Mavis Wilton
Encyclopedia
Mavis Wilton is a fictional character from the British ITV
soap opera Coronation Street
, played by Thelma Barlow
. A long-running series regular, Mavis appeared in the show for 26 years from 1971 to 1997. Introduced for a one-off cameo appearance, she proved popular with producers and viewers and subsequently became a regular.
Mavis was portrayed as moralising, repressed, and dithering, and often appeared in comic scenes with her boss Rita Sullivan
or her husband Derek Wilton
. She was generally well received by critics, described as a national institution and one of Coronation Street's best loved characters, an old-fashioned spinster. Barlow has been praised for her portrayal of Mavis, a character notably spoofed by impressionist Les Dennis
during the 1980s.
Barlow decided to leave Coronation Street in 1997; her character left to run a guest house in Cartmel
following the death of her husband. Barlow has said that the producers of Coronation Street repeatedly asked her to return as Mavis, but she declined.
, Mavis was brought up in Grange-over-Sands
, where her parents, despite being teetotal, ran an off-licence. Mavis first appears in Coronation Street in 1971 at Emily Nugent
(Eileen Derbyshire
) and Ernest Bishop's (Stephen Hancock
) engagement party, as a friend and colleague of Emily's from the mail order warehouse where they both work, and is invited to be a bridesmaid at the wedding. She is initially employed as a receptionist at the local vet, and then as an assistant in the corner shop, but settles down to a job offered by Rita Littlewood
(Barbara Knox
) at The Kabin newsagents, 14 Rosamund Street, around the corner from Coronation Street. Mavis and Rita are complete opposites – Rita sexy and self-assured, Mavis mouse-like and dowdy – but they get on well and become friends. Rita often despairs at the choices Mavis makes in life, particularly when it comes to men. Rita's dominance over Mavis seems like bullying to outsiders, but she is only thinking of Mavis's best interests.
In 1973 Mavis enters into a relationship with the equally shy Jerry Booth (Graham Haberfield
), but it remains platonic. Jerry dies of a heart attack in 1975 before being able to express his romantic intentions towards Mavis. She meets salesman Derek Wilton
(Peter Baldwin) the following year. They date, but the relationship is strained by Derek's interfering mother Amy, who believes that Mavis is not good enough for her son. The relationship remains non-committal until 1983, when another man competes for Mavis's hand, the artistic Victor Pendlebury (Christopher Coll). Mavis is torn as she likes both, but in the end chooses Derek. On their wedding day in 1984 Mavis has second thoughts about her marriage to Derek; unconvinced of the strength of her feelings for him, she jilts him at the altar. Her guilt turns to indignation when she learns that Derek – feeling the same way she does – did not attend the ceremony either.
Derek goes on to an unhappy marriage with Angela Hawthorne (Diane Fletcher
), but in 1986 he begins wooing Mavis again, realising that he made a mistake in letting her go. Mavis eventually decides Derek is the man for her, and the couple are married in September 1988. The other residents of Coronation Street consider Mavis and Derek something of a joke, but neither care as they are genuinely in love. They spend evenings reading aloud to each other and discussing the events of the day. They remain happy despite the occasional problem, but their happiness is cut short in 1997 when Derek dies suddenly of a heart attack after a road rage incident. Devastated, at his funeral Mavis chastises those who mocked her marriage over the years.
Living in Weatherfield without Derek proves too difficult for Mavis. She surprises Rita when she suggests that they should move away and go into business together. They discuss the possibility of running a guest house in Cartmel
, a village in the Lake District
. Rita considers the proposal, but both come to realise that a partnership between them would not work. Mavis goes ahead without her, buying a guest house and leaving Weatherfield in October 1997. She and Rita bid each other an emotional farewell, ending a partnership of 25 years.
(where Coronation Street is filmed) as well as "dozens of northern women she had seen battered into submission by worry". Discussing the woman who inspired Mavis's characterisation, Barlow said, "She had a strong core, but didn't show it. She was desperate to be liked but she didn't want to appear pushy."
Discussing her character, Barlow described Mavis as a "soppy thing", adding "she had great integrity, and she was a very loyal person. She would stick by her morality. She was a mouse to begin with, and then she met [her future husband] Derek and ... she learnt to be quite tough." In Daran Little's book The Coronation Street Story Mavis is described as a "very creative person". She often met men through her creative endeavours, but her status as a spinster often led to feelings of bitterness, and she resented that her friend Emily had married two men before she had married once. Her lack of male attention led Mavis to be labelled the "eternal virgin" of Coronation Street. The serial's New Zealand
broadcaster TVNZ
described her as "flighty and romantic".
The character has been discussed in a variety of publications. Hilary Kingsley in her book Soapbox discusses Mavis's reticent and moralistic personality as seen in her drinking habits: Mavis drinks fruit juices, but on special occasions sweet sherry: "two for Mavis is one too many" says Kingsley. In a 1983 issue of New Statesman
magazine, Mavis is described as having a face that is "never quite sure of its own shape". The author describes the storyline featuring Mavis facing the prospect of a trial marriage or losing her boyfriend as an example of the "either-or situations" into which soap opera is "forever ensnaring its characters". An article in the Evening Standard
said Mavis was "meek and mild" and "would not say boo to a budgie". In the same newspaper Mark Walton-Cook discusses Mavis's style, stating: "I keep picturing Corrie's Mavis Riley twittering and clutching at the high neck of a securely fastened polyester blouse with a tasteful cameo brooch".
Mavis was frequently used to provide comic relief; she has been dubbed one of Coronation Street's comedy stars, well-known for her catchphrase, "ooh, I don't really know". Susan Purdie writes that Mavis's storylines and persona often "hover between pathos and comedy". The critic David Meade agrees, noting that Mavis was "a permanent mourner-in-waiting". Sean-Day Lewis describes Mavis as "muddled and mousy", while Dennis Joseph Enright calls her a moralistic shop assistant who "no one takes very seriously". She was often spoofed by comedian Les Dennis
in the 1980s; the character featured along with Dustin Gee
's impression of Vera Duckworth
in a variety of sketch shows.
) by giving her a job in Rita's corner shop; the characters' relationship has been described as a chalk and cheese comedy partnership. Christine Geraghty has cited Mavis and Rita's friendship as an example of a soap opera portraying an important, stable, intimate female relationship: "Rita is Mavis's boss, but she is also one of her closest friends".
A spinster for many years, Mavis resisted the advances of men, often too shy to allow dating to progress beyond the initial stages of courtship. Ian Randall comments that "Many a man has been smitten with Mavis Riley, but unfortunately she always seemed to attract the drippier of the male species". In 1976 a love interest was introduced for Mavis in the form of Derek Wilton
(Peter Baldwin), but it was more than a decade before the couple finally married in 1988, after simultaneously jilting each another four years earlier. Barbara Knox, who plays Rita, said, "She [Mavis] was quite a tough little character. You know, a lot of girls would have gone through with [the wedding], and she stuck to her guns and said 'No, no this isn't right.' Again, dithering and weepy, but she was tough enough to do it. That scene [where Rita supports her decision to jilt Derek] is reflective of the two of them. That was the essence of the friendship, they stuck up for each other and [were] great friends, all the way through."
Richard Dyer perceives the Mavis and Derek characters to be as "shy physically" as one another, whereas Kathryn Hone, writing in The Sunday Times, considers Derek "even more dithering than Mavis". Nevertheless the on-screen relationship between the couple progresses quickly, despite the interference of Derek's mother. Actors Thelma Barlow and Peter Baldwin had worked together before their casting as Derek and Mavis, and the two became close friends.
Derek and Mavis have been described by What's on TV
as "an old-fashioned pair who were made for each other", and were typically featured in comic storylines, such as one in 1995 that saw their garden gnome
kidnapped and transported around the world; Derek and Mavis received pictures of the gnome in various exotic locations, sent to them with ransom notes. It transpired that the kidnapper was Derek's friend Norris Cole
(Malcolm Hebden
). The Daily Record
labelled this storyline one of "Coronation Street's Classic Comic Moments" in 2008.
Marilyn J. Matelski cites Mavis and Derek Wilton as examples of clever naming, in that the serial had created a fitting image of the characters before viewers even saw them together.
. At the time Coronation Street was undergoing off-screen changes following the introduction of a new executive producer, Brian Park
, dubbed "the axeman" in the press after he culled many characters from the regular cast. The actress Jean Alexander
, who played the character of Hilda Ogden
in the serial, went to the press in protest at the news. She wrote: "Peter Baldwin and Thelma Barlow were a wonderfully funny couple, but they've killed off Derek and now Mavis is about to leave. Even all the humour has been taken out of scenes between Mavis and Rita." Park suggested that when he took over as head producer there was a general feeling among the programme-makers that "Derek and Mavis had had their day". Barlow has stated her belief that the producers killed off Derek as a result of her own desire to leave. She said: "It was sort of cruel, really; I mean, they could have killed Mavis off. It was a new director and a new producer, and they wanted to make a big news splash. It was very hard for Peter [who played Derek]." The village of Cartmel
, near Grange-over-Sands
, enjoyed a boost in tourism attributed to the exposure given to it by Mavis's storyline.
In 2002 producers asked Barlow to return as Mavis, but she was too busy. In 2006 Barlow claimed that she had again been asked to return to Coronation Street, but had refused as she felt the storylines were not good enough for Mavis. Barlow stated in 2007 that she is unlikely to return, because she would be unable to cope with the accelerated production schedule of one more episode a week since her last appearance in 1997. Executive producer Kim Crowther said in 2009 that she would have liked Mavis to return to the serial.
Alison Kerr listed Mavis as one of the female characters that in her opinion have been "the real pivot" in the serial, "ever ready with a sympathetic word". An article in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner
said that Mavis was one of Coronation Street's best-loved characters, describing her as timid and "clad in sensible cardigan and shoes". Jules Stenson writing in The People
said that Mavis was much like the previous character Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant
): they were both "easily bullied" and, like Minnie, Mavis seemed to be "on the shelf for life" until her marriage to Derek.
In Meade's opinion, Mavis gave a name to and represented a certain type of woman: "A 1940s spinster with a 1940s head who's looked 50 since birth. A Woman's Realm made flesh. And you have a name for her. She's a Mavis ... Mavis Riley was a masterpiece of observation". His opinion was shared by Gerlinde Frey-Vor and Julia Hallam, who consider Mavis to be a "model for a spinsterly type of woman". Brian Meade suggested that Barlow had "honed a comic gem until it cut into the national consciousness" in her characterisation of Mavis, likening her to other successful TV characters like Basil Fawlty
, Del Boy Trotter and Alf Garnett
. Meade applauded Barlow for staying true to Mavis's character for 26 years, "sustaining the most timid, world-weary of women with remarkable consistency. Try to recall her great lines and you are stumped. Every sentence she whimpered seemed to begin with 'Ooh Derek' and end with: 'Well, I don't really know, but he suggested that she had graced some of Coronation Street's "finest scenes", pointing to Mavis and Rita's spoof of a Laurel and Hardy
act as one example.
The character received various accolades over the years. At the TV Times
"Corrie Awards", Mavis and Derek were nominated for "Best Couple", and Susannah Clapp listed Mavis in The Observer
s "10 best Coronation Street characters" list. Clapp said "Thelma Barlow played [Mavis], with exceptional delicacy, in a variety of pastel pinnies, for 26 years." She concluded that she had a "tumultuous relationship with her soulmate, Derek". When Barlow quit the role as Mavis in 1997, various Coronation Street stars praised her contribution: Sherrie Hewson
(who played Maureen Holdsworth) said "Thelma's a wonderful lady and a superb actress. We'll miss her"; Michael Le Vell
(Kevin Webster
) said "Thelma's quality as an actress shone through for everyone to see after the death of Derek"; Peter Baldwin (Derek) said "It has made a difference to the programme and the departure of Derek and now Mavis is going to upset a lot of viewers".
Mavis has been praised for providing Coronation Street with much comic relief via her partnerships with Rita and Derek. Reflecting on Mavis and Derek's partnership in 2010, Paul Vallely of The Independent
said that they were an example of a "great double act", but he noted that they could not survive in the serial after it became focused on "dramatic storylines".
Mavis has remained a popular and well-loved character. In 2010, thirteen years after her departure, Darren Fitzgerald wrote in The Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) that he wanted to see Mavis return to the serial and that he would have written out half of the cast and brought her back as a replacement. But Mavis has also been criticised: Jack Kibble-White, writing for MSN
, called Mavis and Derek a "pathetic couple", suggesting that their gnome plot was one of the serial's most bizarre.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, played by Thelma Barlow
Thelma Barlow
Thelma Barlow is an English television actress and writer, most famous for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the sitcom Dinnerladies....
. A long-running series regular, Mavis appeared in the show for 26 years from 1971 to 1997. Introduced for a one-off cameo appearance, she proved popular with producers and viewers and subsequently became a regular.
Mavis was portrayed as moralising, repressed, and dithering, and often appeared in comic scenes with her boss Rita Sullivan
Rita Sullivan
Rita Sullivan is a long-standing character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street...
or her husband Derek Wilton
Derek Wilton
Derek Bernard Wilton was a fictional character on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. He was portrayed by Peter Baldwin. He appeared between 1976 and 1997.-Development:...
. She was generally well received by critics, described as a national institution and one of Coronation Street's best loved characters, an old-fashioned spinster. Barlow has been praised for her portrayal of Mavis, a character notably spoofed by impressionist Les Dennis
Les Dennis
Les Dennis is an English comedian, television presenter and actor best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years.-Early life:...
during the 1980s.
Barlow decided to leave Coronation Street in 1997; her character left to run a guest house in Cartmel
Cartmel
Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, situated north-west of Grange-over-Sands and close to the River Eea. Historically it was in Lancashire; boundary changes brought it into the newly created county of Cumbria in 1974, yet keeping it within the boundaries of the traditional County Palatine...
following the death of her husband. Barlow has said that the producers of Coronation Street repeatedly asked her to return as Mavis, but she declined.
Storylines
Born in WeatherfieldWeatherfield
Weatherfield is a fictional town, based on Salford in North West England, which serves as the setting for the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street...
, Mavis was brought up in Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish by the sea – with a wide tidal range, hence the "sands" name – in Cumbria, England. Historically, Grange-over-Sands was part of the County of Lancashire until 1974, when Cumbria was created under Local Government re-organisation which absorbed the area...
, where her parents, despite being teetotal, ran an off-licence. Mavis first appears in Coronation Street in 1971 at Emily Nugent
Emily Bishop
Emily Bishop is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street...
(Eileen Derbyshire
Eileen Derbyshire
Eileen Derbyshire, MBE is an English actress, best known for her role as Emily Bishop on the soap opera Coronation Street. She has played the character since 1961, making her the longest-serving female cast member in a British soap opera...
) and Ernest Bishop's (Stephen Hancock
Stephen Hancock
Stephen Hancock is a British TV actor. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avonin 1929. He is most notable for his role as Ernest Bishop in Coronation Street which he played from 1969 until the character was killed off in 1978...
) engagement party, as a friend and colleague of Emily's from the mail order warehouse where they both work, and is invited to be a bridesmaid at the wedding. She is initially employed as a receptionist at the local vet, and then as an assistant in the corner shop, but settles down to a job offered by Rita Littlewood
Rita Sullivan
Rita Sullivan is a long-standing character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street...
(Barbara Knox
Barbara Knox
Barbara Knox, MBE , is an English actress, best known for playing Rita Sullivan in the television soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:Knox was born in Oldham, Lancashire...
) at The Kabin newsagents, 14 Rosamund Street, around the corner from Coronation Street. Mavis and Rita are complete opposites – Rita sexy and self-assured, Mavis mouse-like and dowdy – but they get on well and become friends. Rita often despairs at the choices Mavis makes in life, particularly when it comes to men. Rita's dominance over Mavis seems like bullying to outsiders, but she is only thinking of Mavis's best interests.
In 1973 Mavis enters into a relationship with the equally shy Jerry Booth (Graham Haberfield
Graham Haberfield
Graham Haberfield was an English actor. Born in Chesterfield, the son of a railway porter, he was educated at Herbert Strutt Grammar School, Belper...
), but it remains platonic. Jerry dies of a heart attack in 1975 before being able to express his romantic intentions towards Mavis. She meets salesman Derek Wilton
Derek Wilton
Derek Bernard Wilton was a fictional character on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. He was portrayed by Peter Baldwin. He appeared between 1976 and 1997.-Development:...
(Peter Baldwin) the following year. They date, but the relationship is strained by Derek's interfering mother Amy, who believes that Mavis is not good enough for her son. The relationship remains non-committal until 1983, when another man competes for Mavis's hand, the artistic Victor Pendlebury (Christopher Coll). Mavis is torn as she likes both, but in the end chooses Derek. On their wedding day in 1984 Mavis has second thoughts about her marriage to Derek; unconvinced of the strength of her feelings for him, she jilts him at the altar. Her guilt turns to indignation when she learns that Derek – feeling the same way she does – did not attend the ceremony either.
Derek goes on to an unhappy marriage with Angela Hawthorne (Diane Fletcher
Diane Fletcher
Diane Fletcher is an English actress.Fletcher was born in Derbyshire. She played Nancy in Fairly Secret Army, and has appeared in other popular British television shows such as Coronation Street as Angela Hawthorne,...
), but in 1986 he begins wooing Mavis again, realising that he made a mistake in letting her go. Mavis eventually decides Derek is the man for her, and the couple are married in September 1988. The other residents of Coronation Street consider Mavis and Derek something of a joke, but neither care as they are genuinely in love. They spend evenings reading aloud to each other and discussing the events of the day. They remain happy despite the occasional problem, but their happiness is cut short in 1997 when Derek dies suddenly of a heart attack after a road rage incident. Devastated, at his funeral Mavis chastises those who mocked her marriage over the years.
Living in Weatherfield without Derek proves too difficult for Mavis. She surprises Rita when she suggests that they should move away and go into business together. They discuss the possibility of running a guest house in Cartmel
Cartmel
Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, situated north-west of Grange-over-Sands and close to the River Eea. Historically it was in Lancashire; boundary changes brought it into the newly created county of Cumbria in 1974, yet keeping it within the boundaries of the traditional County Palatine...
, a village in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
. Rita considers the proposal, but both come to realise that a partnership between them would not work. Mavis goes ahead without her, buying a guest house and leaving Weatherfield in October 1997. She and Rita bid each other an emotional farewell, ending a partnership of 25 years.
Characterisation
Mavis Riley's 1971 cameo appearance proved to be a hit with viewers, persuading the producers of Coronation Street to make her a regular character. It has been reported that Barlow based her portrayal of Mavis on a woman she had seen working in Granada studiosGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
(where Coronation Street is filmed) as well as "dozens of northern women she had seen battered into submission by worry". Discussing the woman who inspired Mavis's characterisation, Barlow said, "She had a strong core, but didn't show it. She was desperate to be liked but she didn't want to appear pushy."
Discussing her character, Barlow described Mavis as a "soppy thing", adding "she had great integrity, and she was a very loyal person. She would stick by her morality. She was a mouse to begin with, and then she met [her future husband] Derek and ... she learnt to be quite tough." In Daran Little's book The Coronation Street Story Mavis is described as a "very creative person". She often met men through her creative endeavours, but her status as a spinster often led to feelings of bitterness, and she resented that her friend Emily had married two men before she had married once. Her lack of male attention led Mavis to be labelled the "eternal virgin" of Coronation Street. The serial's New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
broadcaster TVNZ
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
described her as "flighty and romantic".
The character has been discussed in a variety of publications. Hilary Kingsley in her book Soapbox discusses Mavis's reticent and moralistic personality as seen in her drinking habits: Mavis drinks fruit juices, but on special occasions sweet sherry: "two for Mavis is one too many" says Kingsley. In a 1983 issue of New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
magazine, Mavis is described as having a face that is "never quite sure of its own shape". The author describes the storyline featuring Mavis facing the prospect of a trial marriage or losing her boyfriend as an example of the "either-or situations" into which soap opera is "forever ensnaring its characters". An article in the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
said Mavis was "meek and mild" and "would not say boo to a budgie". In the same newspaper Mark Walton-Cook discusses Mavis's style, stating: "I keep picturing Corrie's Mavis Riley twittering and clutching at the high neck of a securely fastened polyester blouse with a tasteful cameo brooch".
Mavis was frequently used to provide comic relief; she has been dubbed one of Coronation Street's comedy stars, well-known for her catchphrase, "ooh, I don't really know". Susan Purdie writes that Mavis's storylines and persona often "hover between pathos and comedy". The critic David Meade agrees, noting that Mavis was "a permanent mourner-in-waiting". Sean-Day Lewis describes Mavis as "muddled and mousy", while Dennis Joseph Enright calls her a moralistic shop assistant who "no one takes very seriously". She was often spoofed by comedian Les Dennis
Les Dennis
Les Dennis is an English comedian, television presenter and actor best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years.-Early life:...
in the 1980s; the character featured along with Dustin Gee
Dustin Gee
Dustin Gee was an English impressionist and comedian most famous for his double act with fellow comic, Les Dennis....
's impression of Vera Duckworth
Vera Duckworth
Veronica "Vera" Duckworth , played by Elizabeth Dawn, is a fictional character on the British soap opera Coronation Street, first appearing in August 1974 and last appearing in episode 6,734 on 18 January 2008, where the character peacefully died in her sleep at the age of 70 from heart failure...
in a variety of sketch shows.
Comedy partnerships
The producers of the show decided to pair Mavis with Rita Fairclough (Barbara KnoxBarbara Knox
Barbara Knox, MBE , is an English actress, best known for playing Rita Sullivan in the television soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:Knox was born in Oldham, Lancashire...
) by giving her a job in Rita's corner shop; the characters' relationship has been described as a chalk and cheese comedy partnership. Christine Geraghty has cited Mavis and Rita's friendship as an example of a soap opera portraying an important, stable, intimate female relationship: "Rita is Mavis's boss, but she is also one of her closest friends".
A spinster for many years, Mavis resisted the advances of men, often too shy to allow dating to progress beyond the initial stages of courtship. Ian Randall comments that "Many a man has been smitten with Mavis Riley, but unfortunately she always seemed to attract the drippier of the male species". In 1976 a love interest was introduced for Mavis in the form of Derek Wilton
Derek Wilton
Derek Bernard Wilton was a fictional character on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. He was portrayed by Peter Baldwin. He appeared between 1976 and 1997.-Development:...
(Peter Baldwin), but it was more than a decade before the couple finally married in 1988, after simultaneously jilting each another four years earlier. Barbara Knox, who plays Rita, said, "She [Mavis] was quite a tough little character. You know, a lot of girls would have gone through with [the wedding], and she stuck to her guns and said 'No, no this isn't right.' Again, dithering and weepy, but she was tough enough to do it. That scene [where Rita supports her decision to jilt Derek] is reflective of the two of them. That was the essence of the friendship, they stuck up for each other and [were] great friends, all the way through."
Richard Dyer perceives the Mavis and Derek characters to be as "shy physically" as one another, whereas Kathryn Hone, writing in The Sunday Times, considers Derek "even more dithering than Mavis". Nevertheless the on-screen relationship between the couple progresses quickly, despite the interference of Derek's mother. Actors Thelma Barlow and Peter Baldwin had worked together before their casting as Derek and Mavis, and the two became close friends.
Derek and Mavis have been described by What's on TV
What's On TV
What's on TV is a weekly television listings magazine published by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.-Overview:What's on TV is a weekly UK television magazine. It publishes features, TV listings, news and gossip from soap operas, as well as puzzles and competitions...
as "an old-fashioned pair who were made for each other", and were typically featured in comic storylines, such as one in 1995 that saw their garden gnome
Garden gnome
A garden gnome or lawn gnome is a figurine of a small humanoid creature, usually wearing a pointy hat, produced for the purpose of ornamentation and protection from evil sorcery, typically of gardens or on lawns....
kidnapped and transported around the world; Derek and Mavis received pictures of the gnome in various exotic locations, sent to them with ransom notes. It transpired that the kidnapper was Derek's friend Norris Cole
Norris Cole
Norris Benjamin Cole is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Malcolm Hebden, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 11 March 1994 and remained until his departure on 14 April 1997, only to return on 1 December...
(Malcolm Hebden
Malcolm Hebden
Malcolm Hebden is an English television and stage actor best known for his role as Norris Cole in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:...
). The Daily Record
Daily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...
labelled this storyline one of "Coronation Street's Classic Comic Moments" in 2008.
Marilyn J. Matelski cites Mavis and Derek Wilton as examples of clever naming, in that the serial had created a fitting image of the characters before viewers even saw them together.
Exit
Barlow decided to leave the role of Mavis in 1997, having played it for 26 years. It was reported that she had quit following the axing of Peter Baldwin, who played her screen husband Derek WiltonDerek Wilton
Derek Bernard Wilton was a fictional character on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. He was portrayed by Peter Baldwin. He appeared between 1976 and 1997.-Development:...
. At the time Coronation Street was undergoing off-screen changes following the introduction of a new executive producer, Brian Park
Brian Park
Brian Park is a Scottish television producer and executive. He was born in Fife but lived in Aberdeen’s Bucksburn between the ages of nine and 17. He acted as a child and when he was 13 he joined the Aberdeen Children’s Theatre and appeared in an episode of Dr Finlay’s Casebook.Park joined Granada...
, dubbed "the axeman" in the press after he culled many characters from the regular cast. The actress Jean Alexander
Jean Alexander
Jean Alexander is a BAFTA Nominated English television actress. She is best known to British television viewers as Hilda Ogden on the soap opera Coronation Street, a role she played from 1964–1987 and also as Auntie Wainwright on the longest running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 1988 to 2010...
, who played the character of Hilda Ogden
Hilda Ogden
Hilda Alice Ogden is a fictional character from the television series Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the soap opera, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman...
in the serial, went to the press in protest at the news. She wrote: "Peter Baldwin and Thelma Barlow were a wonderfully funny couple, but they've killed off Derek and now Mavis is about to leave. Even all the humour has been taken out of scenes between Mavis and Rita." Park suggested that when he took over as head producer there was a general feeling among the programme-makers that "Derek and Mavis had had their day". Barlow has stated her belief that the producers killed off Derek as a result of her own desire to leave. She said: "It was sort of cruel, really; I mean, they could have killed Mavis off. It was a new director and a new producer, and they wanted to make a big news splash. It was very hard for Peter [who played Derek]." The village of Cartmel
Cartmel
Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, situated north-west of Grange-over-Sands and close to the River Eea. Historically it was in Lancashire; boundary changes brought it into the newly created county of Cumbria in 1974, yet keeping it within the boundaries of the traditional County Palatine...
, near Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish by the sea – with a wide tidal range, hence the "sands" name – in Cumbria, England. Historically, Grange-over-Sands was part of the County of Lancashire until 1974, when Cumbria was created under Local Government re-organisation which absorbed the area...
, enjoyed a boost in tourism attributed to the exposure given to it by Mavis's storyline.
In 2002 producers asked Barlow to return as Mavis, but she was too busy. In 2006 Barlow claimed that she had again been asked to return to Coronation Street, but had refused as she felt the storylines were not good enough for Mavis. Barlow stated in 2007 that she is unlikely to return, because she would be unable to cope with the accelerated production schedule of one more episode a week since her last appearance in 1997. Executive producer Kim Crowther said in 2009 that she would have liked Mavis to return to the serial.
Reception
Brian Meade of the Daily Mirror has suggested that Mavis was a "national institution" who enriched the life of millions. In the Scottish newspaper The HeraldThe Herald (Glasgow)
The Herald is a broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, and available throughout Scotland. As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 47,226, giving it a lead over Scotland's other 'quality' national daily, The Scotsman, published in Edinburgh.The 1889 to 1906 editions...
Alison Kerr listed Mavis as one of the female characters that in her opinion have been "the real pivot" in the serial, "ever ready with a sympathetic word". An article in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
The Huddersfield Daily Examiner is an English local daily evening newspaper covering Huddersfield and its surrounding areas. The first edition was published, as a weekly, on September 6, 1851, as the Huddersfield & Holmfirth Examiner and the newspaper has been published on a daily basis since...
said that Mavis was one of Coronation Street's best-loved characters, describing her as timid and "clad in sensible cardigan and shoes". Jules Stenson writing in The People
The People
The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a British tabloid Sunday-only newspaper. The paper was founded on 16 October 1881.It is published by the Trinity Mirror Group.In July 2011 it had an average daily circulation of 806,544....
said that Mavis was much like the previous character Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant
Margot Bryant
Kathleen Mary Margaret Bryant was an English actress, best known for playing Minnie Caldwell on the soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life and career:...
): they were both "easily bullied" and, like Minnie, Mavis seemed to be "on the shelf for life" until her marriage to Derek.
In Meade's opinion, Mavis gave a name to and represented a certain type of woman: "A 1940s spinster with a 1940s head who's looked 50 since birth. A Woman's Realm made flesh. And you have a name for her. She's a Mavis ... Mavis Riley was a masterpiece of observation". His opinion was shared by Gerlinde Frey-Vor and Julia Hallam, who consider Mavis to be a "model for a spinsterly type of woman". Brian Meade suggested that Barlow had "honed a comic gem until it cut into the national consciousness" in her characterisation of Mavis, likening her to other successful TV characters like Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty is the main character of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by John Cleese. The character is often thought of as an iconic British comedy character, and has been deemed unforgettable despite only a dozen half-hour episodes ever being made....
, Del Boy Trotter and 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....
. Meade applauded Barlow for staying true to Mavis's character for 26 years, "sustaining the most timid, world-weary of women with remarkable consistency. Try to recall her great lines and you are stumped. Every sentence she whimpered seemed to begin with 'Ooh Derek' and end with: 'Well, I don't really know, but he suggested that she had graced some of Coronation Street's "finest scenes", pointing to Mavis and Rita's spoof of a Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
act as one example.
The character received various accolades over the years. At the TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
"Corrie Awards", Mavis and Derek were nominated for "Best Couple", and Susannah Clapp listed Mavis in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
s "10 best Coronation Street characters" list. Clapp said "Thelma Barlow played [Mavis], with exceptional delicacy, in a variety of pastel pinnies, for 26 years." She concluded that she had a "tumultuous relationship with her soulmate, Derek". When Barlow quit the role as Mavis in 1997, various Coronation Street stars praised her contribution: Sherrie Hewson
Sherrie Hewson
Sherrie Lynn Hutchinson is an English actor, broadcaster and novelist.-Early life:Born in Nottinghamshire, Hewson was brought up in a showbusiness family; her father was a singer and her mother a model. She began performing at the age of six, touring the UK's theatres in revues with her own...
(who played Maureen Holdsworth) said "Thelma's a wonderful lady and a superb actress. We'll miss her"; Michael Le Vell
Michael Le Vell
Michael Le Vell is an English character actor, who since 1983 has played the role of garage mechanic, Kevin Webster, in the soap opera Coronation Street....
(Kevin Webster
Kevin Webster
Kevin John Webster is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Michael Le Vell, the character first appeared onscreen on 19 October 1983...
) said "Thelma's quality as an actress shone through for everyone to see after the death of Derek"; Peter Baldwin (Derek) said "It has made a difference to the programme and the departure of Derek and now Mavis is going to upset a lot of viewers".
Mavis has been praised for providing Coronation Street with much comic relief via her partnerships with Rita and Derek. Reflecting on Mavis and Derek's partnership in 2010, Paul Vallely of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
said that they were an example of a "great double act", but he noted that they could not survive in the serial after it became focused on "dramatic storylines".
Mavis has remained a popular and well-loved character. In 2010, thirteen years after her departure, Darren Fitzgerald wrote in The Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) that he wanted to see Mavis return to the serial and that he would have written out half of the cast and brought her back as a replacement. But Mavis has also been criticised: Jack Kibble-White, writing for MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
, called Mavis and Derek a "pathetic couple", suggesting that their gnome plot was one of the serial's most bizarre.