One of the nation’s favourite sitcoms of the 1980s was Sorry!, which followed Timothy Lumsden’s attempts to move out of his family home, though always finding himself thwarted by his domineering mother, Phyllis.
Timothy was played by comedian Ronnie Corbett, while Phyllis was played by Barbara Lott. Other stars in the sitcom included William Moore, Marguerite Hardiman, Derek Fuke and Roy Holder.
Barbara, who died at the age of 82 in 2002, made her screen debut all the way back in 1939, when she appeared in an uncredited role in Let’s Be Famous. Subsequent film roles included The Party’s Over, Electric Moon and The Pillow Book, where she played the mother of Ewan McGregor’s character.
The actress had several roles on TV, including in Ballet Shoes, Rings on Their Fingers, 2point4 Children and the first two series of Doc Martin.
Away from her life of fame, Barbara was married to actor and producer Stuart Latham, who helped to pioneer one of Britain’s most iconic TV shows.
Scroll down for all you need to know about the couple…
Barbara’s famous husband
As an actor, Stuart was active in the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in the likes of The Ghost Train, The Man in the White Suit and The Galloping Major. However, it was as a producer that he really made his name, with the star working on the first 60 episodes of ITV’s Coronation Street, which has currently aired over 11,000 episodes.
Stuart even came up with the name for the soap opera with H. V. Kershaw recounting in his autobiography: “The following morning copies of a memorandum from Harry [Stuart’s real name] Latham winged their way to every interested recipient in Granada announcing that the new serial was to be known as Coronation Street.”
© Alamy Stock PhotoStuart (right) pioneered Coronation Street
Praising the BBC’s initial output, Stuart once mentioned his wife, saying: “But what an incredible range of drama it was that they did in those days. I mean – Shakespeare – there was Romeo and Juliet, which I seem to remember Julius Caesar in modern dress, As You Like It.
“I remember that as being a rather damp squid, Twelfth Night where Harold Clayton whose both Studio A and Studio B agitated actors were dashing from one studio another, and at one stage the Viola (Barbara Lott) was lurking in the corridor having been back to the dressing room to make a change couldn’t remember which studio she had to go in and was hovering until someone dashed out from Studio B saying, ‘This way, this way’ and the poor girl went in.”
Stuart and Barbara married in 1940, and they remained together until the producer died at the age of 81 in 1993.
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