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Lynda Baron
Lilian Ridgway (24 March 1939 – 5 March 2022), known professionally as Lynda Baron, was an English actress and singer. She is known for having played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours (1976–1985) and its sequel, Still Open All Hours (2013–2016), Auntie Mabel in the award-winning children's series Come Outside (1993–1997), and the part of Linda Clarke in EastEnders in 2006 and from 2008 to 2009, with a brief return in 2016.
Lilian Ridgway was born on 24 March 1939 in Urmston, Lancashire. Her father, Cyril, was a painter and decorator. By the age of five, she was attending local ballet classes, and soon began appearing on stage. She attended Flixton Girls School in Urmston and then trained as a dancer at the Royal Academy of Dance. Early in her career, she appeared in repertory theatre and several West End venues.
Baron's early television roles included small parts in Crossroads (1978), Up Pompeii! (1970), Z-Cars (1971), and the British horror film Hands of the Ripper (1971). Baron appeared on television in BBC-3 (1965), a series in the vein of That Was the Week That Was, involving some of the same performers. She also alternated with Annie Ross as the resident singer on Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (1965). Baron was cast in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who three times. She was heard as a singer in the 1966 serial The Gunfighters. She appeared in front of the cameras as Captain Wrack in the 1983 serial Enlightenment, and again in 2011 in "Closing Time" as Val.
Baron is best known for playing Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours with Ronnie Barker and David Jason which ran for four series in 1976, 1981 to 1982 and in 1985, and was subsequently voted eighth in Britain's Best Sitcom in 2004. The script asked for a character "of ample proportions", although she was in fact a slim build at the time. They overcame this by padding her clothes.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Baron co-starred in the ITV sitcom Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt and the BBC sitcom A Roof Over My Head with Brian Rix. She had a small part in Minder, and played the middle-aged temptress Lily Bless'er in the Last of the Summer Wine episode Getting Sam Home. In 1986, she acted in a party political broadcast for the SDP–Liberal Alliance. Baron also appeared in the 1987 Christmas special of The Two Ronnies and appeared in the BBC Two comedy series KYTV.
In the 1990s, Baron played Auntie Pat in five episodes of the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1992–1993). Baron then went on to star in the children's television series Come Outside (1993–1997) playing Auntie Mabel, an everyday woman living in a bungalow set in Denham, who flew around on various adventures in her spotted aeroplane with her dog Pippin, educating children on how things are created and where they come from by visiting various factories or farms and even looking at wildlife in zoos.
In 1997, Baron played the minor part of Renee Turnbull in Coronation Street and took guest roles in dinnerladies (1998), The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (1998), Sunburn (1999), Nancherrow (1999) and Goodnight Sweetheart (1999).
Baron continued to work regularly on television and the stage in the 2000s, with credits including Fat Friends (2000–2005), The Bill (2000), Doctors (2000, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2014), Cinderella, Poole Arts Centre December 2001Peak Practice (2001), Holby City (2002 and 2006), Down to Earth (2005), Rome (2005) and Casualty (2009).
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Lynda Baron
Lilian Ridgway (24 March 1939 – 5 March 2022), known professionally as Lynda Baron, was an English actress and singer. She is known for having played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours (1976–1985) and its sequel, Still Open All Hours (2013–2016), Auntie Mabel in the award-winning children's series Come Outside (1993–1997), and the part of Linda Clarke in EastEnders in 2006 and from 2008 to 2009, with a brief return in 2016.
Lilian Ridgway was born on 24 March 1939 in Urmston, Lancashire. Her father, Cyril, was a painter and decorator. By the age of five, she was attending local ballet classes, and soon began appearing on stage. She attended Flixton Girls School in Urmston and then trained as a dancer at the Royal Academy of Dance. Early in her career, she appeared in repertory theatre and several West End venues.
Baron's early television roles included small parts in Crossroads (1978), Up Pompeii! (1970), Z-Cars (1971), and the British horror film Hands of the Ripper (1971). Baron appeared on television in BBC-3 (1965), a series in the vein of That Was the Week That Was, involving some of the same performers. She also alternated with Annie Ross as the resident singer on Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (1965). Baron was cast in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who three times. She was heard as a singer in the 1966 serial The Gunfighters. She appeared in front of the cameras as Captain Wrack in the 1983 serial Enlightenment, and again in 2011 in "Closing Time" as Val.
Baron is best known for playing Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours with Ronnie Barker and David Jason which ran for four series in 1976, 1981 to 1982 and in 1985, and was subsequently voted eighth in Britain's Best Sitcom in 2004. The script asked for a character "of ample proportions", although she was in fact a slim build at the time. They overcame this by padding her clothes.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Baron co-starred in the ITV sitcom Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt and the BBC sitcom A Roof Over My Head with Brian Rix. She had a small part in Minder, and played the middle-aged temptress Lily Bless'er in the Last of the Summer Wine episode Getting Sam Home. In 1986, she acted in a party political broadcast for the SDP–Liberal Alliance. Baron also appeared in the 1987 Christmas special of The Two Ronnies and appeared in the BBC Two comedy series KYTV.
In the 1990s, Baron played Auntie Pat in five episodes of the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1992–1993). Baron then went on to star in the children's television series Come Outside (1993–1997) playing Auntie Mabel, an everyday woman living in a bungalow set in Denham, who flew around on various adventures in her spotted aeroplane with her dog Pippin, educating children on how things are created and where they come from by visiting various factories or farms and even looking at wildlife in zoos.
In 1997, Baron played the minor part of Renee Turnbull in Coronation Street and took guest roles in dinnerladies (1998), The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (1998), Sunburn (1999), Nancherrow (1999) and Goodnight Sweetheart (1999).
Baron continued to work regularly on television and the stage in the 2000s, with credits including Fat Friends (2000–2005), The Bill (2000), Doctors (2000, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2014), Cinderella, Poole Arts Centre December 2001Peak Practice (2001), Holby City (2002 and 2006), Down to Earth (2005), Rome (2005) and Casualty (2009).