Cast
Miranda Hart as Miranda – An ungainly, socially awkward, 35-year-old woman who frequently finds herself in awkward and bizarre situations. She is something of a misfit relative to her upper-middle-class family, opting to invest an inheritance from her uncle in a joke/gift shop rather than pursuing what her mother perceives as a more "respectable" career, and balking at the supposedly "suitable" men that her mother and friends try to set her up with. Miranda struggles with everyday adult life, often indulging in odd, childlike behaviour (including adding faces and clothes to pieces of fruit and vegetables, dubbing them "Fruit Friends" and "Vegeta-Pals") and getting thrown out of numerous establishments. Although this often irritates her friends and family, they tolerate her because, at heart, she is intelligent and good-natured, despite not always showing it. In the final episode, after she breaks up with Gary, some of her awkward and childish behaviour disappears; this causes considerable concern for her friends and mother, who organise a therapy session. However, she finally accepts that her only serious problem – her lack of confidence – is now gone and although she does not need Gary, she does indeed love him. After an initial panic over an unexpected wedding, she marries Gary at his restaurant.
Tom Ellis as Gary Preston – A handsome, friendly chef; an old university friend of Miranda. Although there has always been an undercurrent of attraction between them, neither has pursued it until he begins working at the restaurant next to Miranda's shop. Despite often being confused by Miranda's behaviour, Gary generally finds her kind, open nature endearing, especially as she is willing to help him out when needed. Gary is more confident and worldly than Miranda, but he shares her insecurity in romantic situations, and occasionally becomes embroiled in odd situations with her — for example, the pretence that they have sons called "Cliff" and "Richard" when challenged by a customer in the shop. He is one of the few people who accepts Miranda as she is. Miranda and Gary date briefly in series two, though this breaks down when it is revealed Gary was married (for a green card) to a waitress that Miranda had befriended at the restaurant. Gary also dates Rose briefly in series three, before breaking up with her due to her being unable to accept Miranda. After becoming engaged, Miranda becomes concerned that he has never said he loves her. When she confronts him, Gary tells Miranda that her distinctive lack of confidence in herself means that they can never truly be together. In the final episode, when Miranda accepts herself, she rushes to what she believes is Gary's wedding, where he is actually best man for his former boss Clive. Gary reveals he has already decided that he loves Miranda and offers to elope; she decides that she does not need to run away and marries Gary at Clive's reception.
Sarah Hadland as Stevie Sutton – Miranda's best friend, and the Assistant Manager of the joke shop (although in reality she does most of the work due to Miranda's lack of business sense). Stevie is generally more level-headed and ambitious than Miranda, but is not averse to becoming involved in her strange behaviour, or indeed indulging in some of her own, including frequently performing Heather Small's "Proud" while holding a cardboard cut-out of the singer whenever she is pleased with herself. Because of this, Miranda and Stevie often get into petty arguments and competitions, such as when a customer leaves his wallet and both Miranda and Stevie attempt to impress him. Miranda frequently mocks Stevie for her small stature, and frequently pushes her over when she irritates Miranda. Despite often claiming to have "the allure" and mocking Miranda's attempts with men, Stevie also shares Miranda's lack of success, sometimes coming across as desperate when she chats someone up. She occasionally uses an unkempt and unpleasant traffic warden (played by Joe Wilkinson) as a date when trying to compete with Miranda. In the final episode, the traffic warden appears again and Stevie kisses him to avoid getting a parking ticket.
Patricia Hodge as Penny – Miranda's upper-middle-class mother, a "lady who lunches", who likes to impress her friends and fellow W.I. members. Her main mission in life is to find Miranda a man and a better job. She despairs at Miranda's decision to run a joke/gift shop, and her tendency to reject suitable (or at least available) men, on numerous occasions trying to set up Miranda with her cousin. Although often embarrassed by her daughter, Penny displays many of Miranda's erratic traits and often teams up with Miranda for their benefit, such as when they are in the psychiatrist's office. Despite being prepared to humiliate Miranda for her own gain (to the point of holding up a placard offering to pay someone to marry Miranda), Penny's actions are borne out of genuine love and concern, and on the rare occasions where Miranda is doing well she shows her love by cheering "Go Miranda". Penny's catchphrase, "Such fun!" is normally used to describe an activity or event where she believes Miranda may find a husband. Another catchphrase of Penny's, especially in the first series, is 'What I call', which she says before numerous everyday things before Miranda points out that that is simply the word for it, and not just what Penny calls it (for example, 'I'm meeting a friend for a spot of, what I call, tea.') Penny tends to ignore Miranda's obvious lack of interest or discomfort. In the final episode, Penny turns up at Miranda's flat two days after her break-up with Gary, insensitively suggesting they simply find another groom. Miranda finally loses her temper and tells Penny to get out; this causes Penny to go on a drinking binge at her local tennis club. She soon turns up at Miranda's flat and tearfully confesses that her relationship with Miranda's father has been dead for some time. Thanks to her daughter's new confidence, Penny regains her dignity and joyfully embraces Miranda when she marries Gary several days later.
Sally Phillips as Tilly – An old school friend of Miranda's and the daughter of Penny's never-seen best friend Belinda, who fits right in with their private school background, often showing more in common with Penny than Miranda does. Tilly is a socialite and normally quite self-centred, though on occasion, she does come through for her friends and shows that she is kind and generous. She will often address Miranda by her school nickname, "Queen Kong" (due to Miranda's stature and clumsiness), despite Miranda's displeasure, but her criticisms and attempts to help Miranda are generally well intentioned. Tilly's catchphrase is "bear with", usually said as she breaks off conversations to read text messages. While seeming more confident and together than Miranda, she has her own problems romantically, particularly when her fiancé, Rupert (played by Adam James), makes a pass at Miranda behind her back. In the penultimate episode, she becomes engaged to her army doctor boyfriend, "Dreamboat" (later "Ping-pong", then "Cucumber") Charlie (played by Adrian Scarborough). The final episode sees Miranda give Tilly tickets to Wick so she can be free of her mother and elope with Charlie.
James Holmes as Clive Evans (2009–2010, 2015) – The camp, vicious-tongued owner of the restaurant where Gary works. He is usually more of a hindrance than help whenever he attempts to help Miranda and Gary get together, accidentally revealing, for example, that Gary has a secret wife from Hong Kong named Tamara (played by Stacy Liu). Despite his jibes at Miranda, he does show traits of wanting to help her, such as when he pushes her to tell Gary his true feelings. He is absent from the third series having sold the restaurant to Gary off-screen. Clive returns in the final episode and marries the regular customer from previous episodes (played by Dominic Coleman).
Bo Poraj as Michael Jackford (2012–2014) – Miranda's new boyfriend who works as a television reporter and loves Miranda for the real her. Michael made his final appearance in the penultimate episode, when Miranda peacefully turned down his marriage proposal in order to accept Gary's. In the final episode, Penny mentions that the character has flown to Africa, where he had previously returned from on a business venture.
Naomi Bentley as Rose (2013) – Gary's new girlfriend. When Rose can't accept his past affections for Miranda, Gary breaks up with her. She is last seen entering Gary's restaurant for its re-opening, but when Miranda confesses her true feelings for Gary during an argument, Rose immediately walks out.
Katy Wix as Fanny (2009) – Another socialite friend of Miranda's from boarding school. She appears during the first series alongside Tilly, but is not mentioned or seen as of the second series.
John Finnemore and Margaret Cabourn-Smith as Chris and Alison (2009–2010, 2013–2014) – Sort-of friends of Gary and Miranda. As university students, Chris and Alison agreed to marry each other if they were still single at a certain age, but Chris whisked Alison away to Paris and proposed. During the second series, Alison becomes pregnant and they decide that Gary and Miranda should be godparents, but Miranda freaks out when they reveal she will also act as Alison's birthing partner. In the third series, Miranda, Gary and Rose babysit for them. They make their final appearance in the penultimate episode; their once joyous marriage now strained.
Dominic Coleman (2009, 2013, 2015) as an unnamed customer who comes into the shop on three occasions, usually with the intention of buying something for his niece, but is distracted by the probing questions of Stevie and Miranda and gets roped into their antics (For example, suggesting Miranda should lie about being gay and then being roped into attending her coming out party.) He features in the final episode as the partner of Clive, whose wedding Miranda gatecrashes. Although never mentioned on screen, he is referred to on the BBC's website as 'Jim'.
