Una Stubbs
Encyclopedia
Una Stubbs is an English
actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally
in the children's series Worzel Gummidge
.
, Leicestershire
. She first appeared on television as one of The Dougie Squires
Dancers on the British television music show Cool for Cats
in 1956. She also worked in cabaret
, clubs and revues in London during these years and was one of Lionel Blair
's dance ensemble.
Her first major screen role was in Cliff Richard
's 1963 film, Summer Holiday. She also appeared in Richard's next film, Wonderful Life
(1964). A few years later, she made her breakthrough in television comedy, playing Rita, the married daughter of Alf Garnett
in the controversial BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1966–75). She also appeared in the short-lived sitcom Till Death...
(1981), again playing Rita. She played Rita a third time in a few episodes of the BBC sitcom In Sickness and in Health
(1985–92). From 1970-1972, Stubbs teamed again with Cliff Richard to appear each week on his BBC1 TV Series, It's Cliff Richard!. When she was absent from the show due to her pregnancy, her TV 'mother', Dandy Nichols
from Till Death..., appeared in her place on several editions.
Stubbs featured in the Fawlty Towers
episode "The Anniversary
" in 1979. From 1979 to 1981, Stubbs played Aunt Sally in the ITV children's series Worzel Gummidge
opposite Jon Pertwee
and Barbara Windsor
and was for several years a team captain in the weekly game show Give Us a Clue
in the 1980s, reuniting her with Lionel Blair, the other team captain.
She has appeared in shows such as Midsomer Murders
, Heartbeat, Casualty
, Keeping Up Appearances
, Born and Bred
and The Worst Witch
. In recent years, Stubbs has also appeared in Victoria Wood
's We'd Quite Like To Apologise, The Catherine Tate Show
, Agatha Christie's Marple, EastEnders
, Benidorm
and Sherlock as Mrs. Hudson.
Stubbs appeared on the West End
stage in Noël Coward
's Star Quality with Penelope Keith
in 2001 and Fredrich Schiller
's Don Carlos
with Derek Jacobi
in 2005. In recent years she has appeared in La Cage Aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory
, Pygmalion
at the Theatre Royal, Bath
and Old Vic
and The Family Reunion
by T.S Elliot at the Donmar Warehouse
.
Indie grumblers Half Man Half Biscuit
refer to Una in their song God Gave Us Life, from the album Back in the DHSS
.
from 1958 to 1969: they adopted a son, Jason. After their divorce in 1969, she married actor Nicky Henson
. They divorced in 1975 but remain good friends. She and Henson had two children: composer Christian Henson (born 25 December 1971), and musician-composer Joe Henson (born 18 September 1973).
For many years, Stubbs has sketched vignette
s of characters around London, and has held exhibitions of these near her Mayfair
home.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally
Aunt Sally
thumb|right|312px|A drawing from the 1911 edition of Whiteley's General Catalogue.Aunt Sally is a traditional throwing game. The term is often used metaphorically to mean something that is a target for criticism...
in the children's series Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge (TV series)
Worzel Gummidge is a children's television series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, based on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd. Starting in 1979, the programme starred Jon Pertwee in the title role and ran for four series in the UK until 1981...
.
Film and television
Una Stubbs was born at HinckleyHinckley
Hinckley is a town in southwest Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 43,246 . It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. She first appeared on television as one of The Dougie Squires
Dougie Squires
Dougie Squires is an English choreographer known best for his work in television that dates from the mid-1950s.The groups he has choreographed for television include:*The Dougie Squires Dancers...
Dancers on the British television music show Cool for Cats
Cool For Cats (TV show)
Cool For Cats was one of the first shows on British TV to feature music for a teenage audience. It was produced by Associated Rediffusion, part of the ITV network, and ran from December 1956 to February 1961....
in 1956. She also worked in cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
, clubs and revues in London during these years and was one of Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
's dance ensemble.
Her first major screen role was in Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
's 1963 film, Summer Holiday. She also appeared in Richard's next film, Wonderful Life
Wonderful Life
Wonderful Life may refer to:*Wonderful Life ,a 1989 book on evolution by Stephen Jay Gould- Film and television :*Wonderful Life , 1964 film starring Cliff Richard...
(1964). A few years later, she made her breakthrough in television comedy, playing Rita, the married daughter of Alf Garnett
Alf Garnett
Alf Garnett is a fictional character in the British sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part, Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health, and chat show The Thoughts of Chairman Alf. He was created by Johnny Speight and played by Warren Mitchell....
in the controversial BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1966–75). She also appeared in the short-lived sitcom Till Death...
Till Death...
Till Death... was an ITV sitcom that aired from 22 May to 3 July 1981.-Series:In 1981, the popular TV sitcom Till Death Us Do Part was picked up by ITV company ATV and brought back for a further six episodes, this time under the title Till Death... as the title Till Death Us Do Part was controlled...
(1981), again playing Rita. She played Rita a third time in a few episodes of the BBC sitcom In Sickness and in Health
In Sickness and in Health
In Sickness and in Health was a BBC television sitcom which ran between 1985 and 1992. It was also a sequel to both the highly successful Til Death Us Do Part which ran between 1966 and 1975 and Till Death... which ran for one series in 1981.-Series 1:This comedy series debuted in 1985 and took...
(1985–92). From 1970-1972, Stubbs teamed again with Cliff Richard to appear each week on his BBC1 TV Series, It's Cliff Richard!. When she was absent from the show due to her pregnancy, her TV 'mother', Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols
-References:* Dandy Nichols at screenonline.* Dandy Nichols at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.-External links:...
from Till Death..., appeared in her place on several editions.
Stubbs featured in the Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
episode "The Anniversary
The Anniversary (Fawlty Towers)
"The Anniversary" is the fifth episode of the second series of BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.- Synopsis :Basil pretends to have forgotten about Sybil's and his wedding anniversary, having secretly arranged a cocktail party with their friends due to arrive any minute. However, Sybil becomes enraged with...
" in 1979. From 1979 to 1981, Stubbs played Aunt Sally in the ITV children's series Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow...
opposite Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
and Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor
Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
and was for several years a team captain in the weekly game show Give Us a Clue
Give Us A Clue
Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1983, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una...
in the 1980s, reuniting her with Lionel Blair, the other team captain.
She has appeared in shows such as Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
, Heartbeat, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
, Born and Bred
Born and Bred
Born and Bred is a light-hearted British drama series that aired on BBC One from 2002 to 2005. Created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery, Born and Breds cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French, who play a father and son who run a cottage hospital in Ormston, a fictional Lancashire village...
and The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch (TV series)
The Worst Witch is a British ITV television series about a group of young witches at a Magic Academy. The series stars Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones, and is based on The Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy. It aired for a total of 3 series between 1998 and 2001 before being followed by...
. In recent years, Stubbs has also appeared in Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood (1989 TV series)
Victoria Wood was a series of six one-off situation comedies written by and starring Victoria Wood in 1989, who took a break from sketches, two years after her very successful and award winning series Victoria Wood As Seen On TV. Wood appeared as "Victoria" in all six episodes and "Miss Wood" in...
's We'd Quite Like To Apologise, The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Aschlin Ditta. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. The Catherine Tate Show airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC...
, Agatha Christie's Marple, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, Benidorm
Benidorm (TV series)
Benidorm is an award-winning British television comedy-drama that is produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV and written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, exploiting the working-class stereotype of this popular tourist destination....
and Sherlock as Mrs. Hudson.
Stubbs appeared on the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stage in Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Star Quality with Penelope Keith
Penelope Keith
Penelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
in 2001 and Fredrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's Don Carlos
Don Carlos (play)
Don Carlos is a historical tragedy in five acts by Friedrich Schiller; it was written between 1783 and 1787 and first produced in Hamburg in 1787...
with Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
in 2005. In recent years she has appeared in La Cage Aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory
Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier Chocolate Factory is an award-winning 180 seat fringe studio theatre, restaurant and gallery. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate Company factory in Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England. The theatre stages plays...
, Pygmalion
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
at the Theatre Royal, Bath
Theatre Royal, Bath
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, is over 200 years old. It is one of the more important theatres in the United Kingdom outside London, with capacity for an audience of around 900....
and Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
and The Family Reunion
The Family Reunion
The Family Reunion is a play by T. S. Eliot. Written mostly in blank verse, it incorporates elements from Greek drama and mid-twentieth-century detective plays to portray the hero's journey from guilt to redemption. The play was unsuccessful when first presented in 1939, and was later regarded as...
by T.S Elliot at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
.
Indie grumblers Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...
refer to Una in their song God Gave Us Life, from the album Back in the DHSS
Back in the DHSS
-2003 Rerelease:# "Busy Little Market Town"# "God Gave Us Life"# "Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus"# "Sealclubbing"# "99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd"# "Time Flies By "# "I Hate Nerys Hughes "...
.
Personal life
Stubbs was married to the actor Peter GilmorePeter Gilmore
Peter Gilmore is a British actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Captain James Onedin in the BBC Television period drama The Onedin Line. He also had roles in eleven Carry On films, and played the heroic lead in the adventure film Warlords of Atlantis...
from 1958 to 1969: they adopted a son, Jason. After their divorce in 1969, she married actor Nicky Henson
Nicky Henson
Nicholas Victor Leslie "Nicky" Henson is an English actor who has portrayed many roles since 1963. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977. He was born in London.-Early life:...
. They divorced in 1975 but remain good friends. She and Henson had two children: composer Christian Henson (born 25 December 1971), and musician-composer Joe Henson (born 18 September 1973).
For many years, Stubbs has sketched vignette
Vignette (graphic design)
Vignettes, in graphic design, are decorative designs usually in books, used both to separate sections or chapters and to decorate borders.In Descriptive, or Analytical Bibliography for the hand-press period a vignette refers to an engraved design printed using a copper-plate press, on a page that...
s of characters around London, and has held exhibitions of these near her Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
home.
Television shows and films
Only the entries for 1963, 1964, 1965 and 2009 are theatrical films- Summer Holiday (1963) as Sandy
- The BargeeThe BargeeThe Bargee is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Duncan Wood, and starring Harry H. Corbett, Hugh Griffith, Eric Sykes and Ronnie Barker. The screenplay was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.-Plot:...
(1964) as Bridesmaid - Wonderful Life (1964) as Barbara
- Three Hats for LisaThree Hats for LisaThree Hats for Lisa is a 1965 British comedy film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Joe Brown, Sophie Hardy]], Una Stubbs and Dave Nelson.-Cast:* Joe Brown - Johnny Howjego* Sophie Hardy - Lisa Milan* Una Stubbs - Flora* Sid James - Sid Marks...
(1965) - Mister Ten Per CentMister Ten Per CentMister Ten Per Cent is a 1967 British comedy film, directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Charlie Drake.-Plot:Percy Pointer, a construction worker and amateur dramatist, writes a drama 'Oh My Lord' and hopes to have it professionally produced. A dishonest producer agrees to back the play,...
(1967) - Till Death Us Do Part as Rita (28 episodes, 1966–1974)
- Till Death Us Do PartTill Death Us Do Part (film)Till Death Us Do Part is a 1969 film based on the BBC television series Till Death Us Do Part which aired from 1965 until 1975. The film was directed by Norman Cohen and written by Johnny Speight, the creator of the television version.-Plot:...
(1969) as Rita - Fawlty TowersFawlty TowersFawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
(1979) as Alice (in the episode The AnniversaryThe Anniversary (Fawlty Towers)"The Anniversary" is the fifth episode of the second series of BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.- Synopsis :Basil pretends to have forgotten about Sybil's and his wedding anniversary, having secretly arranged a cocktail party with their friends due to arrive any minute. However, Sybil becomes enraged with...
) - Worzel GummidgeWorzel Gummidge (TV series)Worzel Gummidge is a children's television series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, based on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd. Starting in 1979, the programme starred Jon Pertwee in the title role and ran for four series in the UK until 1981...
as Aunt Sally (21 episodes, 1979–1981) - Till Death...Till Death...Till Death... was an ITV sitcom that aired from 22 May to 3 July 1981.-Series:In 1981, the popular TV sitcom Till Death Us Do Part was picked up by ITV company ATV and brought back for a further six episodes, this time under the title Till Death... as the title Till Death Us Do Part was controlled...
as Rita (6 episodes, 1981) - In Sickness and in HealthIn Sickness and in HealthIn Sickness and in Health was a BBC television sitcom which ran between 1985 and 1992. It was also a sequel to both the highly successful Til Death Us Do Part which ran between 1966 and 1975 and Till Death... which ran for one series in 1981.-Series 1:This comedy series debuted in 1985 and took...
as Rita (9 episodes, 1985–1986) - Worzel Gummidge Down UnderWorzel Gummidge Down UnderWorzel Gummidge Down Under, adapted from the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd and the children's television programme produced and broadcasted in the United Kingdom named Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee...
as Aunt Sally (11 episodes, 1987–1989) - The Worst WitchThe Worst WitchThe Worst Witch is a series of children's novels written and illustrated by Jill Murphy and published by Puffin Books. The first book was published in 1974. They have become some of the most outstandingly successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than 4 million copies....
as Miss Bat (25 episodes, 1998–2000) - The Catherine Tate ShowThe Catherine Tate ShowThe Catherine Tate Show is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Aschlin Ditta. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. The Catherine Tate Show airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC...
as Carole-Ann & Ursula (2 episodes, 2005) - EastEndersEastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
as Caroline Bishop (6 episodes, 2006) - Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog PuppyMist: The Tale Of A Sheepdog PuppyMist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy is a British family television film following the life of a border collie puppy as she grows up to become a working Herding dog. Part fiction, part documentary, it was filmed by real-life shepherd David Kennard on his farm in Devon...
as Fern (23 episodes, 2007–2009) - BenidormBenidorm (TV series)Benidorm is an award-winning British television comedy-drama that is produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV and written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, exploiting the working-class stereotype of this popular tourist destination....
guesting as Diana Weedon (Season 3 Episode 5, 2009) - IngeniousIngenious (film)Ingenious is a one-off drama produced by Lime Pictures written especially for CBBC. It premiered on BBC One.- Cast :Sally - Hannah GodfreySpikey - Keaton LansleyPatch - Leah SheshadriGenius - Amit ShahGransha - Una StubbsLucas Summer - David Calder...
(2009) as Gransha - Sherlock as Mrs Hudson (3 episodes, 2010)