Among her most high-profile roles was the voice –
"Are you sitting comfortably ...?" – for
BBC radio's
Listen with Mother from 1950 to 1971; she was also a reader on the newspaper review programme
What the Papers Say for more than thirty years. One of the original cast members of
Coronation Street, she played Esther Hayes from 1960 to 1963, 1971 and 1972. She played Mrs Patterson, the owner of the village shop, in the popular
sitcom To the Manor Born. In the seventies and early eighties, she was part of
Listen to Les The Les Dawson Radio Show on Radio 2, and performed in
The Clitheroe Kid radio comedy series from time to time. She played Chrissy's mother in three episodes of
Man About the House (1973–76). Other TV credits include:
The Sweeney,
The Duchess of Duke Street,
Juliet Bravo,
Drop The Dead Donkey,
The Children of Green Knowe and
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. She appeared in the 1987
Doctor Who serial
Dragonfire. She filmed a scene as an elderly
Agatha Christie for the 2008 episode
The Unicorn and the Wasp, but was cut from the final broadcast version, though it later featured on the DVD release. In 2006, she guest-starred in the
audio drama Sapphire and Steel: Cruel Immortality. She appeared in three episodes of
Midsomer Murders (2004–2008) as Muriel, Cully's grandmother. Her film credits include ''
That'll Be the Day (1973), All Creatures Great and Small (1975) and Sweet William (1980). Her voice was used for a Listen With Mother
programme in 1977 for the sitcom Rising Damp''. ==Personal life==