Una Stubbs

Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was a British actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television, in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film Summer Holiday (1963) and later played Rita Rawlins in the BBC sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975) and In Sickness and in Health (1985–1992). Her other television roles include Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981) and Miss Bat in The Worst Witch (1998–2001). She also appeared as Sherlock Holmes's landlady Mrs. Hudson in the BAFTA-winning television series Sherlock (2010–2017) where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Crime Thriller Awards.

Career

As a 16-year-old, in 1953, she danced in a Folies Bergère-style musical revue, "Pardon My French", at the Prince of Wales Theatre, alongside Frankie Howerd and the pianist Winifred Atwell. She first appeared on television as one of the Dougie Squires Dancers on the British television music show Cool for Cats (ITV) in 1956.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="GuardianObit">Template:Cite web</ref> She also appeared as a dancer at the London Palladium.<ref name="online"/> and worked in cabaret, clubs and revues in London, and was in Lionel Blair's dance ensemble.<ref name="gene"/>

During 1958–59, Stubbs was the "cover girl" of Dairy Box chocolates, produced by Rowntree.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She referred to herself as the "Rowntree's Chocolate Girl", when describing a visit she made to the Rowntree's factory in York (where unknown to her, her grandfather had worked).<ref>Who Do You Think You Are?, "Una Stubbs", Director Mary Cranitch, Producer Colette Flight, BBC, 2013, approx 26 minutes</ref>

In 1963 she joined the cast of new charades-based gameshow Don't Say a Word (ITV), a forerunner of Give Us a Clue.<ref name="online"/> Her first screen role was in the Cliff Richard film Summer Holiday (1963). She also appeared in Richard's next film, Wonderful Life (1964). Soon afterward, she made her breakthrough in television comedy, playing Rita, the married daughter of Alf Garnett in the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1966–1975). In 1968, as a direct spin-off from the sitcom, she appeared, alongside Warren Mitchell, in a series of television adverts for Findus frozen products.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She also appeared in the short-lived sitcom Till Death... (1981), again playing Rita.<ref name="ente_Till">Template:Cite web</ref> She played Rita a third time in a few episodes of the BBC sitcom In Sickness and in Health (1985–1992).<ref name="ScotsmanObit">Template:Cite web</ref> During 1970–71, Stubbs teamed again with Cliff Richard to appear each week on his BBC1 TV Series, It's Cliff Richard!.<ref name="ScotsmanObit"/> When she did not take part in the next series as it was broadcast shortly after she had a baby, her TV "mother", Dandy Nichols from Till Death Us Do Part, took her place.<ref name="JoeObit">Template:Cite web</ref>

Stubbs featured in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Anniversary" in 1979.<ref name="BFIFilmo">Template:Cite web</ref> From 1979 to 1981, she played Aunt Sally in the ITV children's series Worzel Gummidge opposite Jon Pertwee and Barbara Windsor,<ref name="huff_UnaS">Template:Cite web</ref> and was for several years a team captain in the weekly game show Give Us a Clue in the 1980s, reuniting her with Lionel Blair, the other team captain.<ref name="GuardianObit"/>

She appeared in the shows Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat, Casualty, Keeping Up Appearances, Born and Bred and The Worst Witch.<ref name="BFIFilmo"/><ref name="tvma_Casu"/> In recent years, Stubbs also appeared in Victoria Wood's We'd Quite Like to Apologise, The Catherine Tate Show, Agatha Christie's Marple, EastEnders, Benidorm and, from 2010, Sherlock as Mrs. Hudson where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Crime Thriller Awards.<ref name="BFIFilmo"/><ref name="WeWouldQuite">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="SherlockChronicles"/> She appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife in 2015.<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>

Stubbs was on the West End stage in Noël Coward's Star Quality with Penelope Keith in 2001 and Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos with Derek Jacobi in 2005.<ref name="StarQuality">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="GuardianObit"/> Her other theatre credits included La Cage Aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Pygmalion at the Theatre Royal, Bath and Old Vic and The Family Reunion at the Donmar Warehouse. She was in the original cast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at the National Theatre in 2012.<ref name="GuardianObit"/>

In 2015 she co-presented The Big Painting Challenge on BBC One alongside Richard Bacon.<ref name="GuardianObit"/>

Personal life

Stubbs was born in 1937 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the daughter of Angela K. Rawlinson and Clarence Reginald Stubbs.<ref name="gene">Template:Cite web</ref> She grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was sent to La Roche dancing school in Slough by her mother.<ref name="online">Template:Cite web</ref> She was married to the actor Peter Gilmore from 1958 to 1969: they adopted a son, Jason. After their divorce in 1969, she married actor Nicky Henson. They divorced in 1975 but remained good friends. She and Henson had two children: composer Christian Henson (born 25 December 1971), and musician-composer Joe Henson (born 18 September 1973).<ref>Stubbs to join ex-husband in soap BBC News 23 May 2006</ref>

For many years, Stubbs sketched vignettes of characters around London, and held exhibitions of these near her London home.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On several occasions, paintings by Stubbs were exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, most recently in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Stubbs had known her Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch since he was four years old, as she had worked with his mother, Wanda Ventham.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stubbs was the subject of an episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast on 24 July 2013. It discussed several of her ancestors, including her great-grandfather Sir Ebenezer Howard, who was the founder of the garden city movement, and was the driving force in the design and creation of the first garden cities, Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, situated in Hertfordshire.<ref name="WDYTYA">Template:Cite episode</ref>

After several months of ill health, Stubbs died at her home in Edinburgh on 12 August 2021, at the age of 84.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1963	Summer Holiday	Sandy		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
	West 11	Girl on Her Knees at Party	Uncredited
1964	The Bargee	Bridesmaid	Uncredited	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
	Wonderful Life	Barbara Tate		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1965	Three Hats for Lisa	Flora		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1967	Mister Ten Per Cent	Lady Dorothea		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1969	Till Death Us Do Part	Rita Garnett Rawlins		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1973	Penny Gold	Anna		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1974	Bedtime with Rosie	Rosie		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1978	The Water Babies		Voice
2007	Angel	Miss Dawson		<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2016	National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses	Madame de Rosemond
	Golden Years	Shirley		<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1960	The Strange World of Gurney Slade	Vacuum Cleaner Girl / Girl in Park	2 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1966–1975	Till Death Us Do Part	Rita Garnett Rawlins	52 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1971	The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes	Katie Harris	Episode: "The Woman in the Big Hat"	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1970–1972	It's Cliff Richard!	Herself	33 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1978	Whodunnit?	Herself – panellist	TV game show
1979	Fawlty Towers	Alice	Episode: "The Anniversary"	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1979–1981	Worzel Gummidge	Aunt Sally	21 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1979–1986	Give Us a Clue	Herself	Multiple episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1981	Till Death...	Rita Garnett Rawlins	6 episodes	<ref name="ente_Till"/>
1985–1986	In Sickness and in Health	Rita Garnett Rawlins	9 episodes	<ref name="ScotsmanObit"/>
1987–1989	Worzel Gummidge Down Under	Aunt Sally	22 episodes	<ref name="StuffNZObit">Template:Cite web</ref>
1989	Victoria Wood	Una	Episode: "We'd Quite Like to Apologise"	<ref name="WeWouldQuite"/>
1989	Tricky Business	Mrs. Breeze	9 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1995	Keeping Up Appearances	Mrs. Moody	Episode: "The Pageant"	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1995, 1997	Heartbeat	Anthea Cowley	2 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1996	Delta Wave	Gilly Pigeon	4 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
1998	Midsomer Murders	Selina Jennings	Episode: "Written in Blood"	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2000	Casualty	Joan Banville	Episode: "Not Waving but Drowning"	<ref name="tvma_Casu">Template:Cite web</ref>
1998–2000	The Worst Witch	Miss Davina Bat	25 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2003	Born and Bred	Joy	Episode: "A Very Ormston Christmas"	<ref name="dvdl_DVDL">Template:Cite web</ref>
2004	Von Trapped	Kath Moogan	TV movie	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
2005–2007	The Catherine Tate Show	Carole-Ann & Ursula	4 episodes	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
2006	EastEnders	Caroline Bishop	6 episodes	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
2006	Agatha Christie's Marple	Edith Pagett	Episode: "Sleeping Murder"	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
2007–2009	Mist: Sheepdog Tales	Fern	23 episodes	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
2009	Benidorm	Diana Armstrong	Season 3 Episode 5	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2009	Ingenious	Gransha	TV movie	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2010–2017	Sherlock	Mrs. Hudson	13 episodes	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2011	The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff	Aunt Good Spelling	Episode: "Christmas Special"	<ref name="bbc._BBCT">Template:Cite web</ref>
2012	National Theatre Live	Mrs. Alexander	Episode: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"	<ref name="inde_Firs">Template:Cite web</ref>
2013	Who Do You Think You Are?	Herself	Series 10, Episode 1	<ref name="bbc._BBCO">Template:Cite web</ref>
2013	Starlings	Molly	4 episodes	<ref name="SherlockChronicles"/>
2013	Coming Up	Cynthia	Episode: "Sink Or Swim"	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2013	The Tractate Middoth	Miss Chambers		<ref name="SherlockChronicles">Template:Cite book</ref>
2015	Midsomer Murders	Audrey Braylesford	Episode 17.1 "The Dagger Club"	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2015	The Big Painting Challenge	Co-Presenter	Series 1	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2015	Call The Midwife	Gert Mills	Episode #4.7	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2017	The Durrells	Mrs. Haddock	Series 2, Episode 4	<ref name="BFIFilmo"/>
2017	Murder on the Blackpool Express	Peggy	TV movie, final film role	<ref name="blac_John">Template:Cite web</ref>

Audio dramas

Year	Title	Role	Ref
2007	Doctor Who: Horror of Glam Rock	Flo	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Theatre

Year	Title	Playwright	Director	Role	Venue	Ref
1990	She Stoops to Conquer	Oliver Goldsmith	James Maxwell	Mrs Hardcastle	Royal Exchange, Manchester	<ref name="thea_Prod">Template:Cite web</ref>
1992	An Ideal Husband	Oscar Wilde	James Maxwell	Lady Markby	Royal Exchange, Manchester	<ref name="GuardianObit"/>
1996	The Philadelphia Story	Philip Barry	Josephine Abady	Margaret Lord	Royal Exchange, Manchester	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1997	The Deep Blue Sea	Terence Rattigan	Michael Grandage	Hester Collyer	Mercury Theatre, Colchester	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2001	Star Quality	Noël Coward	Christopher Luscombe	Marion Blakely	Apollo Theatre, London	<ref name="StarQuality"/>
2005	Don Carlos	Friedrich von Schiller	Michael Grandage	Duchess of Olivarez	Gielgud Theatre, London	<ref name="GuardianObit"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

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