Myra Frances ( Myra Frances Piddock; 13 April 1942 – 30 March 2021) was a British actress known for her role in the drama series ''

Survivors Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

'' and in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''.

Career

In the 1974 ''

Second City Firsts ''Second City Firsts'' is a British drama anthology series of single plays, broadcast by the BBC, all lasting thirty minutes. Recorded at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham, or sometimes filmed on location, the series was broadcast between 1973 and 1 ...

'' episode "Girl", Frances and

Alison Steadman Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for ''Abigail's Party'', the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film ...

performed the first lesbian kiss on British television. Frances is best known for her recurring role as Anne Tranter in the 1970s television drama series ''

'' and for her appearance in the 1979 ''

'' serial '' The Creature from the Pit'', in which she played the villainous Lady Adrasta. She appeared in several comedy films of the 1970s, including ''

Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! ''Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!'' is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Brian Rix, Leslie Phillips, Joan Sims and Joanna Lumley. It was based on the Whitehall farce of the same title written by Michael Pertwee ...

'' (1974), as Jean Fenton, having taken over from

Deborah Grant Deborah Grant (born Deborah Jane Snelling; 22 February 1947) is an English actress. Between 1981 and 1991, she played Deborah Bergerac in the BBC television detective series '' Bergerac''. From 2007 to 2023, she appeared in the sitcom ''Not Go ...

in the stage production at the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ...

in 1972. She played a schoolteacher at a party in the film '' Remembrance'' (1982), about a group of Devonport-based Royal Navy ratings, due to sail to America for a six-month

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

exercise, who go out on the town on their last night in port, hitting Plymouth's notorious Union Street district, with violent results. She was James Hadleigh's love interest, Stella Clisby, in the fourth series of '' Hadleigh'', and in 1976 played a barrister, Valerie Scott, in several episodes of ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

''. Frances left acting, though in the period 1991 to 1993, she directed several plays at the Mill theatre in Sonning, Berkshire.

Personal life and death

Frances was first married to the actor Robert Taylor; the couple had one child, actress Rebecca Egan, but divorced. Frances met her second husband

Peter Egan Peter Joseph Egan (born 28 September 1946) is a British actor. He is known for television roles including Hogarth in '' Big Breadwinner Hog'' (1969), the future King George IV in ''Prince Regent'' (1979); smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in the sitco ...

in 1972 while working on the show The Organisation; they married on 13 February 1972. Frances died on 30 March 2021, after suffering from cancer over a long period. Along with her husband, she was an animal rights campaigner, including as an ambassador for Saving Suffering Strays and active supporter of

Animals Asia Foundation Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) is a Hong Kong–based charity that seeks to end cruelty to animals in Asia. Founding The AAF was founded in 1998 by Jill Robinson, who felt compelled to create the organisation after learning of the plight of the ...

. Frances died of cancer on 30 March 2021, aged 78.

References

External links

* 1943 births 2021 deaths People from East Sussex British television actresses Deaths from cancer in England {{UK-tv-actor-1940s-stub