# Felicity Montagu
**Felicity Montagu** (Felicity Jane Montagu, born 1960) is an English actress, director, and comedian from Leeds, West Yorkshire, best known for playing Lynn Benfield, the long-suffering personal assistant to [Alan Partridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-partridge), and Margo Martins in the BBC drama *Beyond Paradise*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0598748/) • [2](https://thetvdb.com/people/376584-felicity-montagu) • [3](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name and birth | Felicity Jane Montagu, born 1960 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0598748/) • [4](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/felicity-montagu/credits/3030261180/) |
| Signature role | Lynn Benfield, Alan Partridge's PA, across the Partridge series, *Alan Partridge: The Movie* (2013), *This Time with Alan Partridge*, and *How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge)* (2025)[2](https://thetvdb.com/people/376584-felicity-montagu) • [3](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/) • [5](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/felicity-montagu/) |
| Film roles | Perpetua in *Bridget Jones's Diary* (2001); *Confetti* (2006); *I Want Candy* (2007); *How to Lose Friends & Alienate People* (2008); *Dad's Army* (2016); *Censor* (2020); *Miss Marx* (2020)[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/felicity-montagu/) • [2](https://thetvdb.com/people/376584-felicity-montagu) |
| Current series role | Margo Martins, office support at Shipton Abbott police station, in *Beyond Paradise* (2023– ), a main-cast part across four seasons[7](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/beyond-paradise/cast/1031115828/) • [8](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/76399/felicity-montagu) |
| Other comedy roles | Sue, the vicar's wife, in *Nighty Night*; Superintendent Edwards in *Black Ops* (2023); Gloria in *Hullraisers* (2022–2023)[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen) • [3](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/) |
| Training | Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art[10](https://www.thestar.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/felicity-montagu-taking-comedy-seriously-from-partridge-to-shakespeare-807250) |
| Screen output | About 93 actress credits listed by TV Guide[4](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/felicity-montagu/credits/3030261180/) |
## Early life and training
Montagu is the youngest of five children. Raised in [Yorkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/yorkshire), she was the daughter of a cerebral mother who came from Brisbane, Australia, and of a British father whose family had produced soldiers for generations; he had been posted to Burma and India before leaving the army for a career in industry.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen) She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and took a great deal of theater work after graduating, before television and film jobs kept her off the stage for a long stretch.[10](https://www.thestar.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/felicity-montagu-taking-comedy-seriously-from-partridge-to-shakespeare-807250)
## Alan Partridge and comedy roles
**Lynn Benfield.** Montagu's best-known character is Lynn, the tight-lipped, long-suffering PA to [Steve Coogan](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-coogan)'s deluded Norwich broadcaster Alan Partridge, a part she has carried across the [Partridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/partridge) universe for decades, including *I'm Alan Partridge*, the 2013 film, *This Time with Alan Partridge* (2019–2021), the 2023 stage-audience piece *Alan Partridge - Stratagem*, and the 2025 series *How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge)*.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen) • [3](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/) • [8](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/76399/felicity-montagu) She has described how she went to the audition expecting a bit part, simply to meet [Armando Iannucci](https://www.edgepedia.org/armando-iannucci) and Steve Coogan; neither turned up, and she was instead asked to improvise a spiel about Lynn's home life, inventing on the spot a backstory in which Lynn's mother disapproved of her boss.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen)
Her other comedy work includes Sue, the voluptuous, cake-scoffing vicar's wife in [Julia Davis](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-davis)'s *Nighty Night*, and roles in *Suburban Shootout*, *Sally4Ever*, *Brassic*, and *[The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-increasingly-poor-decisions-of-todd-margaret)*.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen) • [6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/felicity-montagu/) • [3](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/) In 2023 she played Superintendent Edwards in all six episodes of the series *Black Ops* and Aunt Bridget in the *Tom Jones* adaptation.[3](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/)
She resists the comedian label. "I'm not a comedian," she told *The Star* in 2019, stressing that she never performs a part for laughs; in her view, if comedy is going to work you have to play the subtext, the fears and the follies underneath the scene.[10](https://www.thestar.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/felicity-montagu-taking-comedy-seriously-from-partridge-to-shakespeare-807250) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen)
## Film and drama work
Montagu's film career includes Perpetua, Bridget's pearl-wearing colleague, in *Bridget Jones's Diary* (2001), a part in the TV movie *The Queen's Sister* (2005), *Confetti* (2006), *I Want Candy* (2007), and *How to Lose Friends & Alienate People* (2008) with [Kirsten Dunst](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirsten-dunst).[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/felicity-montagu/) Later film work includes Oliver Parker's *[Dad's Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/dads-army-2016-film)* (2016), in which she played Mrs. Mainwaring, Prano Bailey-Bond's horror film *Censor* (2020) as Valerie, and Susanna Nicchiarelli's *Miss Marx* (2020) as Helen Demuth.[2](https://thetvdb.com/people/376584-felicity-montagu) • [5](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/felicity-montagu/)
On television she played Caroline Bosman in *Doc Martin* (2004), Patricia Wycherley in the miniseries *Landscapers* (2021), and Arabella Briggs in *Vanity Fair* (2018).[2](https://thetvdb.com/people/376584-felicity-montagu) • [6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/felicity-montagu/)
## Beyond Paradise
Since 2023 Montagu has been a main-cast member of *Beyond Paradise*, the *Death in Paradise* spin-off starring [Kris Marshall](https://www.edgepedia.org/kris-marshall) and Sally Bretton, playing Margo Martins, the office support civilian at the Shipton Abbott police station who mans the phones and metes out withering stares.[7](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/beyond-paradise/cast/1031115828/) • [11](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/beyond-paradise-season-3-everything-we-know) The character has appeared across four seasons and their Christmas specials, through an episode aired 1 May 2026.[8](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/76399/felicity-montagu) • [12](https://tvblighty.co.uk/tag/felicity-montagu)
## Theatre
After a long hiatus from the stage, Richard Eyre wrote to her asking her to appear in his 2013 West End revival of [Simon Gray](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-gray)'s *Quartermaine's Terms*, opposite [Rowan Atkinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/rowan-atkinson), in which she played Melanie Garth.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen) • [13](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Felicity-Montagu/) In 2016 she played Mrs Bennet in a new *Pride and Prejudice* adaptation at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London, a role she argued should not be overplayed for comedy: Mrs Bennet is ferociously in a hurry to marry off her five daughters because, if her husband dies, she could lose everything.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen) She appeared in Nicholas Hytner's immersive *A Midsummer Night's Dream* at the Bridge Theatre in 2019 and in *The Deep Blue Sea* at Theatre Royal Bath in 2024.[13](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Felicity-Montagu/)
## Personal life
IMDb records that she was previously married to Alan Nixon.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0598748/) She runs a company, Felicity Montagu Productions Ltd, registered at [Companies House](https://www.edgepedia.org/companies-house) as an active private limited company.[14](https://www.checkfree.co.uk/Company/07075679/FELICITY-MONTAGU-PRODUCTIONS-LTD/Company-Details/)
## References
1. [Felicity Montagu, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0598748/)
2. [Felicity Montagu, TheTVDB](https://thetvdb.com/people/376584-felicity-montagu)
3. [Felicity Montagu, British Comedy Guide](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/felicity_montagu/)
4. [Felicity Montagu List of Movies and TV Shows, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/felicity-montagu/credits/3030261180/)
5. [Felicity Montagu, Independent Talent](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/felicity-montagu/)
6. [Felicity Montagu - Actress, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/felicity-montagu/)
7. [Beyond Paradise - Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/beyond-paradise/cast/1031115828/)
8. [Felicity Montagu, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/76399/felicity-montagu)
9. [Pride and Partridge: Felicity Montagu's comedy gold with Coogan and Austen, The Guardian (15 September 2016)](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/15/pride-partridge-felicity-montagu-coogan-austen)
10. [Felicity Montagu: Taking comedy seriously from Partridge to Shakespeare, The Star (14 October 2019)](https://www.thestar.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/felicity-montagu-taking-comedy-seriously-from-partridge-to-shakespeare-807250)
11. [Beyond Paradise season 3 full season guide, WhatToWatch](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/beyond-paradise-season-3-everything-we-know)
12. [TV Blighty: Felicity Montagu](https://tvblighty.co.uk/tag/felicity-montagu)
13. [Felicity Montagu, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Felicity-Montagu/)
14. [Felicity Montagu Productions Ltd, Companies House credit report](https://www.checkfree.co.uk/Company/07075679/FELICITY-MONTAGU-PRODUCTIONS-LTD/Company-Details/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Mc to M*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license