Eileen Derbyshire
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Eileen Derbyshire,
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
(born 6 October 1931) is an English retired actress, best known for her role as
Emily Bishop Emily Bishop (also Nugent and Swain; originally credited as Miss Nugent) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Portrayed by Eileen Derbyshire, the character is the longest-standing female character in t ...
in the long-running
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...
''. She played the character for 55 years from January 1961 to January 2016 (with a brief cameo in October 2019), making her the longest-serving female cast member in a British TV soap opera. She is the mother of sports journalist
Oliver Holt Oliver Charles T Holt (born 22 May 1966) is an English sports journalist who writes for the newspaper ''The Mail on Sunday'' in the United Kingdom. He is the son of Thomas Holt and Coronation Street actress Eileen Derbyshire and is an avid Stoc ...
. She was appointed an MBE in the 2010 Queens Birthday Honours list for her long acting career.


Early life

Derbyshire was born in
Urmston Urmston is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, which had a population of 41,825 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, it is southwest of Manchester city centre. The southern boundary is the River Mersey, with Stretford ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, and from age 17 was appearing in plays broadcast on radio. After several small parts on television, she joined the cast of ''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...
'', first appearing as Miss Nugent in episode 15 in January 1961 (the character appeared as an extra in episode 4 in December 1960 played by an uncredited walk-on actress). The character was then given the forename Emily in 1962. Derbyshire has a degree in teaching, trained at the
Northern School of Music The Northern School of Music was a music college located in Manchester which operated between 1920 and 1972 before merging with the Royal Manchester College of Music to form the Royal Northern College of Music. History The Northern School of M ...
, and passed her examination at the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
. She began teaching speech and drama, but had always wanted to act. While on the bus one day, she passed Chorlton Repertory Theatre, where she asked for an audition. She was enrolled as a student, and later became assistant stage manager. From there she joined Century Theatre's mobile touring company, and appeared in theatre all over the country, subsequently appearing in repertory theatre throughout the UK.


Personal life

Derbyshire married engineer Thomas Holt in 1965, and the following year they had a son, Oliver. The couple had a cottage in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
. Derbyshire's interests include
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
, reading, going to concerts and holidaying in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
and
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
. Thomas Holt died in February 2021. Derbyshire has a reputation for reclusiveness. She never joined fellow cast members at awards ceremonies or other events, and did not appear in any of the publicity videos on the ''Coronation Street'' website. She has only twice appeared on screen out of character, firstly in 1988 she gave a rare interview in a documentary tribute to cast member and good friend
Margot Bryant Kathleen Mary Margaret Bryant (8 March 1897 – 1 January 1988), known professionally as Margot Bryant, was an English stage, teleivison and actress best known for playing Minnie Caldwell in the soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from its inc ...
, who played
Minnie Caldwell ''Coronation Street'' is a British television soap opera/serial, initially produced by Granada Television. Created by screenwriter Tony Warren, ''Coronation Street'' first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of chara ...
. In 2005, she gave an interview for an ITV programme aimed at deaf viewers, speaking about working with the deaf actor Ali Briggs, who was playing Emily's niece
Freda Burgess The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' in 2005, by order of first appearance. Scooter Makuna Hiren "Scooter" Makuna, first appeared in early 2005 as the boyfriend of Sarah Plat ...
, for which she was interviewed on the set and dressed in character. She also appeared, along with the rest of the ''Coronation Street'' cast, in episodes of '' This Is Your Life'' for
Patricia Phoenix Patricia Phoenix Booth (born Patricia Frederica Manfield; 26 November 1923 – 17 September 1986) was an English actress who became one of the first sex symbols of British television through her role as Elsie Tanner, an original cast member ...
in 1972, Jack Howarth in 1974,
Julie Goodyear Julie Goodyear MBE (''née'' Kemp; born 29 March 1942) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Bet Lynch in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She first appeared as Bet for nine episodes in 1966, before becoming ...
in 1980,
William Roache William Patrick Roache (born 25 April 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' since it was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the ''Guinness World Records ...
in 1985 and
Anne Kirkbride Anne Kirkbride (21 June 1954 – 19 January 2015) was an English actress, best known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap ''Coronation Street'', which she played for 42 years from 1972 to 2014. For this ...
in 1998. Her son has denied that Derbyshire is reclusive, pointing out she is simply "private, and one of the last of a dying breed of old-fashioned actresses who do it for the love of acting, not for all the attendant publicity". Derbyshire has three grandchildren. She is also godmother to three of
William Roache William Patrick Roache (born 25 April 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' since it was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the ''Guinness World Records ...
's children, and
Barbara Knox Barbara Knox, MBE (''née'' Brothwood, formerly Mullaney; born 30 September 1933) is an English actress, best known for her long-running portrayal of Rita Tanner in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She first appeared as Rita Littlewoo ...
's daughter Maxine. Derbyshire left ''Coronation Street'' for personal reasons in December 2015. Her departure aired on 1 January 2016, then described as a sabbatical. She returned for a cameo appearance as part of the on-screen celebrations for long-standing character,
Ken Barlow Ken Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by William Roache. He was created by Tony Warren as one of ''Coronation Street''s original characters and December 2020 marked Ken's 60th anni ...
's 80th birthday in October 2019, being seen on a video call.


Honours

Derbyshire was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours, for services to drama.


References


External links

*
Profile at corrie.net
including a rare photo out of character {{DEFAULTSORT:Derbyshire, Eileen Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English soap opera actresses English television actresses Living people People from Urmston Members of the Order of the British Empire 1931 births