Hard Labour (film) where the Leighs had lived in Cavendish Road." "The polarity between the worlds of Mrs Stone and the lady who cleans her house (the central figure, Mrs Thornley, the Catholic house-cleaner) is icily delineated. In the middle is the new housing estate, where Mrs Thornley's son, Edward, (played by Bernard Hill in his professional début), a car mechanic, lives with his wife Veronica (Alison Steadman)." Hard Labour (film) Hard Labour is a 1973 television film, directed by Mike Leigh and produced by Tony Garnett which aired as part of the BBC anthology series "Play for Today". The film stars Liz
Catherine Steadman Catherine Steadman Catherine Steadman (born February 8, 1987) is an English actress and author, best known for playing Mabel Lane Fox in series 5 (2014) of ITV drama "Downton Abbey". Her debut novel, the psychological thriller, "Something in the Water" was published in June 2018 by Simon & Schuster UK and Penguin Random House USA. Steadman trained at the Oxford School of Drama and made her screen debut playing Julia Bertram in the ITV adaptation of "Mansfield Park" opposite Billie Piper, James D'arcy, Rory Kinnear and Michelle Ryan. Since then she has appeared in television dramas such as the CBC/Showtime