Carol Lee Scott (20 December 1942 – 4 July 2017) was an English entertainer, best known for her role on British television in the 1980s and 1990s as " Grotbags". Throughout her career, Scott regularly performed on the international cabaret circuit, and prior to her TV work, she was a singer and released two albums.

Early career

Born in

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

as Carol Waterman, she began her career after moving to London singing in local pubs, all while working day shifts at the record department at Rumbelows. She gained her break as a performer when she joined

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It was acquired by Britannia Hotels in 2011. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment at reso ...

, ultimately working there for 19 years, playing at all of the UK holiday camps, along with those in Scandinavia, Spain, and elsewhere. During the off-season, Scott played many of the northern England and Scotland working men's clubs, sharing a bill with stars including

The Four Tops ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew; 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman; 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working ...

and

Tommy Cooper Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at , and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army ...

. During this time, she recorded an album in 1974 which she originally sold only at her concerts.

Grotbags

The concept of Grotbags came about while Scott was performing in summer season in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England with a population of 29,678 in 2021. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry ...

with

Rod Hull Rodney Stephen Hull (13 August 1935 – 17 March 1999) was a British comedian and popular entertainer on television in the 1970s and 1980s. He rarely appeared without Emu, a mute and highly aggressive arm-length puppet modelled on the Australian ...

. When Hull was approached to make a new show to be broadcast at the launch of

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the ITV (TV network), Independent Television franchisee in Midlands, the English Midlands ...

, he created the series ''Emu's World'', and approached Scott to play the witch. Together they came up with the premise of Grotbags' character and name (the latter coming with Scott suggesting 'Miss Grot', the name the MD of Ladbrokes used to call her; Hull revised it to Grotbags). Grotbags first appeared in ''

Emu's World Emu is a British television puppet, modelled on the Australian flightless emu bird and operated by the performer Rod Hull. After appearing on a number of variety shows, he was given his own television series on the BBC, then on ITV. BBC ' ...

'' in January 1982, and starred alongside various companions including cowardly crocodile Croc, mechanical butler Robot Redford, and fawning manservant Grovel. All of which, at one point were played by Freddie Stevens. In many episodes, Scott would be given a song to sing. In 1991, she was the voice of Grotbags in the cartoon series, ''

Rod 'n' Emu ''Rod 'n' Emu'' is an English animated series shown on CITV in 1991. It starred the voices of Rod Hull who created and wrote all the episodes starring as himself, with Carol Lee Scott as Grotbags and Freddie Stevens as her assistants Croc th ...

''. She was also given her own spin off series, '' Grotbags'' – which ran for 29 episodes across three series.

Death

Scott died from cancer on 4 July 2017, at the age of 74.

Filmography

Television

* ''

'' 1982–1989 * ''

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'' (Special Guest) 1984 * ''

'' 1991 * '' Grotbags'' 1991–1993 * ''Rod Hull: A Bird in the Hand'' 2003

Discography

Albums

* ''Carol Scott & Friends At The Valley Club Charlton'' (1971) * ''In Time'' (1974) * ''Your Place Is Here with Me'' (1976)

Single

* "Little Bit of Love" / "You Gotta Believe" (1974)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Carol Lee 1942 births 2017 deaths British cabaret performers English women comedians People from Bridgwater Place of death missing Comedians from Somerset