Patricia Routledge

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; 17 February 1929 – 3 October 2025) was an English actress and singer. She was best known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC One comedy series Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995), for which she was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance.

Routledge made her professional stage debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1952, and her West End debut in 1959. She made her Broadway debut in 1966, and won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Darling of the Day. She won the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Candide at The Old Vic. Her film appearances include To Sir, with Love (1967) and Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968).

Routledge came to prominence during the 1980s in television monologues written by Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood, appearing in Bennett's A Woman of No Importance (1982) and as Kitty in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985–1986), and being nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Bennett's Talking Heads: A Lady of Letters (1988). She also starred as Hetty Wainthropp in the television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1990, 1996–1998). Routledge was made a Dame (DBE) for her services to entertainment and charity in 2017.

Early life

Katherine Patricia Routledge was born in Tranmere (which was then in Cheshire and is now in Merseyside) on 17 February 1929,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Gates2025"/> the daughter of Catherine Perry and haberdasher and gentlemen's outfitter Isaac Routledge. Her parents married in 1924.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Routledge attended Birkenhead High School in Oxton<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> before studying at the University of Liverpool,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where she gained a degree with honours in English Language and Literature.<ref name="CatholicHerald"/> She was involved in the university's dramatic society, where she worked closely with the academic Edmund Colledge, who both directed and acted in several of the society's productions; he persuaded her to pursue an acting career.<ref name="obit">Template:Cite news</ref> After graduating, she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and returned to Liverpool to begin her acting career at the Liverpool Playhouse.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Theatre

Routledge had a long career in theatre, particularly musical theatre, in the United Kingdom and the United States,<ref name="Thomas2015">Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> her vocal range that of a mezzo-soprano. She was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in the 1980s, appearing in such acclaimed productions as the 1984 Richard III, which starred Antony Sher in the title role.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Patricia Routledge – Unsung Heroines Template:Webarchive, Musical Theatre.net</ref> Her West End credits included Little Mary Sunshine,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the first production of Cowardy Custard in 1972,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Virtue in Danger,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Noises Off (creating the role of Dotty Otley),<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The Importance of Being Earnest,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and The Solid Gold Cadillac,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> as well as a number of less successful vehicles. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in And a Nightingale Sang in 1979. A classically trained singer,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> she had occasionally made forays into operetta including taking the title role in an acclaimed production of Jacques Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein at the 1978 Camden Festival; "As the Grand Duchess she invested every phrase, spoken or sungTemplate:Nbs... with wit and meaning, and coloured her tone to express a wide variety of emotions. Never did she resort to the hoydenish behaviour that this role – in British productions at least – seems to invite."<ref>Forbes, Elizabeth. London Opera Diary – The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. Park Lane Opera at Collegiate Theatre, 22 March. Opera, June 1978, p624.</ref>

Routledge made her Broadway debut in Roger Milner's comedy How's the World Treating You? in 1966, returning in the short-lived 1968 musical Darling of the Day,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, sharing the honour with Leslie Uggams of Hallelujah, Baby!<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> Following this, Routledge had roles in several more unsuccessful American productions including a musical called Love Match, in which she played Queen Victoria; the legendary 1976 Leonard Bernstein flop 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in which she portrayed every U.S. First Lady from Abigail Adams to Lucy Webb Hayes;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a 1981 musical, Say Hello to Harvey – based on the Mary Coyle Chase play Harvey (1944) – which closed in Toronto before reaching New York City.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1980, Routledge played Ruth in the Joseph Papp production of The Pirates of Penzance, co-starring American actor Kevin Kline and pop vocalist Linda Ronstadt, at the Delacorte Theatre in New York City's Central Park, one of a series of Shakespeare in the Park summer events.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The show was a hit and transferred to Broadway the following January, with Estelle Parsons replacing Routledge.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> A DVD of the Central Park production, with Routledge, was released in October 2002. She also performed in Façade at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall.<ref name="RSCnote">Biographical note in Royal Shakespeare Company programme for Henry V, Barbican Theatre, London, 1985.</ref>

Routledge won a Laurence Olivier Award in 1988 for her portrayal of the Old Lady in Leonard Bernstein's Candide in the London cast of the critically acclaimed Scottish Opera production.<ref name="CatholicHerald">Template:Cite news</ref> One critic noted "She stopped the show with 'I am so easily assimilated', and her long narration worked on at least two levels – it was both hilarious and oddly moving."<ref>Rodney Milnes. At the Musical – Candide, Old Vic, 21 December. Opera, March 1989, Vol 40. No.3, p370.</ref> She also played the role of Nettie Fowler to great acclaim in the 1992 National Theatre production of Carousel,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival in 1993.<ref>Olivier Awards 1993, accessed 12 November 2025.</ref>

In 1999, Routledge starred in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Chichester Festival Theatre, followed by West End runs in 1999 and 2001.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2006 Hampstead Theatre production of The Best of Friends, she portrayed Dame Laurentia McLachlan.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In 2007 she starred in Alan Bennett's Office Suite at Chichester and on tour, playing roles she had originated in TV versions almost thirty years previously.<ref>Chichester Festival Theatre archive 'Office Suite', accessed 3 October 2025</ref> In 2008, she played Queen Mary in Royce Ryton's play Crown Matrimonial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> More recent work included the role of Dame Myra Hess in the tribute show Admission: One Shilling from 2009, the narrator in The Carnival of the Animals with the Nash Ensemble in 2010,<ref>Nash Concert Society programme, Wigmore Hall, 16 January 2010.</ref> and Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 2009, Routledge toured with a show entitled Facing the Music. The show featured insights into her musical theatre career.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film and television

1960s and 1970s

Routledge's screen credits included To Sir, with Love (1967),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Pretty Polly (1967),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia, The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (all 1968),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) and Girl Stroke Boy (1971).<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Routledge's early television appearances included a role in Steptoe and Son, in the episode "Seance in a Wet Rag and Bone Yard" (1974), as a clairvoyant called Madame Fontana.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also appeared in Coronation Street (1961),<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> followed by the role of Maggie in ITV's Play of the Week Hobson's Choice (opposite Michael Caine as Will Mosop) (1962),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and as a white witch in Doctor at Large (1971). Routledge played Mrs. Jennings in the BBC mini-series production of Sense and Sensibility (1971).

1980s

Routledge did not come to prominence on television until she featured in monologues written for her by Alan Bennett and later Victoria Wood in the 1980s. She first appeared in A Woman of No Importance, the second installment of Bennett's anthology, Objects of Affection in 1982.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She then played the opinionated Kitty in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV in 1985. She performed two further monologues in Bennett's Talking Heads in 1988 and 1998. Routledge was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for the monologue "A Lady of Letters".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1989, Routledge appeared in a series of television advertisements for the RAC.<ref>https://www.facebook.com/100063715026601/videos/patricia-routledges-rare-tv-advert-in-1989-just-before-her-role-of-hyacinth-buck/284441150072912/</ref><ref>https://www.facebook.com/100063715026601/videos/patricia-routledges-old-advert/874760083036826/</ref>

1990s

In 1990, Routledge accepted the lead role of Hetty Wainthropp in an ITV mystery drama, Hetty Wainthropp: Missing Persons.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref><ref name="Lyttle1996">Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> ITV opted not to pursue a series after the pilot episode,<ref name="Lyttle1996"/><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> but in 1996 the BBC produced the first series of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, with Routledge again in the lead role.<ref name="Davey1996">Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> The show co-starred Dominic Monaghan as her assistant and Derek Benfield as her husband. It first aired in January 1996 and ran until late 1998.<ref name="Davey1996"/> Monaghan, who went on to enjoy a Hollywood career, credited Routledge as "an amazing teacher" who taught him some "very valuable lessons" in acting.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

In 1990, Routledge was cast as Hyacinth Bucket in the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She portrayed a formerly working-class woman with social pretensions (insisting her surname be pronounced "bouquet") and delusions of grandeur (her oft-mentioned "candlelight suppers").<ref name="Thomas2015"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Routledge delighted in portraying Hyacinth, as she saidTemplate:When she "couldn't stand people like her" in real life.Template:Citation needed In 1991, she won a British Comedy Award for her portrayal<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and she was later nominated for two BAFTA TV Awards in 1992 and 1993. Throughout 1993, Routledge also appeared as Hyacinth in a number of television advertisements for British Gas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1994, she appeared as Hyacinth again in a UK television infomercial for the charity Second Chance; Josephine Tewson also reprised her Keeping Up Appearances role.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> Routledge also played Hyacinth on the BBC in a series of infomercials for TV licensing.<ref>Advertisement video on Facebook.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Routledge ended her role as Hyacinth in 1995, despite the series' continued popularity, as she wanted to pursue other acting roles.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> In a 2017 interview, Routledge said: "I always thought of the great, great Ronnie Barker. He always left something when he was on a high, and it's much better to have people say now 'Oh, why didn't you do some more?' than having them say 'Oh, is that still on?'".<ref name="Studio10Interview">Template:Cite web</ref> Another reason she wished to leave the role was that she felt that the writer (Roy Clarke) was "recycling some old ideas that we'd already dealt with".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Studio10Interview"/>

Routledge also played several real-life characters for television, including Barbara Pym, and a dramatised biographical documentary about Hildegard of Bingen for BBC Omnibus in 1994.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2000–2025

In 2001, Routledge starred in Anybody's Nightmare, a fact-based television drama in which she played Sheila Bowler, a mother and piano teacher who served four years in prison for murdering her elderly aunt, but was later acquitted following a retrial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, Routledge presented Beatrix Potter with Patricia Routledge on Channel 4 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Potter's birth.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2023, Channel 5 aired a 67-minute Keeping Up Appearances retrospective special for their 30 Years Of Laughs series. Cast, crew and celebrities paid tribute to the show. The documentary featured an interview with Routledge, who was 93 at the time, sharing her memories of the show along with supporting cast members Judy Cornwell, Jeremy Gittins and David Janson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Radio and audio books

In 1966, Routledge sang the role of Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, the title role in Iolanthe and Melissa in Princess Ida, in a series of BBC Radio Gilbert and Sullivan recordings.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. "The G&S Operas on Radio", Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 10 September 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2016</ref> She took part in a studio broadcast of Tchaikovsky's opera Vakula the Smith (narrating excerpts from the work by Gogol) in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Her extensive radio credits included several Alan Bennett plays and the BBC dramatisation of Carole Hayman's Ladies of Letters, in which she and Prunella Scales played retired women exchanging humorous correspondence over the course of several years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A tenth series of Ladies of Letters premiered on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Routledge's radio work prior to 1985 included Private Lives, Present Laughter, The Cherry Orchard, Romeo and Juliet, Alice in Wonderland and The Fountain Overflows.<ref name="RSCnote"/>

Having a distinctive voice, Routledge also recorded and released a variety of audiobooks including unabridged readings of Wuthering Heights and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and abridged novelisations of the Hetty Wainthropp Investigates series.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Routledge never married and had no children. In a 2001 interview with The Telegraph, she said, "I didn't make a decision not to be married and not to be a mother. Life just turned out like that because my involvement in acting was so total."<ref name="adultery">Template:Cite web</ref> In the same interview, she admitted to having an affair with a married man in her late 20s and another affair with the director of a play she was in years later.<ref name="adultery" />

Routledge settled in Chichester in 2000 and was a regular churchgoer at Chichester Cathedral.<ref name="CatholicHerald" /><ref name="spirit">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020, she helped raise £10,000 towards the restoration of the cathedral's roof.<ref name="spirit" /> She was a patron of the Beatrix Potter Society and Keswick's Theatre by the Lake.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was a close friend of Betty Boothroyd, a Labour Party MP and Speaker of the House of Commons, and her cover of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" was played at Boothroyd's funeral in March 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Death

Routledge died on 3 October 2025 at the age of 96 at Wellington Grange Care Home in Chichester.<ref name="Gates2025">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tributes to her were paid by BBC director of comedy Jon Petrie, who described her as an actor of "remarkable range" and her role in Keeping Up Appearances as "one of the most iconic performances in British comedy", adding that she "made millions laugh and left a legacy that will always be remembered with gratitude and admiration".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Keeping Up Appearances creator Roy Clarke said that he was "sorry, as sure as so many people would be, to hear of [her death]" and that it was "a fortunate coincidence to find [his] scripts in the hands of such an accomplished actor".<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> Routledge said of the afterlife: "When I approach the pearly gates, I'd like to hear a champagne cork popping, an orchestra tuning up and the sound of my mother laughing."<ref name="Gates2025"/> Her funeral was held at Chichester Cathedral on 5 November 2025.<ref name=susexpress>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Honours

Routledge was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours,<ref name=biography>"Patricia Routledge Biography". Chichester Festival Theatre. Retrieved 29 March 2011. Template:Webarchive</ref> and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to theatre and charity.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Routledge was awarded an honorary MA by the University of Chichester in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2008, Routledge received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Lancaster University for her contribution to drama and theatre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 15 March 2019, she received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Chester at Chester Cathedral for her contributions to theatre and television.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022, the Royal Academy of Music conferred Routledge with honorary membership.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An honorary president of the Association of English Singers & Speakers (which exists to "encourage communication of English words in speech and song with clarity, understanding and imagination"), Routledge sponsored the annual AESS National English Song Prize from 2003 until her death.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was given the Freedom of the Borough of Wirral on 17 January 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director
1967	To Sir, with Love	Clinty Clintridge	James Clavell
	Pretty Polly	Miss Gudgeon	Guy Green
1968	30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia	Mrs Woolley	Joseph McGrath<ref name="bfi"/>
	Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River	Lucille Beatty	Jerry Paris<ref name="bfi">Template:Cite web</ref>
	The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom	Miss Reece	Joseph McGrath<ref name="bfi"/>
1969	Lock Up Your Daughters	Nurse	Peter Coe<ref name="bfi"/>
	If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium	Mrs Featherstone	Mel Stuart
1970	Egghead's Robot	Mrs Janice Wentworth	Milo Lewis
1971	Girl Stroke Boy	Pamela Hovendon	Bob Kellett<ref name="bfi"/>
Sources:<ref name="tv guide">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rotten tomatoes">Template:Cite web</ref>

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956–1966	ITV Play of the Week	Various	6 episodes
1960	The Terrible Choice
1961	Hilda Lessways	Hilda Lessways	6 episodes
	Coronation Street	Sylvia Snape	5 episodes
1961–1970	Armchair Theatre<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Miss Furling/New mother	2 episodes
1962	Hobson's Choice	Maggie Hobson	Granada TV play
1962	Z-Cars	Madge Kenton	1 episode
1964	Victoria Regina	Queen Victoria	Four part serial
1965	Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life	Irish Mother	2 episodes
	No Hiding Place	Pat	1 episode
	Gaslight Theatre	'Our Mary'
1967	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Beryl Turner
	Seven Deadly Sins	Mrs Vealfoy	1 episode, "The Good and Faithful Servant"
	Androcles and the Lion	Megaera, Androcles' Wife	Television film
1968	The Ed Sullivan Show	Performer, "Not on Your Nellie"	Soundtrack
1969	ITV Saturday Night Theatre	Hazel Day	1 episode
1970	Egghead's Robot	Mrs Janice Wentworth	Children's Film Foundation<ref name="bfi"/>
	ITV Playhouse	Fern/Rose	1 episode
1971	Sense and Sensibility	Mrs. Jennings	4 episodes
	Doctor at Large	Audrey Watt	1 episode
	Play of the Month: Tartuffe<ref>"TV transmission – Play of the Month: Tartuffe" Template:Webarchive, BFI Film & TV database.</ref>	Dorine	Videotaped drama
	Vincent Price is in the Country	Herself	Television film
1972	His and Hers	Myrtle Waller	1 episode
1973	Ooh La La!	Lucienne Homenides de Histangau
	That's Life	On-screen participant	BBC pilot programme<ref name="bfi"/>
1974	Affairs of the Heart	Mrs. Meldrum	1 episode
	Steptoe and Son	Madame Fontana
	...And Mother Makes Five	Mrs. Fletcher	2 episodes
	David Copperfield	Mrs. Micawber	3 episodes
1975	Play of the Month: When We Are Married	Annie Parker	Videotaped drama
	More Awkward Customers	Cast member	Video Arts training film<ref name="bfi"/>
1976	Crown Court	Dr. Barbara Baxter	3 episodes
1977	Nicholas Nickleby	Madame Mantalini	BBC mini-series
	Jubilee	Jane	1 episode, "Plain Jane". Broadcast 14 June 1977
	The Cost of Loving	Sarah Taplow
1978	BBC2 Play of the Week	Miss Protheroe	1 episode, "A Visit from Miss Protheroe"
	Doris and Doreen	Doreen Bidmead	Television film (see Office Suite below)
1979	Crown Court	Rita Finch	3 episodes
1980	The Pirates of Penzance	Ruth	Television film
	Play for Today	ATS Officer	1 episode, "The Imitation Game"
	The Curse of King Tut's Tomb	'Posh' Lady	Television film
1982	Objects of Affection	Peggy Schofield	1 episode, "A Woman of No Importance"
1983	The Beggar's Opera	Mrs. Peachum	Television film
	Keep Off the Grass	Bag Lady	Short
	The Two Ronnies	Madame Bultitude	1 episode
1984	Home Video		Television film
1985	Marjorie and Men	Marjorie Belton	6 episodes
1985–1986	Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV	Kitty	5 episodes
1987	When We Are Married	Maria Helliwell	Television film
1988	Tales of the Unexpected	Milly Dobson	1 episode, "The Verger"
	Talking Heads	Miss Ruddock	1 episode, "A Lady of Letters"
	Sophia and Constance	Mrs Baines	3 episodes
1989	First and Last	Ivy	Television film
	Let's Face the Music	On screen participant	Yorkshire TV (programmes on Noël Coward, Jerome Kern and Frederick Loewe)<ref name="bfi"/>
1990	Missing Persons	Hetty Wainthropp	Television film
	Alas Smith and Jones		1 episode
1991	Miss Pym's Day Out	Barbara Pym
1993	The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends	Cousin Ribby	2 episodes
1994	Hildegard of Bingen	Hildegard von Bingen	BBC TV Dramatisation/documentary<ref name="bfi"/>
1990–1995	Keeping Up Appearances	Hyacinth Bucket	Main role
1996–1998	Hetty Wainthropp Investigates	Hetty Wainthropp
1998	Talking Heads 2	Miss Fozzard	1 episode, "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet"
2001	Anybody's Nightmare	Sheila Bowler	Television film
2005	Blips	Narrator	Voice
2016	Beatrix Potter with Patricia Routledge	Herself – Presenter	Documentary
2023	Keeping Up Appearances – 30 Years Of Laughs	Herself/Hyacinth Bucket/Kitty
2024	Dame Patricia Routledge...Remembers Keeping Up Appearances	Herself/Hyacinth Bucket
	Dame Patricia Routledge...Remembers Miss Pym's Day Out	Herself/Barbara Pym
	Dame Patricia Routledge...Remembers Hetty Wainthropp Investigates	Herself/Hetty Wainthropp
	Dame Patricia Routledge...Remembers Talking Heads	Herself/Miss Irene Ruddock/Miss Fozzard
Sources:<ref name="tv guide"/><ref name="rotten tomatoes"/>

Stage

Year	Production	Role	Venue
1952	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hippolyta	Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool
1954	The Duenna	Carlotta	Bristol Old Vic and Westminster Theatre, London
1956	The Comedy of Errors	Adriana	Arts Theatre, London
1957	Zuleika	Aunt Mabel	Saville Theatre, London
1959	The Love Doctor	Henrietta Argan	Piccadilly Theatre, London
1960	Follow That Girl	Mrs Gilchrist	Vaudeville Theatre, London
1961	Come As You Are		Guildford
	Out of My Mind		Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
1962	Little Mary Sunshine	Mary Potts ("Little Mary Sunshine")	Comedy Theatre, London
1963	Virtue in Danger<ref>Jacobs, Arthur. "At the Musical: Virtue in Danger. Mermaid Theatre, 16 April". Opera, June 1963, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 429–430. "A musical version of Vanbrugh's The Relapse (1697)"; "In an able cast, dashingly directed by Wendy Toye, John Moffatt (Foppington) stood out for his acting and Patricia Routledge (Berinthia) for singing and acting combined."</ref>	Berinthia	Mermaid Theatre and Strand Theatre, London
1964	Home and Beauty	Victoria	Croydon
1965	How's the World Treating You?	Violet/Nell/Rover	Arts Theatre and Wyndham's Theatre, London (1965) and Music Box Theatre, New York City (1966)
1968	Darling of the Day	Alice Challice	George Abbott Theatre, New York City
	Love Match	Queen Victoria	Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles
1969	The Caucasian Chalk Circle	Mother-in-law	Chichester Festival Theatre
	The Country Wife	Lady Fidget
	The Magistrate	Agatha Posket	Chichester Festival Theatre and Cambridge Theatre, London
1971	First Impressions	Mrs Bennet	Birmingham Repertory Theatre
1972	Cowardy Custard		Mermaid Theatre, London
1973	Dandy Dick	Georgina Tidman	Chichester Festival Theatre and Garrick Theatre, London
1975	The Cherry Orchard	Madame Ranevskaya	Bristol Old Vic
	Othello	Emilia	Chichester Festival Theatre
	Made in Heaven	Martha Avon
1976	1600 Pennsylvania Avenue	All of the First Ladies	Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York City
	The Rivals	Mrs Malaprop	Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
	Zack	Mrs Munnings
1977	On Approval	Maria Wislack	Vaudeville Theatre, London
1978	The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein	The Grand Duchess	Collegiate Theatre, Camden, London
	Gracious Living<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Daisy Tuttle	Eisenhower Theatre, Washington, D.C.
	Semmelweiss	Julia
1979	The Schoolmistress	Miss Dyott	Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
	And a Nightingale Sang...	Peggy Stott	Queen's Theatre, London
1980	The Pirates of Penzance	Ruth	Delacorte Theater, New York City
1981	Say Hello to Harvey		Toronto, Canada
1982	Noises Off	Dotty Otley	Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and Savoy Theatre, London
1983	When the Wind Blows		Whitehall Theatre, London
1984	Richard III	Queen Margaret	Royal Shakespeare Company
1985	Henry V	Mistress Quickly
1986	When We Are Married	Maria Helliwell	Whitehall Theatre, London
1988	Candide	Old Lady	The Old Vic, London
1989	Come for the Ride	(one-woman show)	UK tour
1992	Talking Heads	Miss Schofield/Miss Ruddock	Comedy Theatre, London
	Carousel	Nettie Fowler	National Theatre, London
1994	Mr and Mrs Nobody	Carrie Pooter	Greenwich Theatre, London
	The Rivals	Mrs Malaprop	Chichester Festival Theatre and Albery Theatre, London
	The Schoolmistress	Miss Dyott	Chichester Festival Theatre
1996	Beatrix	Beatrix Potter	Minerva Theatre, Chichester and UK tour
1999–2001	The Importance of Being Earnest	Lady Bracknell	Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket, London (1999), Australian tour (2000) and Savoy Theatre, London (2001)
2002	Wild Orchids<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>	Duchess	Chichester Festival Theatre
2004	The Solid Gold Cadillac	Mrs Laura Partridge	Garrick Theatre, London
2006	The Best of Friends	Dame Laurentia McLachlan	Hampstead Theatre and UK tour
2007	Office Suite	Miss Protheroe/Doreen	Minerva Theatre, Chichester and UK tour
2008	Crown Matrimonial	Queen Mary	UK tour
2009–2019	Admission: One Shilling	Myra Hess	UK and Australian tours
2009–2025	Facing the Music	Herself	UK tours
2014	An Ideal Husband	Lady Markby	Chichester Festival Theatre
Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Discography

Cast recordings

Year	Album	Notes
1960	Follow That Girl	Original London Cast
1962	Little Mary Sunshine
1963	Virtue in Danger
1965	Hello, Dolly!	1965 London Studio Cast (Mrs Irene Molloy)
1966	The Sound of Music	1966 London Studio Cast (Mother Abbess)
1967	Androcles and the Lion	1967 Television Cast
	Kiss Me, Kate	1967 London Studio Cast (Lilli/Katherine)
1968	Darling of the Day	1968 Original Broadway Cast
1969	A Talent to Amuse: Noel Coward's 70th Birthday Concert	1969 Concert Cast
1970	Noel Coward's 'Nude With Violin'	1970 BBC Radio 4 Production Cast
1972	Cowardy Custard	1972 Original London Cast
1976	Cole	1976 Studio Cast
1985	I Remember Mama	1985 Original Cast Members (Aunt Jenny)
1987	An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner	1987 Concert Cast
Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Studio albums

Year	Album	Notes
1973	Presenting Patricia Routledge	Re-released on CD in 1996<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1966	Whitbread Award	Outstanding Musical Performance	How's The World Treating You?	rowspan=2 Template:Won
1968	Tony Award	Best Actress in a Musical	Darling of the Day<ref name=":1" />
1979	Olivier Award	Best Supporting Actress	And a Nightingale Sang...<ref name=westend>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Nom
1984	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actress	A Woman of No Importance	Template:Won
1985	Olivier Award	Best Supporting Performance	Richard III<ref name=westend />	Template:Nom
1988		Best Actress in a Musical	Candide<ref name="Gates2025"/>	Template:Won
1989	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actress	Talking Heads: A Lady of Letters	Template:Nom
1991	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actress	Keeping Up Appearances<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Won
1992	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance		rowspan=3 Template:Nom
	Olivier Award	Best Actress	Talking Heads<ref name=westend />
1993	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Keeping Up Appearances
	Variety Club of Great Britain Award	Personality of the Year		Template:Won
Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=westend />

External links

• Template:Usurped
• Selected performances in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• Interview January, 2015, in the Coeur d' Alene Press Template:Webarchive
• Template:IBDB name
• Template:IMDb name
• Patricia Routledge at the British Film Institute
• Template:Discogs artist
• Hobson's Choice – starring Michael Caine & Patricia Routledge (1962) on YouTube