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Too Close for Comfort
2012 · Movie
as Mum
Lynda Bellingham
1948-05-31
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Lynda Bellingham played many roles during her five-decade professional career, but became synonymous with one. "Being a mum making gravy was not quite how I had seen my career advancing," she said once. But between 1983 and 1999 that's what she did in 42 "episodes" of an award-winning TV ad. Since the early 1980s, her name was rarely mentioned in print without it being prefaced with "Oxo mum". During her career, though, she starred on TV as the vet's wife Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small in the 80s and as one of two divorcees trying to forge a relationship in the 90s sitcom Second Thoughts, opposite James Bolam. On stage she was best known for playing the lead in a touring production of Calendar Girls between 2008 and 2012. She was also, for four years between 2007 and 2011, a regular member of the team on Loose Women, the daytime TV chat show. She had few regrets about how her career turned out, summarising its trajectory thus on her website: "Arrived in London at the Central School [for Speech and Drama] in 1966 and never looked back. I had a ball!" Bellingham, though, knew that gravy, like Lady Macbeth's damned spot, left an indelible mark. "In many ways I was very proud of what we did, but there is no doubt that my credibility as an actress was knocked," she reflected. "Certain people in the industry would never employ me as a serious actress after it. On the other hand, it gave me the financial security to go off and work in the theatre for very little money." Her performances as Mrs Oxo were reportedly responsible for a 10% increase in stock cube sales.
Filmography
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Odd One In
2010 · TV Show
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Mister Eleven
2009 · TV Show
as Shirley
All Star Mr & Mrs
2008 · TV Show
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The Alan Titchmarsh Show
2007 · TV Show
as Self
Bonkers
2007 · TV Show
as Mrs Wadlow
Robin Hood
2006 · TV Show
Devil's Gate
2004 · Movie
as Marlene
The Long Bank Holiday
2004 · Movie
as Councillor Marjorie Balsam
New Tricks
2004 · TV Show
Murder in Suburbia
2004 · TV Show
as Milly Goodman
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
The Last Detective
2003 · TV Show
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One Life
2003 · TV Show
Bodywork
2001 · Movie
as Poppy Fields
Waking the Dead
2001 · TV Show
as Mary Mantel
The Romanovs: A Crowned Family
2000 · Movie
as Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna
At Home with the Braithwaites
2000 · TV Show
as Pauline Farnell
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Reach for the Moon
2000 · TV Show
as Penny Martin
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
1999 · Movie
as Maxine
Loose Women
1999 · TV Show
as Self
The Scarlet Tunic
1998 · Movie
as Emily Marlowe
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998 · Movie
An Audience with Ronnie Corbett
1997 · Movie
Midsomer Murders
1997 · TV Show
as Jane Willows
Faith in the Future
1995 · TV Show
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Junior Masterchef
1994 · TV Show
Martin Chuzzlewit
1994 · TV Show
as Mrs Lupin
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Gibberish
1992 · TV Show
Second Thoughts
1991 · TV Show
as Faith
This Morning
1988 · TV Show
as Self
The Vision
1987 · Movie
as Mary Morris
Filthy Rich & Catflap
1987 · TV Show
as Ms Tomkins
Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet
1986 · Movie
as The Inquisitor
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
1986 · Movie
as The Inquisitor
Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids
1986 · Movie
as The Inquisitor
Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe
1986 · Movie
as The Inquisitor
Casualty
1986 · TV Show
as Steph Yates
Screen Two
1985 · TV Show
as Mary Morris
Surprise, Surprise
1984 · TV Show
as Self
Wogan
1982 · TV Show
as Self
Riding High
1981 · Movie
as Miss Mott
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Funny Man
1981 · TV Show
as Gwen
Mackenzie
1980 · TV Show
as Ruth Isaacs
Shoestring
1979 · TV Show
as Nicola
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The Waterloo Bridge Handicap
1978 · Movie
as Likely Lady (Miss Beamish)
Blake's 7
1978 · TV Show
as Vena
All Creatures Great and Small
1978 · TV Show
as Helen Herriot
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The Pink Medicine Show
1978 · TV Show
An Audience with...
1978 · TV Show
as Self
Sweeney!
1977 · Movie
as Janice Wyatt
Stand up, Virgin Soldiers
1977 · Movie
as Valerie
The Professionals
1977 · TV Show
as Betty Hope
Don't Forget to Write!
1977 · TV Show
as Angela
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Cottage to Let
1977 · TV Show
as Barbara
Confessions of a Driving Instructor
1976 · Movie
as Mary Truscott
Yus, My Dear
1976 · TV Show
as Carol
The Sweeney
1975 · TV Show
as Nancy King
Angels
1975 · TV Show
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Tell Tarby
1973 · TV Show
as Nurse Norma Snockers
The Misfit
1970 · TV Show
as Wee Jeannie
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969 · TV Show
as Nurse Mary Tiller
Doctor Who
1963 · TV Show
as The Inquisitor
Z-Cars
1962 · TV Show
