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1-19 of 19
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Patricia Hodge was born on 29 September 1946 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for The Elephant Man (1980), Miranda (2009) and The Falklands Play (2002). She was previously married to Peter Douglas Owen.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Michele Dotrice was born on 27 September 1948 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Not Now, Comrade (1976), Vanity Fair (1998) and Captain Jack (1999). She was previously married to Edward Woodward.- British character actor with radio and stage experience from 1951. Studied at University College in London and learned acting at the Old Vic Theatre School. Toured South Africa in 1952 and subsequently appeared in many Shakespearean roles in Stratford-upon-Avon. Busy television actor from the late 1950's, popular as ruthless tycoon John Wilder in The Plane Makers (1963). Also noted for his voice-overs for Winston Churchill in two documentary features.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Sean Foley was born on 21 November 1964 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Mindhorn (2016), Halloween Comedy Shorts (2016) and Wild West (2002).- Gemma Merna was born on 11 October 1984 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Hollyoaks (1995), Hollyoaks Later (2008) and Coronation Street (1960). She has been married to Ian since 27 May 2012.
- She was born Jean Vivra Gray in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, the eldest of four children of Allan, a fish merchant, and his wife, Doris, and attended Thrunscoe girls' school. The family moved to Kingston upon Thames, in south-west London, in the 30s but was evacuated back to Cleethorpes in 1941 and finally resettled in New Malden, Surrey, after the second world war in 1945. As a young woman, Gray worked as a sales assistant, reporter, photographer and nurse, and during the war had served in the Women's Land Army, but always dreamed of becoming an actor.
In 1952, finding opportunities in Britain limited, she decided to emigrate to Australia to pursue her acting ambitions. She adopted the professional name Vivean Gray and appeared in Australian theatre and radio, as well as establishing herself on TV with small roles in cop shows such as Homicide (1964-77), Division Four (1969-75), Matlock Police (1971-76), Solo One (1976) and Bluey (1976), as well as the legal drama Carson's Law (1982-84) and the miniseries Anzacs (1985) and All the Rivers Run (1983).
She also appeared in two films directed by Peter Weir. In Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), she played the maths teacher Miss McCraw, who, along with several of her students from a girls' boarding school, disappears during a Valentine's Day picnic, never to be seen again. In Weir's 1977 film The Last Wave she played Dr Whitburn, an expert on aboriginal history, which starred Richard Chamberlain.
In 1976, she starred as Ida Jessup in The Sullivans, a long-running drama about a Melbourne family and the effect that the war had on their lives. Playing Mrs Jessup, the Sullivans' gossipy English-born neighbour, during the show's 16-season run from 1976 to 1983 proved not only good preparation for her later role as Nell Mangel on Neighbours, but also led to her receiving two Logie awards honouring achievements on Australian TV.
In 1984, she was cast to play a genteel poisoner, Edna Pearson, in the long-running drama Prisoner Cell Block H (known simply as Prisoner in Australia). But after a woman who had been accused of poisoning her husband threatened to sue the show's producers Grundy Television, on the grounds that the character was based on her, material involving Gray's character was cut from subsequent episodes, and from DVD releases of already broadcast shows. In 2010, a DVD telling the dramatic story of Edna Pearson was released, but only in Britain.
Towards the end of her two-year stint on the Australian soap Neighbours as the local busybody Mrs Mangel, the British actor Vivean Gray, who has died aged 92, was presented with the script for an incredible new storyline. In it, she was to be knocked from a ladder by a Labrador called Bouncer and as a result would lose her memory of the past two years.
Her granddaughter Jane, trying to be kind, decides not to tell Mrs Mangel the truth that in the interim her husband Len (John Lee) has run off with another woman, but instead that he has died and his ashes have been scattered under the rosebushes in the front garden. In one later episode, Mrs Mangel is seen saying goodbye to the rosebushes, prompting her Ramsay Street neighbours to think she has lost her mind.
In any other TV soap, such a storyline might have produced a wave of sympathy for the character, but it did not for Nell Mangel. Between 1986 and 1988, millions around the world, particularly in Australia and Britain, would tune in every weekday afternoon to watch the cantankerous, interfering busybody at No 32 drive her neighbours to distraction. In one typical storyline, Mrs Mangel tries to destroy the relationship between her lodger Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) and her neighbour and nemesis Madge Ramsay (Anne Charleston). When she fails in that, she attempts to ruin their wedding by playing the church organ badly. In another storyline, many of her neighbours suspect her of murdering Len - until he turns up unexpectedly in a later episode announcing he plans to file for divorce.
In some respects, Mrs Mangel was a prototype for EastEnders' Dot Cotton: piously Christian, difficult and burdened with a disappointing son (Joe, played by Mark Little), who leaves the Mangel home after being accused of robbing a service station. But unlike Dot Cotton, Mrs Mangel proved unlikeable though captivating, becoming, as Neighbours' executive producer Jason Herbison "the ultimate busybody ... a true soap legend".
These were the glory days of Neighbours in terms of ratings. A 1988 episode featuring the wedding between Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) and Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue) was watched by 20 million in the UK alone. As a result, Gray's character became globally known, if not beloved.
Indeed, if Mrs Mangel made Gray famous, she was scarcely able to enjoy the celebrity. In 1988, she quit the show after nearly 300 episodes. The following year she explained why: "I loved Neighbours and the rest of the cast were marvellous. But because it was so successful, I could barely set foot outside my own door without someone screaming abuse at horrid old Mrs Mangel. People didn't seem to appreciate it was acting. So I decided to take a break."
For years afterwards, Vivean Gray topped opinion polls as the nastiest television "baddie" of all time, with some of the more dedicated viewers of Neighbours failing to distinguish between the actress and the fictional character.
The break from acting lasted for the rest of Gray's life - she never took another role. She left Australia in the mid-1990s and settled in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex, England, refusing requests for interviews or autographs from fans.
In 2005 Neighbours' producers tried to persuade her to return for its 20th anniversary episode, but she declined.
After Gray quit Neighbours in 1988, she may have effectively retired, but her fame lived on. In 1995 she was honoured with her image on an Australian postage stamp. As for Mrs Mangel, after finding out the truth about Len and divorcing him, the producers had her fall for a retired dentist John Worthington (Brian James) and move back to the old country, to St Albans, Hertfordshire. She continued to be occasionally mentioned in the show until her death in England in 2018 - granddaughter Jane Harris being touched to learn the Rebecchi's had named their daughter Nell after seeing Mrs Mangel in one of Harold Bishop's photo albums. Jane was presented with Helen Daniels' infamous 'giraffe' portrait of her grandmother by Paul Robinson. - Jo Kendall was born on 17 February 1940 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Remains of the Day (1993), Howards End (1992) and Scum (1979). She died on 29 January 2022 in Denville Hall, Northwood, London, England, UK.
- Bridget Turner was born on 22 February 1939 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Under Milk Wood (1971), Pride and Prejudice (1995) and Resurrection (1968). She was married to Frank Cox. She died on 27 December 2014 in Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK.
- Robert Haines was born on 16 September 1894 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Michael O'Halloran (1948), Studio One (1948) and The Law and Mr. Jones (1960). He died on 18 April 1961 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Rod Temperton was born on 9 October 1949 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Color Purple (1985), Running Scared (1986) and Boiler Room (2000). He was married to Kathy. He died on 25 September 2016 in London, England, UK.- Production Manager
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Peter Manley was born on 28 November 1924 in Cleethorpes, South Humberside, England, UK. He was a production manager and assistant director, known for Bang! Bang! You're Dead! (1966), The Lost Continent (1968) and Chillers (1990). He died on 19 November 2009 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Helen Fospero was born on 30 August 1966 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Black Mirror (2011), The Convex Conversation (2020) and Southcliffe (2013).
- Actor
- Music Department
Peter Appleyard was born on 25 October 1928 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Nightcap (1963), Peter Appleyard Presents (1977) and The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams (1958). He died on 17 July 2013 in Eden Mills, Ontario, Canada.- Andrew Osbourne was born on 8 December 1989 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Shouting Men (2010), Bleak House (2005) and The X Factor UK (2004).
- Producer
- Writer
Simon Toyne was born on 29 February 1968 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He is a producer and writer, known for Solomon Creed, Written in Blood (2017) and Christmas University Challenge (2011).- Reg Curtis was born on 26 March 1904 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK.
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
During his writing and drama course at Manchester Metropolitan University, Darren formed Shooting Fish Theatre Company. After graduating with First Class honours in 2003 he toured his first play Rat Race across the UK. A year later Darren made his first short film Link and formed Blueprint: Film.
Since this time Darren has written and directed theatre productions showcased all over the UK and, through funding from The Film Council, has written and directed three more short films which have been showcased, broadcast and distributed all over the world, winning many awards along the way.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Lambert Williamson was born on 28 April 1907 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Circus (1928), The Innocents (1961) and Secret Venture (1955). He died on 13 November 1975 in Chiltern & Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Norma Procter was born on 2 February 1928 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She died on 2 May 2017 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England, UK.