Thelma Barlow
{{short description|English actress and writer (born 1929)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Thelma Barlow
| birth_name = Thelma Pigott
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1929|6|19}}
| birth_place = Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse = {{marriage|Graham Barlow|1956|1983|end=divorced}}
| children = 2
| occupation = Actress, writer
| known_for = Role of Mavis Wilton in Coronation Street
| television = Coronation Street (1971–1997)
Dinnerladies (1998–2000)
| years_active = 1954–present
}}
Thelma Barlow (née Pigott;{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=dNrujikgUNdfdbNjSe%2FlNA&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=3 November 2010|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} born 19 June 1929) is an English television actress and writer, known for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the BBC One sitcom dinnerladies. She is the oldest living female Doctor Who cast member and the sixth oldest living Doctor Who cast member overall.
Early life
Barlow was born in 1929 in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, the younger of two daughters.For many years her year of birth was thought to be 1937. However, in a [https://web.archive.org/web/20110517050254/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article593425.ece 2005] interview with The Times, she admitted to being over 70 and 1929 is [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5388130.stm thought] to be her year of birth.{{cite news|url=http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/barlow_thelma.html|title=Thelma Barlow – Biography|publisher=corrie.net}} Her father, Tommy, a cabinet maker, died of pneumonia five weeks before her birth, aged 37,{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJapRddqYZE&index=2&list=PLYKg6fC-_1q_uagzgAQG2Hmw_8NEbBS3w&t=0s|title=Thelma Barlow - "This is Your Life"!|website=YouTube}} and Barlow was brought up by her mother Margaret.
During her childhood the family moved to Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire. Barlow left school at 15 and went to Huddersfield Technical College to study shorthand and typing. Her first job was as a secretary, which she held for eight years and at the same time belonged to Huddersfield Thespians - an amateur dramatics group. Barlow decided to take up acting professionally and joined the Joan Littlewood Theatre Group. During the 1950s she did rep in Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham. In 1960 Barlow joined the West of England Theatre Company followed by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company. In Bristol she ran a boarding house for fellow actors.
Career
Barlow's earlier television appearance was in 1967's Vanity Fair. In 1971, while performing in Liverpool she was asked to audition for the soap opera Coronation Street for the role of Mavis Riley. She was successful and her first episode was transmitted on 11 August 1971, though the character only appeared regularly from 4 June 1973, where she joined veteran show actress Barbara Knox who plays Rita Fairclough in "The Kabin". Barlow remained in the series for 26 years, appearing in 1,787 episodes, until she left after the departure of her on-screen husband Derek. Her final episode was broadcast 10 October 1997 when Mavis moved to the Lake District. During her time on Coronation Street Barlow shared a flat with co-star Helen Worth and later moved to Settle, where she later did a TV show from her garden. In 2020, Barlow revealed that, despite being asked to return to Coronation Street, "two or three times" she has declined, "because I feel I’ve packed Mavis away in a box now. I don’t think I’d know how to do her anyway. Maybe a good script would make me realise how I’d played the part."{{cite web|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/coronation-street-legend-thelma-barlow-18491732|title=Coronation Street legend Thelma Barlow on why she won't return to the ITV soap|website=Manchester Evening News|last=Scullard|first=Vicky|date=16 June 2020|access-date=29 March 2022}}{{cite web | url=https://www.heart.co.uk/showbiz/tv-movies/coronation-street/who-played-mavis-wilton-thelma-barlow/ | title=Who played Mavis Wilton in Coronation Street? }} In 2024, she appeared on Good Morning Britain and said "it would be the pressure of the work that would frighten me to death".{{Cite web |title=Coronation Street star Thelma Barlow, 95, shares reason she won't return to ITV soap - Liverpool Echo |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/tv/coronation-street-star-thelma-barlow-29452073 |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=www.liverpoolecho.co.uk}}
In 1990, Barlow appeared as a contestant on Cluedo, facing off against Ned Sherrin.
Barlow's next major role was that of Dolly Bellfield in Victoria Wood's sitcom dinnerladies, which ran for two series from 1998 to 2000. In 1999 she appeared in Murder Most Horrid and David Copperfield. Since then Barlow has appeared as one-off characters in several television shows, including Fat Friends (2000), Doctors (2002), The Royal (2004), Where the Heart Is (2004), Agatha Christie's Marple (2006), the Midsomer Murders episode "Last Year's Model" (2006) and Doc Martin (2007).{{cite web | url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1217e51 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424215142/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1217e51 | url-status=dead | archive-date=24 April 2019 | title=Thelma Barlow }} In 2005 she played her first film role in Mrs Henderson Presents, for which she was nominated "Most Promising Newcomer" at the British Independent Film Awards 2005.{{cite news|url=http://www.bifa.org.uk/person.php?person=375|title=People – Thelma Barlow|publisher=British Independent Film Awards}} In 2007 she portrayed Lady Thaw in the Doctor Who episode "The Lazarus Experiment".{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article593425.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517050254/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article593425.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 May 2011|title=Lady of the manner|first=Kathryn|last=Hone|work=The Times|date=24 November 2005}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5388130.stm|title=Doctor Who baddie role for Barlow|publisher=BBC|date=28 September 2006}} In 2016, she had a small speaking role in the film Florence Foster Jenkins.
Since her departure from Coronation Street Barlow has acted on radio, and made stage appearances, with roles such as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, Mam in Alan Bennett's Enjoy and as Abby Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace in 2003 on the West End stage. She wrote a book about organic gardening, a pastime of hers, which was first published by Robson Books as Organic Gardening with Love (1992) and re-issued in paperback under the title Gardening Nature's Way ({{ISBN|978-1861053312}}).
In June 2014, Barlow narrated a 30-minute documentary Gail & Me: 40 Years on Coronation Street which celebrated Helen Worth's career on Coronation Street as Gail Platt. She made a guest appearance on Coronation Street Icons: Norris Cole, a 2021 television documentary about the character played by Malcolm Hebden after the actor's retirement.{{cite web |url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week37/coronation-street-icons-norris-cole |title=Coronation Street Icons: Norris Cole |author= |date=1 September 2021 |website=ITV Press Centre |publisher=ITV plc |access-date=29 January 2022 |quote=Thelma Barlow recalls the dynamic between Mavis, Derek and Norris, and how Norris was always a thorn in the couple’s side...}}https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0055289/ {{User-generated source|date=May 2022}}
In 2024, Barlow came out of retirement and returned to acting in a short film Sleepless In Settle.{{Cite web |title=Thelma Barlow: Coronation Street legend, 95, returns to acting decades after quitting ITV soap |url=https://www.gbnews.com/celebrity/coronation-street-thelma-barlow-acting-return |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=GB News |language=en}} Directed by Judy Flynn and filmed in the town of Rye, East Sussex, Barlow played Barbara, a woman who is trying to find a wife for her son.{{Cite web |date=2024-06-29 |title=Thelma Barlow: Ex-Coronation Street star Mavis stars in Rye comedy Sleepless in Settle |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1x6l10qp6o |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
Personal life
She married Graham Barlow in 1956; their marriage produced two children. The couple divorced in 1983. Barlow maintained her married name since all of her television and film credits, until her divorce and after, have been as Thelma Barlow.{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0055289/ | title=Thelma Barlow | website=IMDb }}{{User-generated source|date=November 2023}}{{cite web | url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1217e51 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424215142/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1217e51 | url-status=dead | archive-date=24 April 2019 | title=Thelma Barlow }} In 2003, Barlow moved to the Isle of Purbeck.
Filmography
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1958
| The Desk Set | Ruthie Saylor | Television film |
| 1961
| Theatre Night | Edna Fuller | Episode: "Celebration" |
| 1967
| Mrs Briggs | 2 episodes |
| 1970
| A Stranger on the Hills | Mistress Fetterlock | 3 episodes |
| 1971
| Letitia Hayes | Television film |
| 1971-1997
| Mavis Wilton / Mavis Riley | 1,207 episodes |
| rowspan="2"| 1973
| Doreen Truscott | Episode: "Two Tame Oats" |
| Adam Smith
| Mrs Patterson | Series 2 episode 27 |
| 1990
| |Series 1 episode 3 |
| 1995
| Coronation Street: The Feature Length Special | Mavis Wilton | Video-only release |
| 1998
| Creche Landing | | Voice only; television film |
| 1998-2000
| Dolly | All 16 episodes |
| rowspan="2"| 1999
| Tiffany's mother | Episode: "Dinner at Tiffany's" |
| David Copperfield
| Mrs Heep | Episode 2 |
| rowspan="2"| 2000
| Mrs Ashburn | Episode: "Fat Chance" |
| King's Ransom
| Ethel | Short film |
| rowspan="3"| 2002
| Miss Hardwick | Episode: "Undercover" |
| Sweet Charity
| Jan | |
| Doctors
| Jenny Edwards | Episode: "Swing Out Sister" |
| rowspan="3"| 2004
| Ada | Episode: "Holding on Tight" |
| Where the Heart Is
| Helen Ashworth | Episode: "Stormy Weather" |
| My Dad's the Prime Minister
| Old Lady | Episode: "Election" |
| 2005
| Lady Conway | |
| rowspan="2"| 2006
| Emily Barton | Episode: "The Moving Finger" |
| Midsomer Murders
| Mrs Beverley | Episode: "Last Year's Model" |
| rowspan="2"| 2007
| Lady Thaw | Episode: "The Lazarus Experiment" |
| Doc Martin
| Beth | Episode: "Nowt So Queer" |
| 2008
| Ena | |
| 2014
| Gail & Me: 40 Years on Coronation Street | Narrator | |
| 2016
| Mrs Oscar Garmunder | |
| 2021
| Coronation Street Icons: Norris Cole | Herself | |
| 2023
| Barbara Knox at 90 | Herself | |
| 2024
|Sleepless In Settle |Barbara |
Honours
Barlow was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) from Teesside University on 21 November 2008.{{cite web |title=Teesside University Honorary Graduates |url=https://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/alumni/hon_grads.cfm |website=Teesside University |access-date=3 September 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/video/61379/?page=194 |title=Mavis gets a degree |last=
|first= |date=21 November 2008 |website=The Northern Echo |publisher= |access-date=3 September 2021 |quote=}}
{{Incomplete list|date=September 2021}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name}}
- [http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/barlow_thelma.html Thelma Barlow] at corrie.net
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Thelma}}
Category:English film actresses
Category:English soap opera actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:Actresses from Middlesbrough
Category:20th-century English actresses