Thelma Barlow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thelma Barlow (born June 19, 1929 in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire) is an English television actress.

In a career dating back to the 1950s, she remains best known for her portrayal of Mavis Riley, a role she played for twenty-six years in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.

The character of the mousy, eager-to-please Mavis made Thelma a firm favourite with the viewers. Coronation Street has always specialised in double acts—Stan and Hilda Ogden, Jack and Annie Walker, Jack and Vera Duckworth—and Mavis Riley and Rita Fairclough were no exception. Mavis, ever the romantic—she was once described as being "...born with a sigh and a flutter..."—was the complete opposite to the forthright, forceful Rita, who never failed to speak her mind when the occasion demanded it. Although it seemed that Rita bullied and dominated Mavis ("You want lockin' up you!") it was out of a genuine sense of love and affection.

Equally celebrated was her on screen partnership with Derek Wilton, who became her husband in 1988. Although their fellow residents of Coronation Street looked upon them with derision, Mavis and Derek loved each other very much; Mavis had always been shown to be a lonely, somewhat desperate woman, but she finally found her man.

Derek (Peter Baldwin) was killed off via a heart-attack as part of the new-broom attitude of incoming producer Brian Park, and, for a time, Thelma continued in the role. However it was obvious that, without Derek, the character was going nowhere, and she resigned. Her farewell scene, with Rita Sullivan, who had been her closest friend for over 25 years, was genuinely moving.

Her other notable projects include Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies (in which she starred beside one-time Coronation Street star Anne Reid) and a guest appearance in the ITV drama Where the Heart Is. She has also acted in film, notably in the 2005 movie Mrs Henderson Presents.

2006 saw her in the long running television series Midsomer Murders along side John Nettles; and in 2007 she will appear in the new series of Doctor Who.

Thelma of course started her career in the theatre, playing major roles with leading companies such as the Nottingham Playhouse and the Bristol Old Vic. Since leaving Coronation Street, she has enjoyed wide-ranging commitments in television, theatre and radio - and also as an author, writing a book about her special hobby, organic gardening, first published by Robson Books as Organic Gardening with Love and re-issued in paperback under the title Gardening Nature's Way.

Since Coronation Street, her return to the theatre has included Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and Mam in Alan Bennett's Enjoy (both at the West Yorkshire Playhouse), a new play, Smoking With Lulu (London Soho Theatre) and most recently, Abby Brewster in the successful revival of Arsenic and Old Lace.

Although sources often report that she was born in 1937, Barlow herself 'admitted' in a 2005 interview that she was born in 1929.