She had a great, long life so there's no reason to be extra sad, but this is a big one. Incredibly beloved as a National Treasure in her home country, the discussion was never whether or not she belonged on Mount Rushmore, but which of her characters, Margo Ledbetter or Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, should represent her.
Incredible. I'm grateful I got to know who she was while she was alive.
From my Top 10 BBC Sitcom Characters List back in 2018:
Her role as Margo Ledbetter in The Good Life could’ve easily gone in here since they’re basically the same character, but I chose [Audrey fforbes-Hamilton] because it’s the lead. It takes an amazing actress to pull off a character we’d normally be set up to not like, the sort of English upper-crust who believes people around her exist merely to maintain her own social status. There is a thrill in her initial “downfall”, but we quickly root for her because even though she’s a snob, she’s so damn likable. Partly because she’s of the (maybe?) last generation of “noblesse oblige”; she’s lost almost everything but the idea of letting her butler Brabinger loose out into the cruel world is unthinkable to her. Her role is to desperately fight maintain the status quo of her once and future estate. How good of a character is this? Incredibly, her natural sense of entitlement is somehow endearing.
As this clip below says, she was Comedy Royalty. And yes, she made my THINGS I LIKE list from a few years back.
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