Josephine Tewson

Tewson, an only child, was born on her father’s twenty seventh birthday in Hampstead, London on 26 February 1931.[1][2] Her father, William (1904-1965) was a professional musician and played the double bass in the BBC Symphony Orchestra;[3] her mother, Kate (née Morley, 1908-1999), was a nurse, the daughter of footballer Haydn Morley, who captained The Wednesday in the 1890 FA Cup Final.[4] After grammar school, Tewson studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art[5] from which she graduated in 1952.[6]

Tewson began acting on the London stage in the 1950's and remained active in theater productions throughout her professional career. She appeared on television during the 1960's with semi-regular appearances on shows like Z-Cars, the The Dick Emery Show, and The Charlie Drake Show. She was a regular comedy performer in sketches on David Frost on Sunday and Hark at Barker (1969-1970).

She later appeared in Mostly Monkhouse, a BBC Radio comedy with David Jason and Bob Monkhouse. During the 1970s she had significant roles in comedy sitcoms including Six Dates with Barker, Coppers End (1971), and 1977's Odd Man Out (British TV series) with John Inman playing his half-sibling. She co-starred in "No Appointment Necessary" with Roy Kinnear, the tapes of which have been lost or destroyed.[7] Tewson played Edna Hawkins (usually referred to as "Mrs H" by Shelley) in the first six series of the British sitcom Shelley (1979–82).[8] Later, she played Jane Travers in Ronnie Barker's last starring television role before his retirement, the sitcom Clarence (1988), which he wrote.[9][10] She appeared as two characters in the 1984 children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman, as Gabrielle's father's housekeeper Mrs. Briggs, and as the Fairy Godmother.[11]

Tewson was rumoured to be Inman's cousin though she denied this in several interviews.[12]

Tewson's most prominent role was as Elizabeth "Liz" Warden, neighbour and reluctant confidante of social wannabe Hyacinth Bucket in the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances, written by Roy Clarke. She appeared semi-regularly as Miss Davenport in Last of the Summer Wine (2003–2010), a series also written by Clarke.[13] She appeared in two episodes of the documentary series Comedy Connections, talking about her work in Keeping Up Appearances (2004) and opposite The Two Ronnies (2005).[14] In 2009, she played Iris in the radio drama Leaves in Autumn written by Susan Casanove, produced by the Wireless Theatre Company.[15]

Other television appearances included an episode of Heartbeat ("Closing The Book", 2002), and as competition judge Samantha Johnstone in the mystery drama Midsomer Murders ("Judgement Day", 2000). She appeared in two episodes of Doctors as kleptomaniac Audrey Wilson ("Now You See It...", 2009), and as Marjorie Page, a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease ("The Bespectacled Bounder", 2012). Tewson played a school teacher in a Sugar Puffs "I Want My Honey" advert during the late 1980s/early 1990s.[16] Just after the end of Keeping Up Appearances, she played a nanny in a 30-second commercial for Nabisco Fruit Newtons, widely aired in 1997 in the United States.[17]

In 2012 Tewson launched her one-woman show, Still Keeping Up Appearances?, and toured the UK until her retirement in early 2019.[18][19]

Tewson married actor Leonard Rossiter in 1958. They divorced in 1961.[20] She married dental surgeon Henry Newman in 1972. Newman died in 1980.[21] Tewson died at Denville Hall, a retirement home in London for actors and other entertainment professionals, on 18 August 2022, aged 91.[22][23]

• Josephine Tewson at IMDb
• Dan Abramson "An Interview With Josephine Tewson, Britcoms.com, n.d.
• Josephine Tewson in radio play Leaves In Autumn
• Josephine Tewson discography at Discogs