Ashley Jensen looks back: ‘Somehow I got to the point where I was sitting at an awards show with Glenn Close winking at me’
The actor on making Billy Connolly laugh, her surreal life in LA, and finally getting lead roles in her 50s
TV review
Shetland review – who needs Jimmy Perez when you have this new female power duo?
Douglas Henshall has departed, but Ashley Jensen’s arrival proves the hit crime drama doesn’t need a leading man – especially when paired with the brilliant Alison O’Donnell
TV tonight
TV tonight: Ashley Jensen takes on her first case in Shetland
She plays Jimmy Perez’s successor in the cosy crime drama. Plus, Emilia Fox spies fishy goings-on at a wedding in Italy. Here’s what to watch this evening
October 2017
The Q&A
Ashley Jensen: ‘My greatest achievement? That my son is kind and loves David Bowie’
The actor on Animal Farm and why she decided not to become a vet
May 2016
Ashley Jensen on bagging her own show: 'A career plan? I don't even know what I'm having for my tea'
She has excelled as sidekicks. Now Ashley Jensen finally has a lead role – as Agatha Raisin, a PR exec who solves rural murders
October 2015
The Lobster review – surreal satire and black-humour laughs
Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman deliver some fine dystopian lunacy in Yorgos Lanthimos’s English-language debut
July 2015
The Legend of Barney Thomson review – falling flat on its farce
The Legend of Barney Thomson - video review
December 2014
How I get ready
How I get ready: Ashley Jensen
‘Is it disgusting to admit that I don’t bother taking off that day’s makeup and starting again any more?’
November 2014
My Christmas rituals: 21 celebrities reveal what they do on 25 December
Noel Fielding, Sarah Millican, Jenny Agutter, Tom Kerridge, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and a host of others reveal the strange and quirky family rituals that make the big day special for them
November 2013
Observer TV reviews
Rewind TV: The Escape Artist; Ambassadors; A Very English Education – review
David Tennant should have foreseen his wife's fate but Mitchell and Webb manage to avoid the obvious, writes Andrew Anthony
May 2013
All Stars – review
High School Musical meets Grange Hill in this British teen drama, writes Philip French
September 2012
A Chorus of Disapproval; Mademoiselle Julie – review
Ashley Jensen: 'I was on that little conveyor belt'
June 2012
Rob Brydon to make West End debut in Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval
Trevor Nunn will direct the actor and comedian alongside Ashley Jensen and Nigel Harman in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's play at the Harold Pinter Theatre
February 2011
'Maybe I'll do it with orangutans next time': the cast of Gnomeo and Juliet - video
Emily Blunt, Ashley Jensen and Kelly Asbury on how to re-interpret Shakespearean tragedy with garden gnomes, bossy frogs and a plastic flamingo
December 2010
Accidental Farmer harvests 4.5m viewers
TV review
TV review: Accidental Farmer and Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar
December 2007
TV trailer park
Extras Christmas special trailer
Trailer for a seasonal serving of the award-winning comedy starring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Ashley Jensen
November 2007
Film blog
LA diary 40: On the picket line with an Extra
Ashley Jensen, of Extras and Ugly Betty fame, has been telling me all about the writer's strike. Meanwhile, I'm about to experience my first Thanksgiving
