Dame Patricia Routledge
in Actors and Performers, Comedy, Musicals, Theatre People
7th March 2024
INTERVIEW: DAME PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE. Dame Patricia Routledge is one of the UK’s most beloved and recognisable actresses, whose career spans more than 70 years and hundreds of plays, musicals, television programmes and films. Although best known for her roles as Hyacinth Bucket in TV sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, Patricia made her name in theatre, starting in the early 1950s and continuing up to the mid-2000s. Her love of performance started as a child watching performances at the Argyle music hall in Birkenhead, and developed at university. Years in repertory theatre, musical comedy and revues followed, as well as many TV plays. She came to wider attention in 1982 when she starred in Alan Bennett’s monologue A Woman of No Importance on TV, and found even greater renown in Keeping Up Appearances in 1990 as the snobbish Hyacinth Bucket. Patricia is the recipient of Tony and Olivier Awards, and was made a Dame in 2017.
