Brigit Forsyth

Brigit Dorothea Mills (born Brigit Dorothea Connell; 28 July 1940 – 1 December 2023), better known by her stage name Brigit Forsyth, was an English actress from Malton, England, best known for her roles as Thelma Ferris in the BBC sitcom Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Helen Yeldham in the ITV drama Boon. From 2013 to 2019, Forsyth appeared in the BBC sitcom Still Open All Hours.

Early life Forsyth was born as Brigit Dorothea Connell, on 28 July 1940 in Malton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England. Her grandfather was a doctor in the town and delivered her. Her mother, Anne (nee Forsyth) was a painter, and her father, Frank James Connell, an architect and town planner in Edinburgh. After leaving St George's School for Girls in Edinburgh, Forsyth trained as a secretary before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she won the Emile Littler Award.

Career Forsyth began her professional career in Edinburgh with the Gateway Theatre Company (1960–61). She then moved to the Theatre Royal, Lincoln, (1961–62) and in 1962 to the Arthur Brough Players in Folkestone. On her return to Lincoln, she changed her professional name to Forsyth.

Forsyth played the cello from the age of nine, but abandoned it once she went to drama school; her ability was employed when, in 2004, she was cast in the lead role in Cello and the Nightingale, a play about internationally known cellist Beatrice Harrison that premiered at York Theatre Royal and in Killing Time (2019), an off-Broadway production in which she played the instrument and wrote the music. She also appeared in The Glamour Girls (1980–82) as Veronica Haslett; Tom, Dick and Harriet (1983) as Harriet Maddison,

In 2013, Forsyth appeared as Mrs. Jennings in Helen Edmundson's BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and as the recurring character of Pearl in Ed Reardon's Week. In 2015, she appeared in Now This is Not the End at the Arcola Theatre in London.

Personal life and death Forsyth was married to television director Brian Mills from 1975, until his death in 2006, although they had separated in 1999. They had two children.

Forsyth died on 1 December 2023, at the age of 83.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1971 The Road Builder District Nurse 1976 The Likely Lads Thelma Ferris 1987 Crystalstone Isabel 1999 Fanny and Elvis Nurse Lynne

Television Selected.