List of Characters

Throughout Dinnerladies, there have been many characters- some are part of the main characters whereas others are minor characters. They are all listed below.

Main Characters

 * Tony Martin - Tony is in charge of all of the workers and although he may seem vigorous in his work, he a very caring person. Tony battled cancer during the first series. He always wants to do more with his life.
 * Dolly Bellfield - Dolly is charming and her manners are intact, however if needs be, she can use her sharp tongue and quick wits. Her best friend, Jean, is kept very close to her but she normally finds herself picking fault with Jean, leading to friendly arguments and debates.
 * Jean - Jean is Dolly's best friend and can sometimes be stroppy. She refuses to grow old gracefully and is on the lookout for a new fella after she divorced her husband after realising that he had an affair. She later finds love with Stan.
 * Twinkle - Twinkle is a lovely employee but her youth can make her judgement rather misguided. She is constantly being told off for coming into work with her overall already on. She has a nice friendship with the team although sometimes can be rather crude in her topics of conversation.
 * Anita - Anita is not the sharpest member of the group and is often asking others for the meaning of words. She also finds herself getting rather confused about the simplest of things.
 * Stan Meadowcroft - he is the handyman of the factory but likes to base himself in and around the canteen. He can be seen as rather boring but is loyal nonetheless.
 * Petula Gordino (actual name Brenda Furlong) - Petula is Bren's mother and is rather a handful for all of the workers. Owning a caravan in the firm's car park, she is constantly popping in. She also finds herself talking about bizarre scenarios including celebrities. This begs the question as to whether she is mad or not.
 * Philippa Moorcroft - Philippa is the Human Resources officer who always tries her best to keep the mood up in the canteen. She can be rather overbearing but it is obvious that she is keen. She does get on people's nerves quite often but they all like her.
 * Jane - her role can be argued as minor but her regular and tiny appearances make her a recurring character. She always rushes into the canteen early in the morning to be the first in queue to ask for her twelve rounds of white toast.

Minor Characters

 * Norman and Big Glenda - Norman is the breadman for the canteen and suffers from agoraphobia after having fallen off a diving board in Guernsey- something which he never fails to mention in conversation. Glenda (also known as "Big Glenda" due to her being overweight) sometimes takes over from Norman if he is ill or finds himself unable to do work do to his panic attacks.
 * The Veg Man - he delivers the vegetables to the canteen. Although he is more realiable than the bread deliverers, he has been known to plunge into conversations about things that no-one has a clue what they are about.
 * Clint - is the one-off fiancé of Petula, must to the annoyance of his mother.
 * Shelagh - Clint's mother who is appauled at her son's new relationship with Petula.
 * Connie - Not a very fashionable lady, Connie is Jean's mother.
 * Enid - Not easy to please, Enid is Dolly's mother.
 * Jim - Stan's father who died during Series Two. He is equally boring and his adventures of being a desert rat are often referred to in conversation.
 * Hilary - As Philippa's mother, she is extremely patronising and is a snob.
 * Reena - Anita's mother who is far than impressed with her daughter's choices in life. She is too busy being an estate agent to buy enough attention to her.
 * Peggy - Peggy is Jean's sister who is equally as miserable as Jean. Peggy is seen to comfort Jean during her upsetting divorce.
 * Mr Michael - he works for HWD Components and is the love interest of Philippa. He is the reason for why Philippa moved to the firm.
 * Babs - Babs, who comes as Petula's plus one to the Christmas Party, is a dull character of seemingly low intelligence, who continuously goes on about how she comes for Urmstom. Stan takes a like to her after she shows great knowledge of kitchen appliances.
 * Malcom - Anita's inflatable doll, who sits with her in a seat whilst driving to discourage thieves from breaking in and taking valuables.
 * Liza - she is Jean's daughter who gets married in the first episode. The majority of the first episode is about arrangements for her wedding.
 * Keith - he is Jean's ex-husband who left her for dental hygenist.
 * Hugo - Anita's one-off boyfriend.
 * Bob Bellfield - Dolly's deaf husband whose lack of hearing constantly annoys Dolly.
 * Steve Greengrass - he works at the firm but cannot mix foodstuffs together and has to eat everything seperately.
 * Bob - he is a rather unlucky worker who rarely gets heard when he orders as other talk over him.
 * Ken - he works in the factory. His wife has Alzeimer's and talks about getting fed up with yoghurt. Bren allows him to have custard on his desert, in order for him to "go wild".
 * The Pie Man - he delivers pies to the canteen and enjoys Judy Garland and who rather enjoys spending time with Tony.
 * Harry from Packing - he is someone who supposedly isn't very hygenic.
 * Hannah - a TV researcher, who enters the canteen to see if a documentary could be made from them.
 * Carmel - a presenter of a TV show by the name of Northern Roundup. She later hosted a talkshow, on which Clint's fiancée and mother disputed their the relationship between him and Petula.
 * Mr Tashimoto - the owner of a Japanese company, which was twinned with HWD Components.
 * Tiffany - a friend of Twinkle.