Edna Doré
Encyclopedia
Edna Doré is a British
actress. Doré is one of Britain's best known senior citizen actresses. She is known for her bit-part roles in situation comedies
and for playing the character of Mo Butcher
in the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
(1988–1990).
, then spent twenty years in repertory theatre before becoming a member of the National Theatre
for ten years.
She turned to television acting in 1960 and subsequently had parts in many successful series including: Dixon of Dock Green
, Doctor in the House
, The Liver Birds
, Terry and June
, Tenko
, Z Cars and Open All Hours
In 1988 she starred in Mike Leigh
's award winning film
, High Hopes, for which she received the award for Best Supporting Player at the 1989 European Film Awards. Here she played Mrs. Bender, who suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease
.
In 1988 she was cast in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders
, where she played Mo Butcher
, the battleaxe mother of Mike Reid
's character, Frank Butcher
. During her time in the show she once again received wide acclaim for her portrayal of an elderly lady's descent into Alzheimer's Disease. The story — about the effect that Alzheimer's has on the sufferer's family — had to be curtailed when Doré decided to leave the programme in 1990. The character was killed off at the end of 1992.
In 1997 she played the role of Kath in the Gary Oldman
award winning film Nil by Mouth
. Other film credits include Tube Tales
(1999), Weak at Denise (2001) and All or Nothing (2002).
In recent years she has had parts in many successful television shows including: Love Hurts (1992), A Year in Provence (1993), Casualty (1993;1997), Men Behaving Badly
(1997), Peak Practice
(2000), Holby City
(2001), Time Gentlemen Please
(2000–2002), The Bill
(2002;2003 & 2006), Eyes Down
(2003–2004), Murder in Mind (2003), My Family (2004), Hotel Babylon
(2006) and Doctors
(2006), among others. She also played the role of Maeve in the Doctor Who
episode "Fear Her
" in June 2006.
In September 2006 she appeared in the BBC2 comedy sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look
and in April 2007 she appeared in a guest star role opposite David Jason
in ITV's Diamond Geezer
, playing the role of Violet.
On 24 December 2008, she appeared in the Christmas special of Gavin & Stacey
as Edna, once again playing a character affected by dementia.
In February 2009 she held a small role in an episode of the new series of Minder on Five. She also played Grace in the Easter movie Skellig
.
In January 2010 she appeared as Nin Gallagher in Channel 4's Shameless
. That same year she appeared in Mike Leigh
's film Another Year. In March 2011 she appeared in an episode of Midsomer Murders
.
, in 1946 in Pancras
, London
and remained with him until his death in 2002. Her son, Mike, owns a pub in Sussex
.
Doré trained to be an actress with Anna Wing
, who is famous for playing Lou Beale
in EastEnders.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actress. Doré is one of Britain's best known senior citizen actresses. She is known for her bit-part roles in situation comedies
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
and for playing the character of Mo Butcher
Mo Butcher
Maureen "Mo" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Edna Doré between 1988 and 1990. She was introduced as the matriarch figure of the Butcher family, Frank Butcher's elderly mother. She was portrayed as a battle-axe, tough and interfering...
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
(1988–1990).
Career
She began her career as a chorus girl in ENSAEntertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
, then spent twenty years in repertory theatre before becoming a member of the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
for ten years.
She turned to television acting in 1960 and subsequently had parts in many successful series including: Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
, Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the novel by Gordon, and follows a group of students through medical school.It was the most popular box office...
, The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds is a British situation comedy, set in Liverpool, Merseyside, North-West of England, which aired on BBC1 from 1969 to 1978, and again in 1996. It was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpool housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents...
, Terry and June
Terry and June
Terry and June is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The programme is largely a continuation of Happy Ever After, and stars Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford...
, Tenko
Tenko (TV series)
Tenko is a television drama, co-produced by the BBC and the ABC. A total of thirty episodes were produced between 1981 and 1984 for women, followed by a one-off special , Tenko Reunion, in 1985 - also for women in mind.The series dealt with the experiences of British, Australian and Dutch women...
, Z Cars and Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...
In 1988 she starred in Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
's award winning film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, High Hopes, for which she received the award for Best Supporting Player at the 1989 European Film Awards. Here she played Mrs. Bender, who suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
In 1988 she was cast in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, where she played Mo Butcher
Mo Butcher
Maureen "Mo" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Edna Doré between 1988 and 1990. She was introduced as the matriarch figure of the Butcher family, Frank Butcher's elderly mother. She was portrayed as a battle-axe, tough and interfering...
, the battleaxe mother of Mike Reid
Mike Reid (entertainer)
Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...
's character, Frank Butcher
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
. During her time in the show she once again received wide acclaim for her portrayal of an elderly lady's descent into Alzheimer's Disease. The story — about the effect that Alzheimer's has on the sufferer's family — had to be curtailed when Doré decided to leave the programme in 1990. The character was killed off at the end of 1992.
In 1997 she played the role of Kath in the Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
award winning film Nil by Mouth
Nil by Mouth (film)
Nil by Mouth is a 1997 British drama film portraying a family of characters living in South East London. It was Gary Oldman's debut as a writer and director; the film was produced by Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson. It stars Ray Winstone as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie...
. Other film credits include Tube Tales
Tube Tales
Tube Tales is a collection of nine short films based on the true-life experiences of London Underground passengers as submitted to Time Out magazine. The stories were scripted and filmed independently of each other...
(1999), Weak at Denise (2001) and All or Nothing (2002).
In recent years she has had parts in many successful television shows including: Love Hurts (1992), A Year in Provence (1993), Casualty (1993;1997), Men Behaving Badly
Men Behaving Badly
Men Behaving Badly is a British comedy that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang and his flatmates, Dermot Povey and Tony Smart It was first broadcast on ITV in 1992...
(1997), Peak Practice
Peak Practice
Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time...
(2000), Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
(2001), Time Gentlemen Please
Time Gentlemen Please
Time Gentlemen Please is a British sitcom. Commissioned by Sky One, it was primarily written by Richard Herring and Al Murray and ran for two series between 2000 and 2002.- Premise and characters :...
(2000–2002), The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
(2002;2003 & 2006), Eyes Down
Eyes Down
Eyes Down is a comedy starring Paul O'Grady as Ray Temple, the manager of a bingo hall in Liverpool, England called The Rio, although the series was filmed in Rayners Lane in London. Although it had moderate ratings, the programme only lasted for two series until it was cancelled by the BBC in 2004...
(2003–2004), Murder in Mind (2003), My Family (2004), Hotel Babylon
Hotel Babylon
Hotel Babylon was a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones, that aired from 19 January 2006 to 14 August 2009, produced by independent production company Carnival Films for BBC One...
(2006) and Doctors
Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)
Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...
(2006), among others. She also played the role of Maeve in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode "Fear Her
Fear Her
"Fear Her" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 24 June 2006.The episode takes part on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, almost exclusively on a fictitious cul-de-sac named after the British athlete...
" in June 2006.
In September 2006 she appeared in the BBC2 comedy sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look
That Mitchell and Webb Look
That Mitchell and Webb Look is a British television sketch show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Shown on BBC Two since 2006, its first two series were directed by David Kerr, who also directed Mitchell and Webb's previous television sketch show The Mitchell and Webb Situation, whereas...
and in April 2007 she appeared in a guest star role opposite David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
in ITV's Diamond Geezer
Diamond Geezer 2
Diamond Geezer 2 is a sequel to the first Diamond Geezer airing on ITV, starring David Jason.-Episode One – A Royal Affair:...
, playing the role of Violet.
On 24 December 2008, she appeared in the Christmas special of Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy-drama, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also...
as Edna, once again playing a character affected by dementia.
In February 2009 she held a small role in an episode of the new series of Minder on Five. She also played Grace in the Easter movie Skellig
Skellig
Skellig is a novel by David Almond, for which Almond was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 1998 and also the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. The book won the 2000 Michael L. Printz Honor from YALSA in the United States...
.
In January 2010 she appeared as Nin Gallagher in Channel 4's Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
. That same year she appeared in Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
's film Another Year. In March 2011 she appeared in an episode of Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
.
Personal life
Doré lives in Barnes. She married the stage director and writer, Alexander DoréAlexander Doré
Alexander Doré was a British actor, television director and screenwriter perhaps best known for his appearance as the First Spy in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang....
, in 1946 in Pancras
St Pancras, London
St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and remained with him until his death in 2002. Her son, Mike, owns a pub in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
.
Doré trained to be an actress with Anna Wing
Anna Wing
Anna Eva Lydia Catherine Wing, MBE is an English actress. She has had a long career in television and theatre.-Personal life:...
, who is famous for playing Lou Beale
Lou Beale
Louise Ada "Lou" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Wing. The character is played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, Civvy Street, set during the Second World War....
in EastEnders.