Beryl Merit is fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 From the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme. She was played by Rosalind Knight

Rosalind Knight

Rosalind Knight is an English actress. She was the daughter of actor Esmond Knight and his first wife, Frances Clare and the stepdaughter of actress Nora Swinburne....

.

Background

Beryl is the elderly landlady of Tom and Linda. She has worked in the sex industry for most of her life. In the Gimmie Gimiie Gimmie book it is revealed that she and her twin Cheryl toured Europe in a travelling show, however the two fell out after Cheryl sewed a lychee in Beryl's knickers just before they were presented to the Pope on their 18th birthday. Beryl had less success on her own and worked the windows of Amsterdam for most of her working life. She returned to the United Kingdom in the 80's and became the maid of the infamous pensioner prostitute Rennie Screens, madam of the Hackney house of pain. Beryl is currently retired but as well as being a landlady she gets involved in criminal activities such as bootlegging and shoplifting. She occasionally works as an elderly dominatrix.

Relationships

Beryl has had many relatioships in her life, including with a transvestite called Brian for 16 years. She met her toyboy, Pedro, whilst on holiday in Spain. She has a best friend called Reennie Screens who is also an elderly sex worker
She also claims to have had an affair with Prince Phillip Duke Of Edinburgh which lasted 11 years.

Family

She has only mentioned two family members: her twin sister, Cheryl, whom she hates, and her lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

niece, Janet, who killed herself. Cheryl died in 2000 and her body and coffin were left in Tom and Linda's flat.