Pauline Collins

**Pauline Collins**  (3 September 1940 – 5 November 2025) was an English actress of stage, television, and movies. Her first major role was in 1971 as Sarah Moffat in _Upstairs, Downstairs_. In 1988, Collins played the title role in the play _Shirley Valentine_. In 1989, she reprised the role in the movie adaptation. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. In 1992, she released her autobiography, titled _Letter to Louise_.

## Early life and career

Collins was born in Exmouth, Devon. Her mother was a school teacher. Her father was a school headmaster. She was brought up as a Roman Catholic in Wallasey near Liverpool. Her great-uncle was Irish poet Jeremiah Joseph Callanan.

Collins was educated at Sacred Heart High School. She studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She worked as a teacher until 1962. She then made her stage debut at Windsor in _A Gazelle in Park Lane_. In 1965, she made her West End debut in _Passion Flower Hotel_. During the play's run, she made her first movie, _Secrets of a Windmill Girl_. It was released in 1966.

Collins played Samantha Briggs in the 1967 _Doctor Who_ serial _The Faceless Ones_. She declined an offer of a role as a new companion for the Doctor.

Other early TV credits include the UK's first medical soap _Emergency - Ward 10_ (1960).  In 1969, she was in the pilot episode and first series of _The Liver Birds_.

Collins first became well known for her role as the maid Sarah in the 1970s ITV drama series _Upstairs, Downstairs_. The character was in the first two series. In the second series she appeared with her actor husband, John Alderton. In 1979, they starred in a spin-off, _Thomas & Sarah_. They also starred in the sitcom _No, Honestly_. This was written by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham. From 1975 to 1978, they worked together in a series of short-story adaptations called _Wodehouse Playhouse_. In 1983, they narrated the animated British children's TV series _Little Miss_.

In April 1972, she was a subject of the television programme _This Is Your Life_, being surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

In 1973, in her _Upstairs, Downstairs_ role, Collins recorded a single for Decca called _What Are We Going to Do with Uncle Arthur?_. It was performed by her character several times during the series. The 'B' side was _With Every Passing Day_ (a vocal version of the show's theme).

## _Shirley Valentine_

In 1988, Collins starred in the one-woman play _Shirley Valentine_ in London. In 1989 she reprised the role on Broadway. She was then in the 1989 movie version. The movie won a number of awards and nominations. Both the play and the feature movie used the technique known as "breaking the fourth wall". The character Shirley Valentine directly addresses the audience throughout the story.

## After _Shirley Valentine_

Collins starred alongside her husband in the popular ITV drama series _Forever Green_. This was created and written by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham. It was about a couple who start a new life in the country with their children. It ran from 1989 to 1992 in over 18 episodes.

In 1990, Collins was voted sexiest woman in Britain.

In 2006, she became only the third actor to have been in both the original and new series of _Doctor Who_. She appeared in the episode "Tooth and Claw" as Queen Victoria.

In 2015, she appeared as Mrs Gamp in the BBC TV series _Dickensian_.

In the 2001 Birthday Honours, Collins was agiven an OBE  for services to drama.

## Personal life

Collins married actor John Alderton in 1969 and lives in Hampstead, London, with her husband and their three children, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard. She also has an older daughter with actor Tony Rohr, Louise, whom she gave up for adoption. They were reunited when Louise was 22 years old.

Collins died from problems caused by Parkinson's disease in London in November 2025, at the age of 85.

## TV and filmography

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Role|scope="col"|Director|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Emergency – Ward 10_|Nurse Elliott|Phil Brown|TV Series (1 Episode)|||||||
|_Secrets of a Windmill Girl_|Pat Lord|Arnold L. Miller||||||||
|_The Marriage Lines_|Jean|Robin Nash|TV Series (1 Episode : "Big Business")|||||||
|_Pardon the Expression_|Miss Wainwright / Val|Michael Cox|TV Series (3 Episodes)|||||||
|_The Corridor People_|Syrie's maid|David Boisseau|TV Series (1 Episode : "Victim as Black")|||||||
|_Theatre 625_|Clara|James Ferman|TV Series (1 Episode : "Amerika")|||||||
|_The Saint_|Marie-Therese|Gordon Flemyng|TV Series (1 Episode : "The Better Mousetrap")|||||||
|_Blackmail_|Freida Straker||TV Series (1 Episode : "Please Do Not Disturb")|||||||
|_The Three Musketeers_|Kitty|Peter Hammond|TV (1 Episode : "Branded")|||||||
|_The Making of Jericho_|||TV movie|||||||
|_Doctor Who_|Samantha Briggs|Gerry Mill|_The Faceless Ones_ (6 Episodes)|||||||
|_Softly, Softly_|Marilyn|Bill Hays|TV Series (1 Episode : "Somebody Important")|||||||
|_B and B_|Chantal||TV Series (1 Episode : "Pilot: B and B")|||||||
|_Armchair Theatre_|Betty / Mary Murtagh|Guy Verney Marc Miller|TV Series (2 Episodes)|||||||
|_The Old Campaigner_|Winnie Haldane||TV Series (1 Episode : "French Farce")|||||||
|_Comedy Playhouse_|Dawn / Marjorie||TV Series (2 Episodes)|||||||
|_The Liver Birds_|Dawn||TV Series (5 Episodes)|||||||
|_The Wednesday Play_|Angelina / Joan Percival|Marc Miller (X2) John Mackenzie|TV Series (2 Episodes)|||||||
|_Parkin's Patch_|Doreen Ashworth|Raymond Menmuir|TV Series (1 Episode : "A Pair of Good Shoes")|||||||
|_The Mating Machine_|Elizabeth|Howard Ross|TV Series (1 Episode : "Who Sleeps on the Right?")|||||||
|_Thirty-Minute Theatre_|The Girl|Gilchrist Calder|TV Series (1 Episode : "King's Cross Lunch Hour")|||||||
|_Country Matters_|Ruby||TV Mini-Series (1 Episode : "Crippled Bloom")|||||||
|_Upstairs, Downstairs_|Sarah Moffat|Various directors|TV Series (13 Episodes) Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actress|||||||
|_Armchair 30_|Carol|Piers Haggard|TV Series (1 Episode : "Carol's Story")|||||||
|_No, Honestly_|Clara Burrell-Danby|David Askey|TV Series (13 Episodes)|||||||
|_BBC Play of the Month_|Lady Teazle|Stuart Burge|TV Series (1 Episode : "The School for Scandal")|||||||
|_Wodehouse Playhouse_|Various characters|Various directors|TV Series (13 Episodes)|||||||
|_Thomas & Sarah_|Sarah Moffat|Various directors|TV Series (13 Episodes)|||||||
|_Play for Today_|Eileen|Stephen Frears|TV Series (1 Episode : "Long Distance Information")|||||||
|_Tales of the Unexpected_|Pat Lewis|Graham Evans|TV Series (1 Episode : "A Girl Can't Always Have Everything")|||||||
|_Little Misses and the Mr. Men_|Narrator|Trevor Bond Terry Ward|TV Series|||||||
|_Knockback_|Sylvia|Piers Haggard (X2)|TV Movie Nominated – CableACE Awards for Best Actress in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special|||||||
|_Tropical Moon Over Dorking_|Myra|Robert Chetwyn|TV Movie|||||||
|_The Black Tower_|Maggie Hewson|Ronald Wilson|TV Mini-Series (5 Episodes)|||||||
|_Tales of the Unexpected_|Eve Peregrine|Barry Davis|TV Series (1 Episode : "The Colonel's Lady")|||||||
|_Forever Green_|Harriet Boult|David Giles Sarah Hellings Christopher King|TV Series (18 Episodes)|||||||
|_Shirley Valentine_|Shirley Valentine-Bradshaw|Lewis Gilbert|BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Evening Standard British Film Awards – Best Actress Golden Apple Award – Female Discovery of the Year Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy|||||||
|_City of Joy_|Joan Bethel|Roland Joffé||||||||
|_My Mother's Courage_|Elsa Tabori|Michael Verhoeven||||||||
|_Flowers of the Forest_|Aileen Matthews|Michael Whyte|TV Movie|||||||
|_Paradise Road_|Daisy 'Margaret' Drummond|Bruce Beresford||||||||
|_The Ambassador_|Harriet Smith|Various directors|TV Series (13 Episodes)|||||||
|_Little Grey Rabbit_||Jean Flynn|TV Series|||||||
|_One Life Stand_|Karaoke Crowd|May Miles Thomas||||||||
|_Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War_|Thelma Caldicot|Ian Sharp||||||||
|_Man and Boy_|Betty Silver|Simon Curtis|TV Movie|||||||
|_Sparkling Cyanide_|Dr. Catherine Kendall|Tristram Powell|TV Movie|||||||
|_Bleak House_|Miss Flite|Justin Chadwick Susanna White|TV Series (10 Episodes)|||||||
|_Doctor Who_|Queen Victoria|Euros Lyn|TV Series (1 Episode : "Tooth and Claw")|||||||
|_What We Did on Our Holiday_|Lil Taylor|Jeremy Webb|TV Movie|||||||
|_From Time to Time_|Mrs. Tweedie|Julian Fellowes||||||||
|_Agatha Christie's Marple_|Thyrza Grey|Andy Hay|TV Series (1 Episode : "The Pale Horse")|||||||
|_Merlin_|_Alice_|Alice Troughton|TV Series (1 Episode : "Love in the Time of Dragons")|||||||
|_You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger_|Cristal|Woody Allen||||||||
|_Albert Nobbs_|Margaret 'Madge' Baker|Rodrigo García||||||||
|_Mount Pleasant_|Sue|Dewi Humphreys Ian Barnes Dermot Boyd|TV Series (14 Episodes)|||||||
|_Quartet_|Cissy Robson|Dustin Hoffman||||||||
|_Dough_|Joanna|John Goldschmidt||||||||
|_The Time of Their Lives_|Priscilla|Roger Goldby|Post-Production|||||||
|_Dickensian_|Mrs Gamp|Tony Jordan Various Tony Jordan|TV Series (20 Episodes)|||||||
|_The Time of Their Lives_|Priscilla|Roger Goldby||||||||
|_Byrd and the Bees_|Beatrice|_Finola Hughes_|Pre-Production|||||||

## Awards and nominations

- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress (**winner**)
- Tony Award in 1989 for Best Actress in a Play (**winner**)
- Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut (**winner**)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play (**winner**)
- Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (**winner**)
- Academy Award for Best Actress (nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, Comedy or Musical (nominee)
- BAFTA for Best Film Actress (**winner**)

## Other websites

- Pauline Collins images
- 2001 profile
- Article about Collins' receipt of the OBE
- Pauline Collins (Aveleyman)
- Pauline Collins' appearance on This Is Your Life

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Pauline Collins
- **image**: Pauline Collins in November 2012.jpg
- **caption**: Pauline Collins in November 2012
- **birth place**: Exmouth, Devon, England
- **death place**: London, England
- **occupation**: Actress
- **years active**: 1962–2017
- **children**: 4