Lynda Bellingham

Acting

Lynda Bellingham

Born 1948-05-31 · Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Lynda Bellingham played many roles during her five-decade professional career, but became synonymous with one. "Being a mum making gravy was not quite how I had seen my career advancing," she said once. But between 1983 and 1999 that's what she did in 42 "episodes" of an award-winning TV ad. Since the early 1980s, her name was rarely mentioned in print without it being prefaced with "Oxo mum". During her career, though, she starred on TV as the vet's wife Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small in the 80s and as one of two divorcees trying to forge a relationship in the 90s sitcom Second Thoughts, opposite James Bolam. On stage she was best known for playing the lead in a touring production of Calendar Girls between 2008 and 2012. She was also, for four years between 2007 and 2011, a regular member of the team on Loose Women, the daytime TV chat show. She had few regrets about how her career turned out, summarising its trajectory thus on her website: "Arrived in London at the Central School [for Speech and Drama] in 1966 and never looked back. I had a ball!" Bellingham, though, knew that gravy, like Lady Macbeth's damned spot, left an indelible mark. "In many ways I was very proud of what we did, but there is no doubt that my credibility as an actress was knocked," she reflected. "Certain people in the industry would never employ me as a serious actress after it. On the other hand, it gave me the financial security to go off and work in the theatre for very little money." Her performances as Mrs Oxo were reportedly responsible for a 10% increase in stock cube sales.

Acting credits

The Vision poster
10.0

Veteran broadcaster James Marriner is persuaded to front a new big budget national family TV channel. But he begins to suspect that the channel is a front for something much more sinister and political.

The Vision

1987

Celebrity Naked Ambition poster
5.3

Documentary looking at how nudity has been used in the movies, sometimes shrewdly and other times without thought.

Celebrity Naked Ambition

2003

Don't Go Breaking My Heart poster
5.2

Well meaning friends try to persuade Suzanne, a beautiful widow, to remarry and the choice seems to be between Frank, a philandering dentist, and Tony, a sensitive, failing sports trainer who helps her son.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

1999

Doctor Who: Mindwarp poster
7.7

As the Doctor's trial continues, evidence is presented showing his most recent adventure, one where he faces an old adversary, Sil. As a scientist conducts his unethical experiments to prolong the life of Sil's boss Kiv, the Doctor's memories of the events begins to return and an unpleasant surprise awaits him.

Doctor Who: Mindwarp

1986

Stand up, Virgin Soldiers poster
4.6

Some British soldiers in Singapore are more concerned with finding sex than finding Communists.

Stand up, Virgin Soldiers

1977

Confessions of a Driving Instructor poster
4.7

Timothy Lea and his brother-in-law Sidney decide upon opening a driving school as their latest get-rich-quick scheme. Though he sincerely wants to teach, young Timmy finds that his female students are far more interested in keeping their eyes on him than on the road.

Confessions of a Driving Instructor

1976

Sweeney! poster
6.7

When one of Regan's snouts complains that his girlfriend's recent suicide was murder, the flying squad detective feels compelled to investigate. He uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the government, and finds himself fitted up, suspended and under the scrutiny of Special Branch.

Sweeney!

1977

Riding High poster
5.2

A bored motorcycle messenger Dave Munday begins training for a major stunt riding competition, where he'll attempt a death-defying jump known as the Devil's Leap.

Riding High

1981

The Scarlet Tunic poster
5.1

Passions erupt between a German hussar (Jean-Marc Barr) serving with King George III's personal cavalry and the only daughter of an English solicitor (Emma Fielding) in this period tearjerker adapted from a short story by Thomas Hardy. Longing to escape their own personal imprisonments -- he, his service to the king, and she, her engagement to a man she doesn't love -- they find solace in each other's arms.

The Scarlet Tunic

1998

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family poster
5.2

The story of the last year and a half of Tsar Nicholas II and his family from the February Revolution of 1917 to their execution in July 1918.

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family

2000

Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids poster
4.7

As evidence for the defense at his ongoing trial, the Doctor presents an adventure from his future when he is travelling with a computer programmer named Mel. Answering a mysterious distress call from the space liner Hyperion III, they find that the passengers aboard include unscrupulous scientists, secret agents, saboteurs, thieves and a murderer. And lurking in the shadows are the Vervoids, the product of sinister botanical experiments, who will stop at nothing to destroy all non-plant life.

Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids

1986

Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet poster
6.2

The Doctor is summoned before the High Council of Time Lords to stand trial for the charges of harmful interference to the course of events during his travels which have threatened the sanctity of the universe. Indignant at these accusations, the Doctor pleads his case to the Inquisitor with the hope that she will see him as a source of hope and goodwill for existence. However, his prosecuting attorney, a sinister Time Lord known simply as the Valeyard, begins a crusade against the Doctor with the motive of framing him as a villainous renegade.

Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet

1986

Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh poster
6.7

'Hey, Mr Producer!' features selected scenes from the productions of the world's most successful musical producer, Cameron Mackintosh - classic songs from classic musicals performed by the ultimate cast.

Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh

1998

Bodywork poster
4.3

Virgil Guppy buys a sleek-looking used Jaguar, but the car turns out to be a lemon. Unfortunately, that's just the start of his problems; a dead prostitute is discovered in the trunk, and Virgil is accused of her murder. Aided by a dysfunctional family of thieves, unorthodox police procedure and some clever body work of his own, he sets out to clear his name.

Bodywork

2001

The Long Bank Holiday poster
8.0

A spate of computer thefts from government offices, a possible suicide under the wheels of a high-speed train, an absconded lifer on the loose, and a grisly trove of human bones in a garden all conspire to keep Davies on the job during a long Easter weekend.

The Long Bank Holiday

2004

Devil's Gate poster
9.0

Laura Fraser stars as a young woman forced to return to her hometown and confront the demons in her past, in this British thriller.

Devil's Gate

2004

No artwork available
8.0

A commuter's race to catch a rush-hour train, narrated in the style of a horse race.

The Waterloo Bridge Handicap

1978

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe poster
5.7

Charged with genocide by the treacherous Valeyard at his trial, the Doctor receives help from an unlikely source to turn the tide of the High Council's rulings in his favour and reveal the Valeyard as a wrongdoer: the Master. For the Valeyard's own crimes are so atrocious, even the Doctor's archenemy will help him to ensure that the villain won't see the light of day again. Cornered, the Valeyard flees to the Matrix, where he can be the Doctor's judge, jury and executioner...

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe

1986

An Audience with Ronnie Corbett poster
6.7

Super-talented comic Ronnie Corbett pulls out all the stops to entertain a celebrity audience including on-screen sidekick Ronnie Barker, Damien Hirst and Frank Skinner in this 1997 special.

An Audience with Ronnie Corbett

1997

No artwork available
NR

A philandering husband meets his birth mother for the first time--and is he in for the shock of his life.

Too Close for Comfort

2012