Cast & creator
Lynda Bellingham
Best known for Midsomer Murders, Doctor Who, Casualty
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.
20
film credits
45
television credits
65
1962–2012 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (65)
Showing 65 of 65 credits
Midsomer Murders
Jane Willows
1997
Doctor Who
The Inquisitor
1963
Casualty
Steph Yates
1986
Loose Women
Self
1999
Wogan
Self
1982
Screen Two
Mary Morris
1985
Waking the Dead
Mary Mantel
2001
Z-Cars
1962
New Tricks
2004
The Professionals
Betty Hope
1977
An Audience with...
Self
1978
Dalziel and Pascoe
Jess Pitman
1996The Alan Titchmarsh Show
Self
2007
All Creatures Great and Small
Helen Herriot
1978
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Nurse Mary Tiller
1969
The Sweeney
Nancy King
1975
Blake's 7
Vena
1978
Angels
1975
Shoestring
Nicola
1979
Robin Hood
2006
Surprise, Surprise
Self
1984
At Home with the Braithwaites
Pauline Farnell
2000
Murder in Suburbia
Milly Goodman
2004
The Last Detective
2003
The Misfit
Wee Jeannie
1970
Martin Chuzzlewit
Mrs Lupin
1994
This Morning
Self
1988
All Star Mr & Mrs
2008
Second Thoughts
Faith
1991One Life
2003Funny Man
Gwen
1981
Faith in the Future
1995
Don't Forget to Write!
Angela
1977Junior Masterchef
1994
Filthy Rich & Catflap
Ms Tomkins
1987
Mackenzie
Ruth Isaacs
1980Gibberish
1992
Bonkers
Mrs Wadlow
2007Odd One In
2010Cottage to Let
Barbara
1977
Celebrity Naked Ambition
Self (archive footage)
2003
The Vision
Mary Morris
1987
Confessions of a Driving Instructor
Mary Truscott
1976
Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe
The Inquisitor
1986
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Maxine
1999
Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids
The Inquisitor
1986Mister Eleven
Shirley
2009
Yus, My Dear
Carol
1976
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998
Sweeney!
Janice Wyatt
1977
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
The Inquisitor
1986Reach for the Moon
Penny Martin
2000
Stand up, Virgin Soldiers
Valerie
1977
Bodywork
Poppy Fields
2001The Pink Medicine Show
1978
Riding High
Miss Mott
1981
Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet
The Inquisitor
1986
An Audience with Ronnie Corbett
1997
The Long Bank Holiday
Councillor Marjorie Balsam
2004
The Romanovs: A Crowned Family
Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna
2000The Waterloo Bridge Handicap
Likely Lady (Miss Beamish)
1978Tell Tarby
Nurse Norma Snockers
1973
The Scarlet Tunic
Emily Marlowe
1998
Devil's Gate
Marlene
2004Too Close for Comfort
Mum
2012