Lipman, Maureen Diane (1946– )

English actor and writer. A multi-talented performer in stage plays and musicals, on television and on film, she enjoyed long-running success in her one-woman show Re:Joyce (1988–91, 1993–94), and won a Laurence Olivier award for her role as Miss Skillen in See How They Run (1984). She won a BAFTA advertising award for her character Beattie in British Telecom commercials.

Her numerous television appearances include the comedy series Agony (1979–81), All at No 20 (1986–87), About Face (1989–90), Agony Again (1995), and Coronation Street (2002). She also performed in her writer husband Jack Rosenthal's The Evacuees (1975), The Knowledge (1979), Eskimo Day (1996), and Cold Enough For Snow (1997). Her films include Up the Junction (1967), Educating Rita (1983), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Carry On Columbus (1992), and The Pianist (2002).

A regular contributor to magazines, she has published the comic How Was it for You? (1985), You Got an 'Ology? (1989), and When's It Coming Out? (1992).

Lipman was born in Hull, East Yorkshire, and made her West End debut in Candida.