Edna Birch

[maidmarian]

RIP Shirley

A very talented actress who played many
varied roles over the years.
A great Rose in "Keeping up Appearances"
and will.be much missed as Edna in Emmerdale!

[Perdita]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/w...erdale-6975149

Shirley´s last scenes on Emmerdale iin October ...

[lizann]

didn't even realise she was sick, very shocked and saddened, rip shirley

[sarah c]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/w...erdale-6975149

Shirley´s last scenes on Emmerdale iin October ...

wow I didn't realise she hadn't been on screen since that scene??!

[tammyy2j]

wow I didn't realise she hadn't been on screen since that scene??!

Me either

I remember Sandy was talking to her with speakers he bought for them

[Telly Watcher]

There was a nice obituary article posted earlier today for Shirley Stelfox in The Guardian newspaper.

"Shirley Stelfox obituary", theguardian
9 December 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...hirley-stelfox

DS spoilers for 25th December say that "Sandy talks to an old friend who joins the Woolpack festivities via new technology as if they had never left." I suppose that the "old friend" could be Betty but I'm really hoping that Edna was filmed a while ago using Skype to talk to Sandy from a storylined retirement location away from Emmerdale. At the end of the episode, I'm hoping we'll be shown a tribute to Shirley Stelfox along the lines of "In memory of Shirley Stelfox, who played Edna Birch on Emmerdale from 2000-2015."

Edna Birch, character summary

Born: 21st April 1937 (78yo)
Residence: Woodbine Cottage
Father: Ernest Burrows
Mother: Mrs. Burrows
Sister: Lily Butterfield
Husband: Harold Birch (deceased)
Nephew: Peter Birch
First cousin: Mildred Finch
Other relatives: Eve Jenson, Harriet Finch
First appearance: 25 May 2000
Last appearance: 26 October 2015
Occupations: Office assistant (2004–12), Factory packer (2013)
Acted by: Shirley Stelfox (2000-15, 74yo, DOB 11/04/41, Died 07/12/15 )

Storylines

2000
- Edna arrives in the village launching a campaign against Ashley and Bernice's relationship.
- She is disgusted to find a stripped Ashley tied to a lamppost on his stag night.

2001
- Granddaughter Eve arrives at her house and asks to stay for a few days, and eventually lives with her for a short time.

2002
- Granddaughter Eve is sent back to France after she kicks Batley.
- Edna is heartbroken when her dog Batley is put down following illness.
- Len Reynolds falls in love with Edna, however she does not reciprocate.

2006
- Eve's wedding.

2007
- Left devastated when Len dies.

2008
- Edna is pleased when sister Lillie's surgery to get rid of her brain tumour goes well.

2009
- Is terrified when a brick comes through her window – part of Sally Spode’s scheming to win Ashley.

2010-2011
- Edna asks Sally to leave and is shocked by her anger.
- Is distraught when Tootsie goes missing.
- Eve returns to the village, separated from her husband and up to her eyes in his debts. Edna agrees to take her in.

2012
- On 24th December 2012, Edna Birch's house gets robbed by Cameron Murray. Cameron then frames Alex Moss whom Cameron has already killed and buried the body in the woods.

2013
- Edna hates the new girl at the vets being around her pet dog.

2014
- Edna becomes left alone whilst in need of help for Tootsie's cancer, she skips paying her bills for her treatment.
- Her home gets burgled and trashed by Belle Dingle, who at the time was suffering apparitions from her late friend, Gemma Andrews,

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_Birch
http://emmerdale.wikia.com/wiki/Edna_Birch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Stelfox

[Perdita]

Thank you Emmerdale for dedicating today´s episode to Shirley Stelfox, Edna was a character I liked very much and shall miss... RIP xx

[Perdita]

I wonder when they will address her passing in the show ... She would have much to say about Paddy´s affair, I am sure and I think she would also have been a good support to Ashley ... I miss her

[Telly Watcher]

Obituary: Shirley Stelfox, who was best known as the prudish spinster, busybody Edna Birch, in Emmerdale.

Shirley Stelfox made the prudish and judgemental spinster Edna Birch one of the best loved characters on the programme in years.

A strong and versatile character actress, Shirley Stelfox enlivened every type of drama, and was a gift for casting directors. Whether playing the glamorous, the brassy, the wretched or the gossipy, she was ever the reliable old pro. After decades of service in supporting parts, driven by her dislike of committing to anything for a long stretch, she settled down at last with her final role, in the ITV soap, Emmerdale.

She had done plenty of short stints in soaps previously, memorably as Melanie Owen's mother in EastEnders and as gold-digging Madge in Brookside, (referred to by Bill Dean's wonderfully disapproving Harry Cross as "that bit of stuff"). She also had a tiny role in the very first episode of Coronation Street, a series she returned to several times over the years. But her Emmerdale role made the biggest impression; when her beloved dog had to be put down, her performance led to the storyline-winning Best Exit at that year's Soap Awards.

She was born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, in 1941, the youngest of three children. Her mother was a milliner, her father a haulage contractor. Despite being diagnosed with bilateral amblyopia, a condition that makes reading small print difficult, she set her sights on acting at an early age. She attended Lakes Road secondary school while playing in amateur groups and in pantomimes at the Old Chapel in Dukinfield. She made her film debut in David Lean's Hobson's Choice (1954) at 13, then attended Rada.

Her vivid features and gift for a well-drawn characterisation kept her busy in television from the off, but her stage credentials were equally impressive and diverse. She was a spidery Regan in King Lear at the Ludlow Festival in 1972 and at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, played Lady Macbeth in 1973, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1978 and Yelena in Uncle Vanya in 1974.

She was as at home in children's theatre, such as playing Phoebe in Toad of Toad Hall (Duke of York's, London, 1971) as she was in farces such as Not Now, Darling (Strand Theatre, 1968) and as Mrs Snapper in Noël Coward's Cavalcade (Chichester Festival Theatre, 1985). In later years her stage appearances were sparse, but concluded handsomely with Mrs Arbuthnot in A Woman of No Importance (Leicester Haymarket, 1997). Although her film roles were less plentiful, they were just as diverse, ranging from Michael Radford's 1984 and Terry Jones' comedy about brothel madam Cynthia Payne, Personal Services (1986), to Carry On At Your Convenience (1971).

But her television credits were vast; after playing endless barmaids and girlfriends in her early career, she was delighted to be cast in Debbie Horsfield's Making Out (1989-91), a corrective to the paucity of good female roles around at the time. An ensemble piece about a group of female factory workers, the series mixed comedy and drama excellently, telling human stories against a backdrop of unemployment and economic strife. Stelfox also formed a production company with her co-star, Margi Clarke, and actor Rio Fanning.

A clash in filming dates meant that she was unable to continue at the same time with another television role she had made an impact with, that of Hyacinth Bucket's under-dressed and oversexed sister-in-law in Keeping Up Appearances (1990), but middle-age still saw her getting the best TV roles of her career, as in Wiliam Ivory's Common as Muck (1994-97), as the sozzled, grieving mother of a murder victim in Inspector Morse (1987), in John Godber and Jane Thornton's brief, cosy sitcom Bloomin' Marvellous (1997), and as the mother in Victoria Wood's Pat and Margaret (1994).

While appearing in an episode of the thriller series Strangers in 1978 she met Don Henderson, who became her second husband. Henderson's abrupt death in 1997 shocked the whole industry; he was a cherished actor and the pair had been blissfully happy living in Stratford-upon-Avon. Both were imaginative, unpredictable actors, welcoming performers who will be greatly missed.

Shirley Stelfox, actress: born Dukinfield, Cheshire 11 April 1941; married firstly Keith Edmundson (marriage dissolved; one daughter), 1979 Don Henderson (died 1997); died Nottinghamshire 7 December 2015.

By Simon Farquhar, 4 March 2016, independent.co.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ob...-a6910886.html

[Helena8]

i miss Edna so much, she was one f my favorite characters, so like my grandmother.