Paula Tilbrook (16 January 1930 – 1 December 2019) was an English actress who played

Betty Eagleton Betty Eagleton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by Paula Tilbrook. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 12 April 1994. Betty is characterised as the village gossip wh ...

in the

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 ...

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'' from 1994 to 2015.

Career

Born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, Tilbrook begun her career performing on stage across

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. After a break from acting to raise her children, she moved into television, appearing in the sitcom ''

The Dustbinmen ''The Dustbinmen'' is a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute television film ''There's ...

'' in 1969 and alongside

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A life ...

in ''Ken Dodd and the Diddymen'' from 1969 to 1973; thereafter she became a regular on Dodd's radio programmes. In 1977, Tilbrook made an appearance as Estelle Plimpton in ''

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 ...

'', and followed this by appearances as Olive Taylor-Brown in the same show in 1978 and 1980, and Vivian Barford from 1991 to 1993. In 1979 she appeared in ''Tales of the Unexpected''. In 1988, Tilbrook played Flo Capp in the sitcom ''

Andy Capp ''Andy Capp'' is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe, seen in the ''Daily Mirror'' and the ''Sunday Mirror'' newspapers since 5 August 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon, it was later expanded to four panels. The s ...

''. She appeared as dog-lover Mrs Tattersall in ''

Open All Hours ''Open All Hours'' is a British television sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. It ran for 26 episodes in four series, which aired in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. The programme developed from a television pilot broadcast in Ronni ...

'' and played three roles in ''

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...

''. Her other credits include ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

'', ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Br ...

'' and two episodes of the BBC's ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

''. Tilbrook's film credits include ''

Yanks ''Yanks'' is a 1979 drama film directed by John Schlesinger, and starring Richard Gere, Vanessa Redgrave, William Devane, Lisa Eichhorn and Tony Melody. The film is set during the Second World War in Northern England and features no combat scen ...

'' and

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...

's ''

A Private Function ''A Private Function'' is a 1984 British comedy film starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film was predominantly filmed in Ilkley, and Ben Rhydding in West Yorkshire. The film was also screened in the section of Un Certain Regard at the ...

''. In 1994, Tilbrook joined the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' as Betty Eagleton, a character known for her love of gossip and her on-screen relationship with

Seth Armstrong Archibald Seth Armstrong is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (know ...

(played by

Stan Richards Stanley Richardson, known professionally as Stan Richards (8 December 1930 – 11 February 2005), was an English television actor, best known for his portrayal of Seth Armstrong in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Career He played the ...

). Initially signed to appear in only three episodes, she remained in the role for 21 years, and at the time of her departure was the longest-running female cast member. In April 2015, it was announced that Tilbrook would be retiring from acting and her final scenes as Betty aired on 25 May, which saw the character leave for Australia. She briefly reprised her role in ''Emmerdale'' on Christmas Day 2015, when Betty appeared via

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

to speak to the villagers.

Personal life

Tilbrook was married to Leslie Hall from 1952 until his death in 1985 from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. They had a son, Greg (born November 1953), and a daughter, Gaynor (born January 1957). From 1962, she lived in

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

. Tilbrook died on 1 December 2019 aged 89; her death was not announced by her family until July 2020.

References

External links

* 1930 births 2019 deaths 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Manchester Actresses from Salford English film actresses English soap opera actresses English television actresses Place of death missing {{UK-tv-actor-1930s-stub