Barbara Flynn

 ( 1948 Births ) 

Barbara Joy Flynn (born 5 August 1948) is an English actress. She first came to prominence playing Freda Ashton in the ITV drama series A Family at War (1970–1972). She went on to play the milk woman in the BBC comedy Open All Hours (1976–1985), Jill Swinburne in The Beiderbecke Trilogy (1985–1988), Dr. Rose Marie in the BBC series A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–1988), Judith Fitzgerald in the ITV drama Cracker (1993–1995), and Mrs. Jamieson in Cranford (2007–2009). In 2021, she appeared in as Tecteun, a founder of Time Lord society and The Doctor's adoptive mother. Starting in 2023, she acted in Beyond Paradise, playing the mother of the detective's girlfriend. This included some episodes in 2024 where she was reunited with Peter Davison, her A Very Peculiar Practice co-star.

In her own words, she tends to play "feisty, strong women".

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Personal life Flynn was born as Barbara Joy McMurray, in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. Her Irish father, Dr James McMurray, was a pathologist. Her mother was Joy (or Joyce) Crawford Hurst. Flynn attended St Mary's Convent School, Hastings. She then trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (where she was awarded the Gold Medal in 1968) before appearing in repertory theatre.

Flynn married television producer and science writer Jeremy Taylor in 1982. The couple had a son, born in 1990. Taylor died on 17 July 2017.

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Filmography

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Film

1982	Britannia Hospital	Private Nurse
1990	Quick Change	Hostage
1999	You're Dead	Professor Corner
	The Escort	Kim's Mother
2006	Miss Potter	Helen Potter
2009	Burlesque Fairytales	Mrs. Argyle
2012	Cheerful Weather for the Wedding	Aunt Bella
2014		Lady Camdon

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Television

1970–1972		Freda MacKenzie (née Ashton)	Main role, 40 episodes
1972	Thirty Minutes Worth	Various characters	Episode: "1.6"
	Z-Cars	Jane Wardle	Episode: "Old Acquaintance"
1975	Centre Play	Angie	Episode: "The Flight Fund"
1976	Couples	Sally Mackworth	Episodes: "1.58", "1.59", "1.60"
	ITV Sunday Night Drama	Beryl	Episode: "Afternoon Dancing"
1977	Murder Most English: A Flaxborough Chronicle	Pauline Sutton	Episode: "The Flaxborough Crab: Part 2"
1977, 1981, 1982	Play for Today	Monica Potter, Margaret Hanson, Jill	Episodes: "Love on a Gunboat", "No Visible Scar", "A Mother Like Him"
1980	Keep It in the Family	Marlene	Episode: "Phoney Business"
	BBC2 Playhouse	Heather	Episode: "Standing in for Henry"
1981	Second Chance	Sarah Fletcher	Episode: "October"
		Sue	Episode: "Absolute Zero: Part 2"
	Maybury	Dorothy Kemp	Episodes: "Mary", "Hugo"
	The Last Song	Shirley	6 episodes
		Sandy	Episode: "Protection"
1981–1982, 1985	Open All Hours	The Milk Woman	Guest role (series 2–4), 11 episodes
1982	The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim	Joanna Lassiter	Episodes: "The Big Smoke", "A Foot in the Door", "Scoop", "The Ties That Bind"
		Mary Bold	Miniseries, 6 episodes
1985		Jill Swinburne	Miniseries, 6 episodes
1986	Day To Remember	Judy	TV film
	Season's Greetings	Belinda	TV film
1986–1988		Dr. Rose Marie	Main role, 14 episodes
1987		Jill Swinburne	Miniseries, 2 episodes
	Inspector Morse	Monica Height	Episode: "The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn"
1988		Jill Swinburne	Miniseries, 4 episodes
1989	Theatre Night	Jane	Episode: "Benefactors"
1990		Eleanor Goodchild	Episodes: "The Lady from Rome: Parts 1–3"
1991	Joshua Jones	Fiona Cashmore, Dakasha Karia, Daphne Peacock, Additional voices	12 episodes
1992	Boon	Sheila Green	Episode: "Queen's Gambit"
1993	Maigret	Madame Maigret	Episodes: "Maigret on the Defensive", "Maigret's Boyhood Friend", "Maigret and the Minister"
1993–1995	Cracker	Judith Fitzgerald	Main role, 20 episodes
1994	Chandler & Co	Dee Chandler Tate	Main role, 6 episodes
1997	Scene	(unknown)	Episode: "A Man of Letters"
		Ms. Jeffries	TV film
1998	Dear Nobody	Chris's Mother	TV film
	Performance	Goneril	Episode: "King Lear"
1999	Wives and Daughters	Miss Browning	Miniseries, 4 episodes
2000	Lorna Doone	Sarah Ridd	TV film
2001	Perfect	Imogen	TV film
2002		Eleanor Kimbrough	TV film
	Night Flight	Moira	TV film
		Emily Forsyte	Regular role, 6 episodes
2003		Mrs. Mason	TV film
	Murder in Mind	Grace Fisher	Episode: "Stalkers"
	Sweet Medicine	Jane Frampton	Episode: "1.3"
		Mrs. Mason	TV film
2004		Maureen Finnegan	Episode: "If Wishes Were Horses"
	Poirot	Mrs. Allerton	Episode: "Death on the Nile"
	He Knew He Was Right	Mrs. French	Miniseries, 3 episodes
2005	Sea of Souls	Lt. Col. Petra Summers	Episodes: "Omen: Parts 1 & 2"
	Malice Aforethought	Julia Bickleigh	TV film
	Elizabeth I	Mary, Queen of Scots	Miniseries, 2 episodes
2006		Sally Tipper	Episode: "To Whom Do You Beautifully Belong"
	Cracker	Judith Fitzgerald	TV special of the main TV series
2007	Dalziel and Pascoe	Narrator of TV Documentary	Episode: "Project Aphrodite: Part 1" (uncredited role)
		Eileen Dallaglio	TV film
	Christmas at the Riviera	Rita	TV film
2007–2009	Cranford	Mrs. Jamieson	Main role, 8 episodes
2008	10 Days to War	Clare Short	Miniseries, Episode: "These Things Are Always Chaos"
		Croc Trooper / Sister Chalice (voice)	Episode: "The Skull of Sobek"
2009	New Tricks	Carole Milburn	Episode: "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"
		Queen Elizabeth II	Episode: "The Enemy Within"
2011	Silent Witness	Carol Fisher	Episodes: "Lost: Parts 1 & 2"
	Midsomer Murders	Millie Bullard	Episode: "The Oblong Murders"
	Just Henry	Mrs. Beaumont	TV film
2012		Isabella	Episode: "The Choice"
2013	Moving On	Carol	Episode: "The Shrine"
	Pat & Cabbage	Pat	Main role, 6 episodes
2014	1864	Queen Victoria	Episode: "1.3"
2016–2019		Aunt Hermione	5 episodes
2019	Killing Eve	Julia	Episode: "Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?"
2020	Death in Paradise	Patti Grenson	Episode: "A Murder in Portrait"
2020–2022	Kate & Koji	Councillor Lavinia Bone	Main role, 10 episodes
2021	Doctor Who	Awsok / Tecteun	Episodes: "Once, Upon Time", "Survivors of the Flux"
2022		Professor Vansom (voice)	Episode: ""
2023–present	Beyond Paradise	Anne Lloyd	Main role, 20 episodes

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Narration In addition to her acting work, Flynn has provided voice-overs for numerous TV documentaries, including:

• Body Styles (1989)
• Time of Her Life (1993)
• Network First (1 episode; 1997)
• The Lost Gardens of Heligan (1997)
• The Real... (1 episode; 1999)
• The Man Who Would be Kubrick (1999)
• Deaf Century (3 episodes; 1999)
• The 1900 House (1999)
• Horizon (8 episodes, 1999–2008)
• When Pat Phoenix Met Tony Booth (2002)
• Rosalind Franklin: DNA's Dark Lady (2003)
• The 50s and 60s in Living Colour (2003)
• George Orwell: A Life in Pictures (2003)
• Diana Mosley: Adolf, Oswald and Me (2003)
• Your Life in Their Hands (1 episode; 2004)
• From Here to Paternity (2004)
• The Monastery (2005)
• The Ghost in Your Genes (2005)
• Timeshift (2 episodes; 2005)
• The Queen's Castle (2005)
• You Don't Know You're Born (3 episodes; 2007)
• There's Something About... Morse (2007)
• Queen Camilla (2007)
• Guarding the Queen (2007)
• The Restaurant (1 episode; 2008)
• The Lion Cub from Harrods (2009)
• Cutting Edge (1 episode; 2010)
• Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (14 episodes; 2011–2013)
• Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies (2 episodes; 2012)
• Hillsborough: The Search for the Truth (2012)
• The Flying Scotsman: A Rail Romance (2013)
• The Planners (8 episodes; 2013)
• (8 episodes; 2014)
• Countdown to Murder (8 episodes; 2021)
• 1978: The Winter of Discontent (2022)
• Diana: the Curse of the Spencers (2022)
• The Kardashians: Billion Dollar Dynasty (2 episodes; 2023)
• Morse and the Last Endeavour (2023)

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Video games

2020	The Waylanders	(voice)

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Theatre work Flynn appeared in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre production of Pythagoras in 1976. This was a new play by Danny Abse. In 2016, she appeared in the world premiere production of Elegy at the Donmar Warehouse.

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External links

• Barbara Flynn at Curtis Brown

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