Rita May (born 9 May 1942) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Mags in the ITV children's drama ''

Children's Ward ''Children's Ward'' (retitled ''The Ward'' from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its '' Children's ITV'' strand on weekday afternoons. It ai ...

'', Margaret in the

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

sitcom ''

Trollied ''Trollied'' is a British television sitcom about employees in a fictional supermarket named "Valco", which debuted on Sky One on 4 August 2011 and ended on 23 December 2018. The series was filmed in a purpose-built replica supermarket in the B ...

'', as well as Julie "Nana" Booth in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

drama ''

Ackley Bridge ''Ackley Bridge'' is a British comedy drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is set in the fictional town of Ackley, and filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire and it began broadcasting on Channel 4 on 7 Jun ...

''.

Career

May began her career as a singer on the

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education ...

circuit in and around

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

. She featured in the television adaptation of

Barry Hines Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English author, playwright and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native W ...

's ''

The Price of Coal ''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 ...

'', a ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' first broadcast in 1977, and as Jimmy Kemp's mother in Hines's scripted nuclear war drama '' Threads'' in 1984. She has also appeared in television series such as ''

Early Doors ''Early Doors'' is a BBC sitcom written by Craig Cash and Phil Mealey. Both writers appear in the series, playing the characters Joe and Duffy, who are best friends. ''Early Doors'' is set at The Grapes, a small public house in Heaton Norris, S ...

'' and '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'', and radio programmes including ''

Ed Reardon's Week ''Ed Reardon's Week'' is a sitcom on BBC Radio 4 recorded semi-naturalistically in the style of a radio drama. It concerns the story of a curmudgeonly middle-aged writer described in the show's publicity material as an "author, pipesmoker, cons ...

'' and ''The Blackburn Files''. In 2005, she appeared in one episode of '' Heartbeat''. In March 2009, it was announced that May would appear as Connie Rathbone, a new love interest of

Jack Duckworth Jack Duckworth is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Bill Tarmey. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 28 November 1979. Jack was introduced by executive producer ...

, in the ITV soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''. From 2011 to 2018, she appeared in the

sitcom ''

'', in which she played Margaret, a supermarket assistant pharmacist. In 2017, May appeared in

drama ''

'' as Julie "Nana" Booth. Her character died in the fourth episode of the series. She later appeared in an episode of the

third series Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of ''Ackley Bridge'' in 2019, as part of a scene with Missy Booth ( Poppy Lee Friar).

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Rita Living people 1942 births English film actresses English soap opera actresses English television actresses Actresses from Sheffield