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The characters in the Dewsbury am-dram group have their bread buttered on various sides, but they agree Lady Boothroyd is, as Peake believes too, a symbol of democratic respectability and stability compared with today's politicians.

Peake plays Meredith Ankle, matriarch of the am-dram group and owner of Ankle Carpets.

Yet he had less time for the drama's "heightened soapiness" and suggested its costumes "look like relics from an am-dram dressing-up box".

There are warnings that with many am-dram groups inactive, audiences' and members' interest could decline and important seedbeds for stage talent could fade away.

"The saddest thing is that people are missing the communal feel of the am-dram experience - it's a great buzz and we're getting a bit of that feeling from our play."