Television
Steadman is credited with sharing the first lesbian kiss on British television with Myra Frances. Broadcast on 25 February 1974, Girl is the story of the love affair of two WRAC soldiers. "When I was first offered the part I felt quite nervous," she said and was relieved that her "mum said it was great and was very moved by it."
An early television appearance came in 1976 which saw Steadman cast as Cheryl Baker in the Granada Television daytime series Crown Court. Her character was the secretary of a confidence trickster found guilty of fraud.
Television productions directed by Leigh in which she has appeared in the 1970s include Nuts in May, Hard Labour and Abigail's Party. She also appeared in the BBC comedy The Worst Week of My Life. In 2007 she featured in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history, with roots in Trefarclawdd and Ruabon.
Other television work includes Fat Friends as Betty, Grumpy Old Women, Stressed Eric, Let Them Eat Cake, The Singing Detective, No Bananas, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years as Pauline Mole, opposite James Bolam in the television film The Missing Postman, and Pride and Prejudice as Mrs. Bennet. In 1991, she also appeared as Edda Göring in Selling Hitler and as Lauren Patterson in Gone to the Dogs, which was then followed up by Gone to Seed.
In October 2007 Steadman appeared in Fanny Hill on BBC Four.
From May 2007 to January 2010 Steadman starred in the BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey as Pam Shipman. She returned to the role for the Christmas specials in 2019 and 2024 respectively. She appeared in Lewis as the Reverend Martha Steadman in "Intelligent Design" in 2013.
In 2014 Steadman starred as Joyce in the first series of the BBC comedy Boomers, followed by a Christmas special in 2015 and a second series in 2016. In 2016 she presented the three-part series Little British Islands with Alison Steadman on Channel 4. The series visited Gigha, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay in episode 1, Jersey, Alderney and Sark in episode 2 and the Isles of Scilly in episode 3. In 2016 she appeared as Abigail in the Midsomer Murders episode "The incident at Cooper Hill".
In 2018 Steadman made a return to BBC One with John Cleese in Hold the Sunset. On 9 December 2018 Steadman appeared in the BBC One drama Care in the role of Mary. Also in 2018 she featured in ITV1 mini-series Butterfly, where she played Maxine Duffy’s grandmother.
