Mollie Sugden
Encyclopedia
Isobel Mary 'Mollie' Sugden (21 July 19221 July 2009) was an English
comedy
actress best known for portraying the saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the British sitcom
Are You Being Served?
from 1972 to 1985. She later reprised this role in Grace & Favour
, which ran from 1992 to 1993. Sugden appeared in many other television series, including The Liver Birds
and Coronation Street
. She died in 2009 after a long illness.
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
in 1922. When she was four years old, she heard a woman reading a poem
at a village concert making people laugh. The following Christmas
, after being asked if she could "do anything", Sugden read this poem and everyone fell about laughing. She later remarked that their response made her "realise how wonderful it was to make people laugh". Shortly after she left school, the Second World War
broke out, and Sugden worked in a munitions factory
in Keighley making shells
for the Royal Navy
. However, she was later made redundant so she attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London
.
When Sugden graduated from the Guildhall School of Drama, she worked in rep
for eight years with a company that included Eric Sykes
and Roy Dotrice
. She also had work in radio
and made her television debut in a live half-hour comedy show. Sugden's other appearances before Are You Being Served? included parts in Benny Hill
, Just Jimmy, Z-Cars
, Up Pompeii!
, The Goodies
, Steptoe and Son
and five episodes of Jackanory
in 1968.
. Hugh and I was written by John Chapman and when he got involved with The Liver Birds
, he suggested Sugden for the role of Sandra's mother, Mrs Hutchinson. She portrayed Mrs Hutchinson from 1971 to 1979, and years later in 1996, when The Liver Birds was revived Sugden reprised the role, despite being on steroids
at the time due to suffering from polymyalgia
. In 1973, she appeared in Son of the Bride
.
Sugden was already a well-known face on British television when she was given the role that brought her international fame, that of Mrs. Slocombe—a department-store saleswoman with a socially superior attitude, a repertoire of double entendres, and a penchant for bouffant, pastel-coloured coiffures—in the popular and long-running Are You Being Served?
, which ran from 1972 to 1985 (see image at top, with purple hairstyle). In 1978, when it was thought that Are You Being Served? was over, she was the lead star in Come Back Mrs Noah
, a sitcom that is regarded by some as one of the worst ever made. From 1965 to 1976, she intermittently played Nellie Harvey, the landlady of The Laughing Donkey pub, in Coronation Street
. In this she often appeared opposite Annie Walker
, landlady of the Rovers Return
. Later in 1986, she had a 23-week stint on That's Life!
.
Mollie Sugden also played main roles in other sitcoms, including That's My Boy, which ran from 1981 to 1986 and My Husband and I. My Husband and I ran from 1987 to 1988, and she played opposite her husband, the actor, William Moore
(1916-2000), whom she married on 29 March 1958 having met him at Swansea
rep. They had twin sons, Robin and Simon, who were born in 1963.
, where the staff are left a manor house in the country, in which they have to live. This was titled Are You Being Served? Again! when it aired in the United States. It lasted for two series until 1993. Other appearances around this time included Just William, Oliver's Travels
and The Bill
. Sugden was mentioned in Little Britain
, by a regular character who claims to have been Sugden's bridesmaid
, and never talks about anything else. Sugden appears herself in the final episode of the first series where the character throws a knife at her back to silence her after she does not recognise the woman and says that her only bridesmaid was in fact somebody else.
In 2002 a tribute programme called Celebrating Mollie Sugden: An Are You Being Served? Special aired on American
PBS stations featuring several members of the cast of Are You Being Served?
Sugden died at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford
on 1 July 2009 of unspecified natural causes. Her final public appearance was at her Are You Being Served? co-star Wendy Richard
's funeral four months previously.
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...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
actress best known for portraying the saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the British sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
from 1972 to 1985. She later reprised this role in Grace & Favour
Grace & Favour
Grace & Favour is a British sitcom sequel to the long-running series Are You Being Served? It aired on BBC1 for two series from 1992 to 1993 and marked the return of Are You Being Served? creators and writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.-History:The idea of a spinoff was originally suggested by...
, which ran from 1992 to 1993. Sugden appeared in many other television series, including The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds is a British situation comedy, set in Liverpool, Merseyside, North-West of England, which aired on BBC1 from 1969 to 1978, and again in 1996. It was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpool housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents...
and 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...
. She died in 2009 after a long illness.
Early life and career
Isobel Mary Sugden was born in KeighleyKeighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
in 1922. When she was four years old, she heard a woman reading a poem
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
at a village concert making people laugh. The following Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, after being asked if she could "do anything", Sugden read this poem and everyone fell about laughing. She later remarked that their response made her "realise how wonderful it was to make people laugh". Shortly after she left school, the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, and Sugden worked in a munitions factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
in Keighley making shells
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
for the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. However, she was later made redundant so she attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
When Sugden graduated from the Guildhall School of Drama, she worked in rep
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
for eight years with a company that included Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...
and Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice, OBE is a British actor known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.-Life and career:...
. She also had work in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and made her television debut in a live half-hour comedy show. Sugden's other appearances before Are You Being Served? included parts in Benny Hill
The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...
, Just Jimmy, Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
, Up Pompeii!
Up Pompeii!
Up Pompeii! is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and...
, The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
, Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
and five episodes of Jackanory
Jackanory
Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap o' Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 24 March 1996,...
in 1968.
Television fame
Mollie Sugden's first regular sitcom role was from 1962 to 1966 when she played Mrs. Crispin in the sitcom Hugh and IHugh and I
Hugh and I was a highly successful black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1967. It starred Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd as two friends who shared lodgings with Terry's mother and was followed by a sequel called Hugh and I Spy...
. Hugh and I was written by John Chapman and when he got involved with The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds is a British situation comedy, set in Liverpool, Merseyside, North-West of England, which aired on BBC1 from 1969 to 1978, and again in 1996. It was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpool housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents...
, he suggested Sugden for the role of Sandra's mother, Mrs Hutchinson. She portrayed Mrs Hutchinson from 1971 to 1979, and years later in 1996, when The Liver Birds was revived Sugden reprised the role, despite being on steroids
Anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids or colloquially simply as "steroids", are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue ,...
at the time due to suffering from polymyalgia
Polymyalgia rheumatica
Polymyalgia rheumatica , abbreviated as PMR, is a syndrome with pain or stiffness, usually in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The pain can be very sudden, or can occur gradually over a period of time...
. In 1973, she appeared in Son of the Bride
Son of the Bride (TV series)
Son of the Bride was a 1973 BBC television comedy which lasted one series.The central character was Neville Leggit, played by Terry Scott, a mother's boy who was rather old to be still single...
.
Sugden was already a well-known face on British television when she was given the role that brought her international fame, that of Mrs. Slocombe—a department-store saleswoman with a socially superior attitude, a repertoire of double entendres, and a penchant for bouffant, pastel-coloured coiffures—in the popular and long-running Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
, which ran from 1972 to 1985 (see image at top, with purple hairstyle). In 1978, when it was thought that Are You Being Served? was over, she was the lead star in Come Back Mrs Noah
Come Back Mrs Noah
Come Back Mrs. Noah is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1977 to 1978. Starring Mollie Sugden and Ian Lavender, it was written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, who had also written Are You Being Served?, which had also starred Mollie Sugden. Joke banter was recycled off other series, and...
, a sitcom that is regarded by some as one of the worst ever made. From 1965 to 1976, she intermittently played Nellie Harvey, the landlady of The Laughing Donkey pub, in 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...
. In this she often appeared opposite Annie Walker
Annie Walker
Anne "Annie" Walker is a long-standing fictional character in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She was played by actress Doris Speed from the series' first episode in 1960 until Speed retired from the role 23 years and 1,746 episodes later in 1983.The character of Annie has been noted as...
, landlady of the Rovers Return
Rovers Return Inn
The Rovers Return Inn is a fictional public house on the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street. The Rovers Return occupies the corner of Coronation Street and Rosamund Street. Since the first episode it has been the principal setting in the show and many of its most memorable moments...
. Later in 1986, she had a 23-week stint on That's Life!
That's Life!
That's Life! was a magazine-style television series on BBC1 between 26 May 1973 and 19 June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen throughout the entire run, with various changes of co-presenters. The show was generally recorded about an hour prior to transmission, which was originally on Saturday...
.
Mollie Sugden also played main roles in other sitcoms, including That's My Boy, which ran from 1981 to 1986 and My Husband and I. My Husband and I ran from 1987 to 1988, and she played opposite her husband, the actor, William Moore
William Moore (actor)
William Aaron Moore was an English actor who appeared in many television programmes such as Coronation Street as Cyril Turpin, Betty Turpin's husband from 1969–1974. He also appeared in Emmerdale Farm, and Sorry!...
(1916-2000), whom she married on 29 March 1958 having met him at Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
rep. They had twin sons, Robin and Simon, who were born in 1963.
Later years
Seven years after the end of Are You Being Served?, five of the original cast - including Sugden - came together to appear in Grace & FavourGrace & Favour
Grace & Favour is a British sitcom sequel to the long-running series Are You Being Served? It aired on BBC1 for two series from 1992 to 1993 and marked the return of Are You Being Served? creators and writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.-History:The idea of a spinoff was originally suggested by...
, where the staff are left a manor house in the country, in which they have to live. This was titled Are You Being Served? Again! when it aired in the United States. It lasted for two series until 1993. Other appearances around this time included Just William, Oliver's Travels
Oliver's Travels
Oliver's Travels is a five-part television miniseries written by Alan Plater and starring Alan Bates, Sinéad Cusack, Bill Paterson, and Miles Anderson. It first aired in the UK in 1995....
and The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
. Sugden was mentioned in Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
, by a regular character who claims to have been Sugden's bridesmaid
Bridesmaid
The bridesmaids are members of the bride's wedding party in a wedding. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman, and often a close friend or sister. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony...
, and never talks about anything else. Sugden appears herself in the final episode of the first series where the character throws a knife at her back to silence her after she does not recognise the woman and says that her only bridesmaid was in fact somebody else.
In 2002 a tribute programme called Celebrating Mollie Sugden: An Are You Being Served? Special aired on American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
PBS stations featuring several members of the cast of Are You Being Served?
Sugden died at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
on 1 July 2009 of unspecified natural causes. Her final public appearance was at her Are You Being Served? co-star Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...
's funeral four months previously.
External links
- Official website
- Mollie Sugden at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...