Inside Joanna Lumley's life from single motherhood to Wednesday season 2 role

Wednesday season two is on the horizon, and British actress and model Joanna Lumley will be joining the Netflix cast.

Last year, it was revealed that the Absolutely Fabulous star would be featuring in the forthcoming second season of Wednesday, which premiered on Wednesday, August 6, on Netflix.

Lumley will portray a pivotal character in the dark comedy-drama sequel as Wednesday Addams' (played by Jenna Ortega) "razor sharp" Grandma Hester Frump, who shares a complex relationship with her daughter Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

As Netflix subscribers eagerly anticipate the release of Wednesday's second season, here's everything you need to know about Joanna Lumley.

Born in Kashmir, India, in 1946, Lumley's father served as a major in the Gurkha Rifles, leading the family to travel extensively around the Far East, including Malaysia and Hong Kong.

However, her connection to India predates her birth, as she explained to The Times: "It was my great-great-great-great-grandfather, James Rutherford Lumley, who was the first of my family to settle in India, at the end of the 18th century.

"He was a military man who became adjutant general of the Indian army.

"His son was born there, and his son after him, all the way down to my father, also James Rutherford Lumley, who was a major in the 6th Gurkha Rifles."

At the age of eight, Lumley was sent to boarding school in England, attending both Mickledene in Kent and Holmhurst St Mary's Convent School in Hastings.

Lumley attended the prestigious modelling agency Lucie Clayton Finishing School in London before embarking on a three-year career as a photographic model.

She received £8 a week as a model at the former Mayfair department store Debenham and Freebody before securing work with designer Jean Muir.

Reports suggest the star harboured ambitions of becoming a ballet dancer but was considered too tall for the profession.

She secured a small part as a Bond Girl in the 1960s film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, where she humorously remarked to Prospect "if you blinked you would miss me".

However, her major breakthrough arrived in 1976 when she landed the role of Purdey in The New Avengers, portraying a former trainee ballet dancer turned secret agent.

"For two years I was on television all the time. People could remember my name," she revealed to Prospect.

"And that's one of the greatest things as an actor, to be remembered-for good or bad!

"The pay was terrible, but name recognition changed my life. When people started to stop me in the street, I suddenly realised that I had stopped being a private person.

"At the time I thought I would forever be known as the Avengers girl; even when I was old and grey."

Among her most memorable performances has been portraying the alcoholic chain smoker Patsy Stone, appearing alongside comedian Jennifer Saunders in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.

The programme aired for six series and spawned a follow-up movie in 2016, but during a theatre Q&A in Horsham, Lumley disclosed that she and Saunders didn't immediately gel.

She revealed: "There she [Saunders] was sitting on this chair. I said, 'Can I call you Jen?' and she said, 'No.' It was quite a bad beginning.

"When I was offered the part, I turned to my agent and said, 'Can you get me out of this, because Jennifer is too polite or too shy to say that it's going to be a complete nightmare.'"

Fortunately, Lumley managed to make Saunders chuckle, which quickly sparked their flourishing friendship.

The actress became pregnant at 21-years-old with son Jamie, whose father is photographer Michael Claydon, but brought him up alone.

Speaking to The Guardian, she explained: "My parents helped in every possible way, and I cry my eyes out at the women who were made to give up their babies around the same time, because their families wouldn't have them, or they felt they couldn't keep them.

"And the damage that causes. I'm so lucky that didn't happen to me.

"Doctors had told me I could never have children, so I went on working until I was six months pregnant because they kept saying I wasn't pregnant. Jamie was born at seven-and-a-half months. It was a miracle for me."

The Wednesday star's first spouse was actor and writer Jeremy Lloyd, whom she wed in May 1970 and divorced just a few months afterwards.

While she once referred to Lloyd, the co-writer of 'Are You Being Served' and 'Allo Allo', as "witty, tall and charming", Lumley humorously suggested that they should have "just had a raging affair" instead of getting hitched.

Lumley later tied the knot with conductor Stephen Barlow in 1986, who she has remained with ever since.

Speaking to The Guardian, she said: "One thing that makes my marriage work is a lot of absence.

"We both have individual lives so we're always pleased to see each other, and treasure being together. I admire him and he, unbelievably, admires me.

"You have to try to respect and admire the person you're with."

Wednesday is available to watch on Netflix.