Cast & creator
Siân Phillips
Best known for Midsomer Murders, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Silent Witness
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips DBE (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips, is a Welsh actress, author and singer. Phillips was the daughter of Sally (née Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker and in the first volume of her autobiography, "Private Faces", she notes that she spoke only Welsh for much of her childhood, learning English by listening to the radio. She attended Pontardawe Grammar School and later read English and Philosophy at University College Cardiff, graduating in 1955. She entered RADA in LOndon, England with a scholarship in September 1955, the same year as Diana Rigg and Glenda Jackson. She went on to win the prestigious Bancroft Gold Medal for Hedda Gabler and was offered work in Hollywood when she left RADA. While still a student she was offered three film contracts, entailing her to work for an extended period of time in the United States; but she declined, preferring to work on stage instead.
Also known as: Sian Phillips, Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips
68
film credits
59
television credits
127
1951–2026 · acting roles
7.0
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (127)
Showing 127 of 127 credits
Midsomer Murders
Lady Annabel Butler
1997
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Mrs. Laura Upward
1989
Silent Witness
Beattie Elletson
1996
Tony Awards
Self - Nominee
1956
Lewis
Adele Goffe
2007
Tales of the Unexpected
Hermione
1979
BBC Play of the Month
Anna Voinitseva
1965BBC Play of the Month
The Duchesse of Berwich
1965BBC Play of the Month
Hesione Hushabye
1965
ITV Playhouse
May Bartram
1967
La Femme Nikita
Adrian
1997
Playhouse
Janet Achurch
1974Playhouse
Alicia Moore
1974
Doctor Who
Enid Meadows
2024
Good Omens
Mr. Henderson
2019
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Sally Stirling
1969
The Chelsea Detective
Grandma Dix
2022
McDonald & Dodds
Agnes Gillian
2020
Playhouse Presents
May
2012
Dune
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
1984Drama 61-67
Carole Blair
1961
Espionage
Anna
1963
I, Claudius
Livia
1976
Remembers…
Self
2022
Hammer House of Horror
Mrs. Henska
1980
Clash of the Titans
Cassiopeia
1981
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Ann Smiley
1979
The Longest Day
WRNS Officer (uncredited)
1962
The Last Detective
Vera Dulciman
2003W. Somerset Maugham
Martha Jones
1969
The Age of Innocence
Mrs. Archer
1993
Half Hour Story
A Girl
1967
The Magician's House
Meg Lewis
1999
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Lady Lavery
1951
Dream Horse
Maureen
2021
Attila
Grandmother
2001
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Clementine Churchill
1981
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
Charal
1985
Armchair Theatre
1956
How Green Was My Valley
Beth Morgan
1975
Shadow of the Noose
Lady Scott
1989
Ivanhoe
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
1997
Perfect Scoundrels
Mother Aloysius
1990
The Borrowers
Mrs. Driver
1992
Vanity Fair
Matilda Crawley
1987Arthouse
Self - Commentary
1997
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
Duchess of Windsor
1987The Sherman Plays
Self - Introduction
1993
Tonight at 8.30
Clare Wedderburn
1991Tonight at 8.30
Barbara Faber
1991Tonight at 8.30
Olive Lloyd-Ransome
1991
Valmont
Madame de Volanges
1989
Crime and Punishment
Katerina Ivánovna
1979
Under Milk Wood
Mrs. Pugh
2014
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Self
2007
Heidi
Frau Sesemann
1993
Shoulder to Shoulder
Emmeline Pankhurst
1974
The Doctor and the Devils
Annabella Rock
1985
Summerland
Margaret Corey
2020City '68
Jo
1967
A Killing on the Exchange
Isobel Makepeace
1987
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Red Queen
1998The Return of the Borrowers
Mrs. Driver
1993
Becket
Gwendolen
1964
Murphy's War
Hayden
1971
Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
Self - Ru (archive footage)
2003
Richard Burton: Wild Genius
Self
2025
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Ursula Mossbank
1969
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
Mrs. Patrick Campbell
1974
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
Sarah Walker
2017
The Scold's Bridle
Mathilda
1998
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
Self
2022
Dark River
Mrs. Blessington
1990Red Empire
Narrator (voice)
1990
The Scold's Bridle
Mathilda Gillespie
1998
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Self
2022Aberfan: The Green Hollow
2016
It’s Dearer After Midnight
Jo
1968
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
Calypso
1995
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
Self
2002
Young Cassidy
Ella
1965To Provide All People
Patient
2018
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
self
2024
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
2021
Lovesong
Maggie
2012
Under Milk Wood
Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
1972
Time & Again
Eleanor
2019
The Murder Room
Marie Strickland
2004
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
Evil Baroness
2000
Frank and Percy
2026
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
Madame Neilsen
2019
How Many Miles to Babylon?
Mrs Alicia Moore
1982The Sex Game
Louisa
1968
Nijinsky
Lady Ripon
1980
A Year in the Beacons
Narrator
2021
David Macaulay: Pyramid
Mersyankh (voice)
1989
Be Happy!
Maria
2019Thief
Woman
1968
A Christmas Carol
Grandmother / narrator (voice)
2020
Laughter in the Dark
Lady Pamela More
1969
The Black Candle
Daisy Barnett
1991Siân Phillips at 90
Self
2023
Wonders of the Celtic Deep
Self - Narrator
2021
House of America
Mam
1997
Aristocrats
Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
1999
Nureyev
Narrator
2018
Warrior Queen
Queen Boudicca
1978Don Juan in Hell
Dona Ana
1962
Carpathian Eagle
Mrs. Henska
1980
Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty
Narrator
2024Still: Here/Now
Self
2003
Miss Dalí
Anna Maria Dalí
2018
The Achurch Letters
Janet Achurch
1977
Stalin: Inside the Terror
Narrator
2003The Snow Spider
Nain Griffiths
1988Platonov
Anna
1971Come and Go
Ru
2000A Picture of London
Narrator
2012
Voyageuse
Erica
2018
Apple Cider Vinegar
Voice
2024
Heartbreak House
Hesione Hushabye
1977
Emlyn's Moon
Nain Griffiths
1990
The Chestnut Soldier
Nain Griffiths
1991
The Mousehole Cat
Narrator
1995
The Snow Spider
Nain Griffiths
1988
Eh, Joe?
Voice
1966
The Mountain That Had To Be Painted
Narrator
2011