Creator / Pauline McLynn

"Will you have a cup of tea, Father? Ah, go on. Go on, go on, go on, go on, GO ON!"

"Ireland has no history of sitcom - there have been a few but they've been so tragic that we don't talk about them."

Pauline McLynn, (11 July 1962), is an Irish actress best known for playing Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted.

She was educated in Dublin at Trinity College where she graduated with an MA in History of Art and Modern English. This was also where she began acting, as she was involved in the drama society there.

In her early thirties, she was cast as the tea-obsessed spinster housekeeper Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted. She nearly lost the role as she was considered too pretty and had to be aged with dowdy makeup. McLynn was loved in the role and received the British Comedy Award in 1996. She also played Mrs. Doyle in ads for the Inland Revenue.

After Ted, McLynn tried to move on from the role of Mrs. Doyle, not wanting to be Typecast. She was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award for the role of Helen in Gypo, starred in three series of Jam and Jerusalem as Tippi Haddem, played Libby Croker in two series of Shameless (UK), and played Mary Whyte in Father Figure.

In 2014, she joined EastEnders as Charlie Cotton's mother, Yvonne, and quickly became a regular as her storylines began escalating. She left at the end of her contract in early 2015, barring a one-off return a few months later. A few years later she played the mother of Marcella, the main character of the series GameFace.

In The New '20s so far, McLynn has made appearances in Inside No. 9, Last Night in Soho, and Doctor Who. Outside of acting, she is also an author and involved with charities against greyhound racing.

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Works on TV Tropes she appeared in:

Films

• Far and Away (1992) — Prostitute
• Angela's Ashes (1999) — Aunt Aggie
• Nora (2000) — Miss Kennedy
• Quills (2000) — Mademoiselle Clairwill
• Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) — Researcher
• Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) — Mrs. Trattner
• Riverdance: The Animated Adventure (2021) — Grandma
• Last Night in Soho (2021) — Carol

Series

• Father Ted, 25 episodes
  • 25 episodes (1995-98) — Mrs. Joan Doyle
  • "Flight Into Terror" (1996) — Nun^note This was a Bottle Episode where Mrs. Doyle wasn't in the script outside of the final scene.
• Ballykissangel, 2 episodes^{show list} "Personal Call", "All Bar One" (1998) — Mrs. Bella Mooney
• Life-Force, episode "Yesterday Island" (2000) — Polly Phemus
• Dalziel and Pascoe, 2 episodes^{show list} "Dialogues of the Dead: Part 1", "Dialogues of the Dead: Part 2" (2002) — Dr. Kirsty Urquhart
• French and Saunders, episode (2004) — Enthusiastic Fan
• Animated Tales of the World , episode "The Boy Who Had No Story" (2004) — Voice
• Jam and Jerusalem, 17 episodes (2006-09) — Tippi Haddem
• Demons, episode "Nothing Like Nebraska" (2009) — Karen Speedwell
• Shameless, 24 episodes (2010-11) — Libby Croker
• The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff, episode "Christmas Special" (2011) — Maggoty
• Pramface, 2 episodes^{show list} "The Edge of Hell", "Kiss for the Camera" (2013-14) — Evelyn
• Bing, 2 episodes^{show list} "Ice Lolly", "Ice Cream", "Woof!", "Show", "Halloween", "Squiggle", "Presents" (2014-19) — Gilly
• EastEnders, 26 episodes (2014-15) — Yvonne Cotton
• Trollied, episode "The Wedding" (2018) — Pat O'Banton
• The Young Offenders, 1 episode (2020) — Psychologist
• Inside No. 9, episode "Hurry Up and Wait" (2021) — Oona
• Silent Witness, 2 episodes^{show list} "Matters of Life and Death: Part 1", "Matters of Life and Death: Part 2" (2021) — Mary Thorpe
• Doctor Who, episode "Eve of the Daleks" (2022) — Mary

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