Shirley Valentine actress Pauline Collins has died “peacefully”, aged 85, surrounded by her family.

The actress, who starred in the first series of sitcom The Liver Birds, and became a household name in Upstairs Downstairs, had Parkinson’s disease for several years.

Her later role in the 1989 film Shirley Valentine, playing the lead character of the bored Liverpudlian housewife, earned her an Oscar nomination.

‘Iconic, strong-willed’

Her family said in a statement: “Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. A bright, sparky, witty presence on stage and screen. Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens.

“She will always be remembered as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise Shirley Valentine – a role that she made all her own.

“We were familiar with all those parts of her because her magic was contained in each one of them.

“More than anything, though, she was our loving mum, our wonderful grandma and great-grandma. Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us.

“And she was John (Alderton)’s life-long love. A partner, work collaborator, and wife of 56 years.

“We particularly want to thank her carers: angels who looked after her with dignity, compassion, and most of all love.

“She could not have had a more peaceful goodbye. We hope you will remember her at the height of her powers; so joyful and full of energy; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her.”

She married fellow actor John Alderton in 1969.

‘Nation’s sweetheart’

He described her as a “remarkable star”.

He said he worked with her more than any other actor in TV series, films and West End stage shows, and had “watched her genius at close quarters”.

He added: “What I saw was not only her brilliant range of diverse characters but her magic of bringing out the best in all of the people she worked with. She wanted everyone to be special and she did this by never saying ‘Look at me’.

“It’s no wonder that she was voted the nation’s sweetheart in the 1970s.

“She will always be remembered for Shirley Valentine, not only for her Oscar nomination or the film itself, but for clean-sweeping all seven awards when she portrayed her on Broadway in the stage play, in which she played every character herself.

“But her greatest performance was as my wife and mother to our beautiful children.”

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Born in Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near Liverpool and began her career as a teacher.

But after taking up acting part-time, she landed her first television role as a nurse in the series Emergency Ward 10.

Collins also won great acclaim for her role in 1997 film Paradise Road, which tells the story of a group of women in a Japanese prisoner of war camp who defy their captors by founding an orchestra.

The film also starred Glenn Close, Cate Blanchett and Frances McDormand.

In 2001, Collins was made an OBE for her services to drama.

Over the last two decades, Eddie Marsan has established himself as one of Britain’s most versatile and acclaimed character actors. From major blockbusters like the Sherlock Holmes films and Mission: Impossible III, to his roles on the TV series Ray Donovan, and more recently the sci-fi drama Supacell.

As a performer, he is a skilled observer. And one thing he’s come to notice a lot over the years is how few of his castmates tend to share his working-class roots.

“If you want to be an actor in this country, and you come from a disadvantaged background, you have to be exceptional to have a hope of a career,” he says. “If you come from a privileged background, you can be mediocre.”

Speaking after being named one of the new vice presidents of drama school Mountview, and meeting students at the establishment where he too first trained, Marsan is keen to stress why it’s so necessary to support young actors who can’t fund their careers.

“I came here when I was in my 20s… I was a bit lost, to be honest… I was serving an apprenticeship as a printer when Mountview offered me a place,” he says.

“There were no kinds of grants then, so for the first year an East End bookmaker paid my fees, then my mum and him got together and paid the second year, then Mountview gave me a scholarship for the third year, so I owe them everything.

“I didn’t earn a living as an actor for like six, seven years… years ago, actors could sign on and basically go on the dole while doing plays… now, in order to become an actor, you have to have the bank of mummy and daddy to bankroll you for those seven or eight years when you’re not going to earn a living.”

Marson and Dame Elaine Paige are both taking on ambassadorial roles to mark Mountview’s 80th anniversary, joining Dame Judi Dench, who has been president of the school since 2006.

“The parties are fantastic,” he jokes. “The two dames, they get so half-cut, honestly, you have to get an Uber to get them home!”

But he’s rather more serious about TV and film’s “fashion for posh boys”.

“When I went to America and I did 21 Grams and Vera Drake. I remember thinking, ‘great I’m going to have a career now,’ but I wasn’t the idea of what Britain was selling of itself.

“Coming back from Hollywood, a publicist said to me ‘when we get to London and do publicity for the film 21 Grams we’re going to come to you’… but no one was interested… I remember coming to Waterloo station and looking up and seeing all these posh actors selling Burberry coats and posters, and they hadn’t done anything compared to what I’d done, and yet they were the image that we were pushing as a country.”

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A 2024 Creative Industries, Policy, and Evidence Centre report found 8% of British actors come from working class backgrounds, compared to 20% in the 70s and 80s.

“Even a gangster movie now, 40 years ago you would have something like The Long Good Friday or Get Carter with people like Michael Caine or Bob Hoskins who were real working-class actors playing those parts, now you have posh boys playing working-class characters.”

Within the last five or six years, he says there has at least been “more of an effort to include people of colour”.

‘They’re scared of a level-playing field’

“What I find really interesting is, I’ve been an actor for 34 years, and I remember for the first 20 years going on a set and very rarely within the crew and within the cast would you see a black face, very rarely.

“One of the saving graces really are things now like Top Boy and Supacell, where you have members of the black community making dramas about their communities, that can’t be co-opted by the middle classes.”

“People like Laurence Fox complaining that it’s unfair, I never heard them complain when you never saw a black face, never once did they say anything. Now that people are trying to address it, they think it’s unfair…because they’re scared of a level playing field.”

Now, more than ever, Marsan says he feels compelled to point out what needs to change within the industry he works in.

“Look, social media is destroying cultural discourse. It’s making people become very binary… acting and drama is an exercise in empathy and if there’s one thing that we need more of at the moment it’s that.”

Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has told a jury he felt “wickedly torn down for no reason” by ex-footballer Joey Barton, whose online posts led him to take civil action.

The TV and radio presenter said he intervened to support football commentators Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko after Barton shared an image online of their faces superimposed on to a photograph of notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West.

After a televised FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Everton in January 2024, the former Manchester City and Newcastle United footballer likened the sports broadcasters to the “Fred and Rose West of commentary”.

Responding to the comment, Vine said on X: “What’s going on with @Joey7Barton? I just glanced at the Rose West thing… genuinely, is it possible we are dealing with a brain injury here?”

‘I was quite shocked’

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Vine said: “I was quite shocked by what Mr Barton had said about two very respected commentators in Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

“I thought it was very vicious to impose them on the images of two mass murderers of children, and I was looking for an explanation.

“I said ‘are we dealing with a brain injury here’ as a way of underlining my own feelings that he had crossed the line on that tweet.”

Barton, 43, is currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court, accused of posting grossly offensive messages on X aimed at the three broadcasters, allegedly with the intent to cause distress or anxiety.

The court heard that Mr Barton replied to Vine’s tweet with a post referring to him as “you big bike nonce”.

The defendant, who has 2.7 million followers on X, also made references to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

‘This now gets really serious’

Vine told the prosecutor he felt “very alarmed” that Mr Barton was choosing “this word ‘nonce’ to throw around” and that “this was now escalating”.

“This now gets really serious. He is accusing me of being a paedophile,” he said.

“These are disgusting actions. It’s a despicable thing to say.

“It gravely upset me, and I had a sleepless night that night.”

As more posts followed, Vine “began to feel scared”.

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Vine said: “I realised I had to take some action, but I was not sure what to do. I realised the quickest remedy would be some sort of civil action.”

Civil proceedings were initiated in March 2024. A week later, a post from Mr Barton’s X account stated: “If anyone has any information about Jeremy Vine – pictures, screenshots, videos, or messages that could help us in the case – please send them to me using the hashtag #bikenonce.”

Jurors heard that in June 2024, Barton agreed to pay Mr Vine £75,000 in damages for defamation and harassment, along with his legal expenses, as the two parties reached a settlement in the civil case.

In a separate agreement, Barton also paid Vine an additional £35,000 in damages and legal costs relating to similar issues.

The court was told that Mr Barton issued a public apology on his X account in June 2024, admitting that he had made a “very serious allegation” on social media.

He denies the offences said to have been committed between January and March 2024.