youngest female judge the British court system's ever seen. Fiercely ambitious, Lila's determined to dispense rea...

About Time
2013
as Mum
The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel t...

Amish: A Secret Life
2012
as Narrator (voice)
Miriam and Dave Lapp are a charming young couple with a brood of adorable children. Dave works in and part owns a construction company. They are also ...

Christopher and His Kind
2011
as Kathleen Isherwood
In 1931, budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. He ...

Alice in Wonderland
2010
as Helen Kingsleigh
Alice, now 19 years old, returns to the whimsical world she first entered as a child and embarks on a journey to discover her true destiny.

Harold Pinter: A Celebration
2010
as Self
In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theat...
Burlesque Fairytales
2010
as Ice Queen
A fairytale thriller film set one night in a 1930's London theatre where all is not what it seems.

Margot
2009
as Madam
At the age of forty Dame Margot Fonteyn is considered to be past her best as a prima ballerina and Ninette de Valois is reducing her roles at the Roya...

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars
2009
as Captain Adelaide Brooke
In a Mars base, the inhabitants are being infected by a mysterious water creature which takes over its victims. The Doctor is thrust into the middle o...

Margaret
2009
as Margaret Thatcher
A detailed and compelling portrait of one of the most formidable characters in British politics as she faces her final days in power. The year is 1990...

Frankenstein
2007
as Jane Pretorius
Frankenstein is a 2007 British television film produced by Impossible Pictures for ITV. It was written and directed by Jed Mercurio, adapted from Mary...

Longford
2006
as Lady Elizabeth Longford
A portrait of Lord Longford, a tireless British campaigner whose controversial beliefs often resulted in furious political debate and personal conflic...

Starter for 10
2006
as Rose Harbison
In 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of ...

The Queen of Sheba's Pearls
2004
as Audrey Pretty
Set in post-war England, a mysterious woman arrives at the Prettys' rural family home on the eve of young Jack's 16th birthday. Her remarkable likenes...

Under the Tuscan Sun
2003
as Katherine
After a rough divorce, Frances, a 35-year-old professor and writer from San Francisco takes a tour of Tuscany at the urgings of her friends. On a whim...

AfterLife
2003
High-flying journalist Kenny Brogan (Kevin McKidd) is working on the story that could make his career when he is told his mother is terminally ill. Wi...

Hamilton Mattress
2002
as Beryl / Gertrude (voice)
Sludger the aardvark tries to make it big as a drummer in the big city.
Witness of Truth: The Railway Murders
2001
as Narrator
Dramatised documentary which describes the police investigation that led to the conviction of David Mulcahy for the notorious Railway Murders in the 1...

Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
2000
as Pauline
The comedienne stars in this festive sketch show, alongside a host of celebrity guests.

Dirty Tricks
2000
as Alison
Martin Clunes plays Edward, an English tutor at an Oxford language school. Seemingly charming and thoughtful, Edward is really a calculating liar and ...

Mansfield Park
1999
as Mrs. Price / Lady Bertram
Fanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle Sir Thomas, his wife and their four children, where she'll be brought up for a...

Expelling the Demon
1999
as Woman
The story takes place in a bedroom where, following an embarrassing sexual encounter, it shows a naked man’s disaffection with his own tongue. Tongue ...

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1999
as TC-14 (voice)
Anakin Skywalker, a young slave strong with the Force, is discovered on Tatooine. Meanwhile, the evil Sith have returned, enacting their plot for reve...

An Ideal Husband
1999
as Lady Markby
Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London w...

A Midsummer Night's Dream
1996
as Hippolyta / Titania
A film adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy, based on a popular stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company. A small boy dreams the play, which un...

City Hall
1996
as Sydney Pappas
The accidental shooting of a boy in New York leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.
Rumer Godden: An Indian Affair
1995
as Narrator
Rumer Godden the 88 year old author is taken back to India, where she lived from 1908-1945 to revisit her unconventional life there and to share with ...

Body Parts
1991
as Dr. Agatha Webb
A criminal psychologist loses his arm in a car crash, and becomes one of three patients to have their missing limbs replaced by those belonging to an ...

Redemption
1991
as Kath Peachey
After 16 years away Stan Peachey returns to his village. His wife still loves him but his sister wants revenge. What was his crime?

The Reflecting Skin
1990
as Dolphin Blue
In 1950s rural Idaho, a young boy watches helplessly as his friends and brother fall under the spell of a mysterious widow living up the road and beco...

These Foolish Things
1989
as Gutrune Day
Gutrune's romance with newspaper editor Nick Verney is hampered by the fact that he is still in love with the wife from whom he is separated. She find...

The Childeater
1989
as Eirwen
Eight-year old Betty is sent to stay with family on a remote Welsh farm, but her father has warned her that her uncle eats children who don't behave.

Manifesto
1988
as Lily Sachor
In a small European country, the king is scheduled to visit a small, quiet and "safe" village. It turns out that while the village may indeed be small...

Prick Up Your Ears
1987
as Anthea Lahr
When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they sta...

Loose Connections
1984
as Sally
A woman enlists a man who claims he is gay to accompany her on a long drive to a feminist conference in Munich.

Rainy Day Women
1984
as Karen Miller
In 1940, during World War II, an officer is sent to investigate rumours of German spies in a sleepy village where various people are the victims of wa...

Mike Leigh: Making Plays
1982
as Self (archive footage)
Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.
On Approval
1982
as Helen
Adaptation of the play by Frederick Lonsdale

Grown-Ups
1980
as Mrs Butcher
Dick and Mandy, a young working class couple, move into a council house in Canterbury, and find Mr. Butcher, one of their former teachers, living next...
The Winkler
1979
as Diane
Set in the near future, civil servants are busy winkling out and repatriating all first generation immigrants. The attempt drowns in paper until the f...

Further Up Pompeii
1975
as Scrubba
A BBC TV comedy movie about the people living in Pompeii prior to its destruction by volcano, focusing on the life of a house slave (played by Frankie...
These Foolish Things
N/A
Two men in an arctic weather station: one man lives with his dreams of a girlfriend past, the other with an inflatable doll

The Entertainment System Is Down
N/A
Set on a long-haul flight where the entertainment systems fail, an eclectic group of international passengers are forced to face the horror of being b...
Alma
N/A
A family embarks on an expedition to scatter the ashes of an archaeologist. As they pitch camp at one of the archaeologist's sites, sibling rivalries ...