Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English stage, radio, film and television actress, who made her name as Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom dinnerladies. She has since played Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, barrister Martha Costello QC in BBC legal drama Silk and Grace Middleton in The Village. She is also an accomplished stage actress, and co-starred in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything.