Michele Dotrice

Michele Dotrice
Born	(1948-09-27) 27 September 1948 Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1960–present
Spouse	Edward Woodward ​ ​ (m. 1987; died 2009)​
Children	1
Parents	Roy Dotrice (father) Kay Newman (mother)
Relatives	Karen Dotrice (sister)

Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She played Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, which ran from 1973 to 1978, and returned in 2016 for a special.

Career

Her first significant role was in the 1962 13-part BBC TV adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop in which she played Nell, and she appeared in The Witches for Hammer Films in 1966. In 1970 she had starring roles in the horror thrillers And Soon the Darkness (1970) and The Blood on Satan's Claw (1970). Her other film appearances include Jane Eyre (1970) with George C. Scott and the 1976 comedy Not Now, Comrade.

It was her appearance in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em that made her a household name, and she played the role for five years from 1973. In 2016, she reprised the role in a one-off special broadcast as part of the Sport Relief charity fundraiser event.

Her other 1970s roles include Felicity in the Jason King episode "Buried in the Cold Cold Ground", and Lady Percy in the BBC productions of Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2 in 1979.

In 1981 she took the leading role in the short-lived sitcom Chintz, which aired on ITV. In 1987, Dotrice played the role of a new mother whose child was snatched in an episode of The Equalizer along with her future husband Edward Woodward. In the mid-1990s she appeared for several episodes in the period drama Bramwell. She appeared in the film Captain Jack (1999) with Bob Hoskins. She has made numerous guest appearances in well-known British television series, including Midsomer Murders (1 episode, 1998), Holby City (1 episode, 2002), Murder in Suburbia (as Cindy in Episode 6, Season 2, 2005), and the BBC daytime soap opera Doctors (1 episode, 2008). In addition, she made several appearances in a 2004 BBC comedy-drama entitled A Thing Called Love, set in Nottingham, which starred Paul Nicholls and Roy Barraclough among others.

In 2012 she toured in The Ladykillers, playing the role of Mrs Wilberforce. In 2014, she played Pam Chandler, a suspected murderer, in the last episode of series three of Death in Paradise. In 2015, she played Marion, mother to Christine in the "Inside No. 9" episode The 12 Days of Christine. In 2016, she played Nancy, the faithful dresser and woman of all work to the main character, in the West End production of Nell Gwynn. In 2017 she played Jessie in the stage musical The Girls at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End.

In 2018 she returned to television playing Edna Friendship in A Very English Scandal.

ITV launched their new drama, McDonald & Dodds, in 2020, in which she played Mary Costair in the second episode of Series 1.

Personal life

Her parents were the actors Roy Dotrice and Kay Dotrice. She has two sisters, Karen Dotrice and Yvette Dotrice, who also followed their parents into acting.

Dotrice was married to actor Edward Woodward from January 1987 until his death in November 2009. They have a daughter named Emily Beth.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	The Witches	Valerie Creek
1970	And Soon the Darkness	Cathy
	The Blood on Satan's Claw	Margaret
1976	Not Now, Comrade	Nancy Rimmington
1999	Captain Jack	Deirdre
2016	Starfish	Jean
2019	A Very British Christmas	Sandra
2020	Blithe Spirit	Edna

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	The Treasure Seekers	Princess	Episode: "Held to Ransom"
	Operation Fantail	Susan Forest	TV film
	Vice Versa	Dulcie Grimstone	TV film
	Adventure to Order	Sandra	TV film
1961–1962	Signpost	Schoolgirl	8 episodes
1962	BBC Sunday-Night Play	Barbara Cahoun	Episode: "The Happiest Days of Your Life"
	BBC Sunday-Night Play	Daff	Episode: "To Whom It May Concern"
	The Father	Bertha	TV film
	Katy	Clover Carr	All 8 episodes
1962–1963	The Old Curiosity Shop	Nell Trent	All 13 episodes
1965	Love Story	Jill Allen	Episode: "The Sad Smile of the Mona Lisa"
1966	Theatre 625	Vera Alexandrovna	Episode: "A Month in the Country"
	Thirteen Against Fate	Sonia	Episode: "The Consul"
	Out of the Unknown	R747	Episode: "Level Seven"
	Theatre 625	Thérèse	Episode: "Amerika"
	ITV Play of the Week	Julie	Episode: "Julie's Gone"
1967	ITV Play of the Week	Tess Cosgrove	Episode: "On the Island"
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle	Vicky	6 episodes
	Les Misérables	Fantine	3 episodes
1968	Late Night Horror	Phrynne Banstead	Episode: "The Bells of Hell"
	Middlemarch	Dorothea	All 7 episodes
	The Wednesday Play	Emma	Episode: "On the Eve of Publication"
1969	ITV Sunday Night Theatre	Jane	Episode: "Toys"
1970	BBC Play of the Month	Irina	Episode: "The Three Sisters"
	The Wednesday Play	Emma	Episode: "Emma's Time"
	Jane Eyre	Mary Rivers	TV film
1971	Jason King	Felicity	Episode: "Buried in the Cold Cold Ground"
	The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes	Mary Hisgins	Episode: "The Horse of the Invisible"
1972	The Sextet	Ange	Episode: "The Gregorian Chant"
		Vickie	Episode: "Night Duty"
		Maggie Firebrace	Episode: "A Question of Degree"
		Veronica Sands	Episode: "Follow the Yellow Brick Road"
		Barbara	Episode: "Stoker Leishman's Diaries"
		Marion	Episode: "Stanley's Style "
		Paula Lelliot	Episode: "Disappearing Trick"
		Claire Ramsdale	Episode: "Blur and Blank via Cleckheaton"
1973–1978	Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em	Betty Spencer	All 22 episodes
1973	Menace	Sharon	Episode: "Comfortable Words"
1974	Zodiac	Julie Prentiss	Episode: "The Horns of the Moon"
	ITV Playhouse	Frances	Episode: "A Kind of Bonus"
1976	The Morecambe and Wise Show	Constance	Episode: #9.2
1977	BBC Play of the Month	Catherine Winslow	Episode: "The Winslow Boy"
	I'm Bob, He's Dickie	Various	Episode: #1.1
1979	Morecambe and Wise at the BBC	Various	Episode: 7 February 1979
	Henry IV	Lady Percy	2 episodes
1981	Chintz	Kate Carter	All 7 episodes
1986	The Equalizer	Vanessa Daniels	Episode: "Heartstrings"
1988	Boon	Nikki	Episode: "Peacemaker"
1995	Bramwell	Lady Cora Peters	5 episodes
1997	Q.E.D.	Anna Peters	Episode: "Cause of Death"
1998	Midsomer Murders	Felicity Buckley	Episode: "Faithful unto Death"
1998	Vanity Fair	Mrs. Sedley	5 episodes
2000	The Mrs Bradley Mysteries	Amy Parkin	Episode: "Laurels Are Poison"
2001	The Way We Live Now	Mrs. Pipkin	3 episodes
2002	Holby City	Shirley Butler	Episode: "Leopard Spots"
2004	A Thing Called Love	Barbara Hopewell	2 episodes
2005	Murder in Suburbia	Cindy	Episode: "Golden Oldies"
2008	Doctors	Eileen Mullins	Episode: "A Pain in the..."
2009	Jane Shields		Episode: "Hello, Hello, Hello"
2010	Marple	Mrs. Hubbard	Episode: "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side"
2014	Death in Paradise	Pam Chandler	Episode: "Rue Morgue"
	Big School	Rita Gunn	Episode: #2.6
2015	Inside No. 9	Marion	Episode: "The 12 Days of Christine"
2016	Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em: Special	Betty Spencer	Comic Relief Special
2018	Grandpa's Great Escape	Miss Trifle	TV film
	A Very English Scandal	Edna Friendship	2 episodes
2020	McDonald & Dodds	Mary Costair	Episode: "A Wilderness of Mirrors"
2021	The Cockfields	Lyn	2 episodes
2022	The Royal Mob	Queen Victoria	3 episodes

External links

• Michele Dotrice at IMDb