Barbara Flynn

Barbara Joy Flynn (born 5 August 1948) is an English actress.^[1] She first came to prominence playing Freda Ashton in the ITV drama series A Family at War (1970–1972).^[2] 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).^[1] In 2021, she appeared in Doctor Who: Flux 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.

Barbara Flynn
Flynn in 2006
Born	Barbara Joy McMurray (1948-08-05) 5 August 1948 (age 77) St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England
Alma mater	Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1970–present
Spouse	Jeremy Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1982; died 2017)​
Children	1

In her own words, she tends to play "feisty, strong women".^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5][6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
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	The Christmas Candle	Lady Camdon

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970–1972	A Family at War	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"
	The Bagthorpe Saga	Sue	Episode: "Absolute Zero: Part 2"
	Maybury	Dorothy Kemp	Episodes: "Mary", "Hugo"
	The Last Song	Shirley	6 episodes
	The Gentle Touch	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"
	The Barchester Chronicles	Mary Bold	Miniseries, 6 episodes
1985	The Beiderbecke Affair	Jill Swinburne	Miniseries, 6 episodes
1986	Day To Remember	Judy	TV film
	Season's Greetings	Belinda	TV film
1986–1988	A Very Peculiar Practice	Dr. Rose Marie	Main role, 14 episodes
1987	The Beiderbecke Tapes	Jill Swinburne	Miniseries, 2 episodes
	Inspector Morse	Monica Height	Episode: "The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn"
1988	The Beiderbecke Connection	Jill Swinburne	Miniseries, 4 episodes
1989	Theatre Night	Jane	Episode: "Benefactors"
1990	The Justice Game	Eleanor Goodchild	Episodes: "The Lady from Rome: Parts 1–3"
1991	Joshua Jones	Additional voices	TV series
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		Episode: "A Man of Letters"
	The Vanishing Man	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	The Law	Eleanor Kimbrough	TV film
	Night Flight	Moira	TV film
	The Forsyte Saga	Emily Forsyte	Regular role, 6 episodes
2003	Hornblower: Loyalty	Mrs. Mason	TV film
	Murder in Mind	Grace Fisher	Episode: "Stalkers"
	Sweet Medicine	Jane Frampton	Episode: "1.3"
	Hornblower: Duty	Mrs. Mason	TV film
2004	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	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	The Line of Beauty	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)
	The Marchioness Disaster	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"
	Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures	Croc Trooper / Sister Chalice (voice)	Episode: "The Skull of Sobek"
2009	New Tricks	Carole Milburn	Episode: "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"
	The Queen	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	The Borgias	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	The Durrells	Aunt Hermione	4 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	Doctor Who: The Fifth Doctor Adventures	Professor Vansom (voice)	Episode: "Secrets of Telos"
2023–present	Beyond Paradise	Anne Lloyd	Main role, 20 episodes

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 (1996)
• The Lost Gardens of Heligan (1997)
• Deaf Century (1999)
• The 1900 House (1999)
• Horizon (numerous episodes, 2002 to present)
• The 50s and 60s in Living Colour (2003)
• George Orwell: A Life in Pictures (2003)
• From Here to Paternity (2004)
• The Monastery (2005)
• The Ghost in Your Genes (2005)
• Time Shift: Alan Plater (2005)
• The Queen's Castle (2005)
• Guarding the Queen (2007)
• The Restaurant (2008)
• Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (2011 to present)
• Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies (2012)
• The Flying Scotsman: A Rail Romance (2013)
• The Planners (2013)
• Permission Impossible: Britain's Planners (2014)
• Countdown to Murder (2021)
• Morse and the Last Endeavour (2023)

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.^[7]