Biography

Her parents, George and Anne, were originally farmers in the Sacriston area of County Durham where she started her education at a village school and eventually attended Durham High School. Her family eventually gave up farming and became haulage contractors in Darlington. She then attended Darlington High School and then Yarm Grammar School where she had parts in school plays. The headmistress, who was very keen on drama, encouraged her. While performing in one play, she was seen by the aunt of director Anthony Asquith who recommended her to the Central School of Speech and Drama, which she joined when seventeen. After training, she made her theatre debut with the Ipswich Repertory Company and eventually her West End debut in 'Mr Kettle and Mr Moon', which was later followed by such as The Constant Wife, Ride a Cock Horse and Peter Pan. She later moved into television series, for which she became best known, such as Butterflies, Not in Front of the Children, And Mother Makes Three, Laura and Disorder and Nanny, which was based on her own idea, but submitted under a pen name, so that it could be judged on it's own merit and not on her name. She has always liked writing and with knowing her characters she finds it very fulfilling and creative, while acting is just interpretive. She has won numerous awards, including Variety Club BBC TV Personality (69), Variety Club ITV TV Personality (73), TV Times Award for Funniest Woman on TV 72/73/74 and Variety Club Woman of the Year 84, plus an Honorary Doctorate from Teeside University in 1994. She was married to journalist Jack Bentley, who died in 1994, and had two sons, Alastair, born 1957, who became an oboist with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Ross, born 1960, who is a writer. All this from seeing her first pantomime at three, which made her determined to be on the stage.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

It was seeing her first pantomime at the Newcastle Theatre Royal when she was 3 that determined her that she wanted to be an actress and that nothing would deter her. Many of her early roles were in serious drama causing drama critic Kenneth Tynan to describe her as 'One of the six best actresses in the Western' world although she is best known for her comedy roles which came about through her friendship with writer Richard Waring who having written a lot of sit-coms was sure that there was a comedienne lurking inside of her and wrote Not in Front of the Children for her which was followed by And Mother Makes Three then And Mother Makes Five ( for which she wrote the scripts) and Butterflies. She then returned to drama in 1983 with Nanny based on her own idea which she'd sent to the BBC under an assumed name. She was then in Brighton Belles, a British remake of America's Golden Girls, which was taken off mid run due to poor ratings. She then turned down work partly because there wasn't anything she liked but mainly because her husband was very ill.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

When living in Yarm near Darlington her acting ability was spotted at 16 which earned her the role of Ophelia in a production of Hamlet at Middlesborough Little Theatre which led to 3 years at London's Central School of Dramatic Art which in turn led to her professional debut with the Ipswich Repertory Company and the accolade from Kenneth Tynan of 'One of the Six Best Young Actresses in the Western World. She was named TV Actress of the Year in 1968 and Personality of the Year for both BBC and ITV in the Seventies and was the Queen of Comedy for 12 years with Not in Front of the Children, And Mother Makes Three, And Mother Makes Five and Butterrflies.She said the most horrid part was when she was doing the tea tasting commercials and the chimp was introduced which she hadn't been told about.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5