Thelma Barlow (née Pigott;[1] born 19 June 1929) is an English television actress and writer, known for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the BBC One sitcom dinnerladies.
[2][3] Her father, Tommy, a cabinet maker, died of pneumonia five weeks before her birth, aged 37,[4] and Barlow was brought up by her mother Margaret.
[3] She was successful and her first episode was transmitted on 11 August 1971,[3] though the character only appeared regularly from 4 June 1973, where she joined veteran show actress Barbara Knox who plays Rita Fairclough in "The Kabin".
[3] During her time on Coronation Street Barlow shared a flat with co-star Helen Worth and later moved to Settle, where she later did a TV show from her garden.
[3][5] In 2020, Barlow revealed that, despite being asked to return to Coronation Street, "two or three times" she has declined, "because I feel I’ve packed Mavis away in a box now.
[3] Since then Barlow has appeared as one-off characters in several television shows, including Fat Friends (2000), Doctors (2002), The Royal (2004), Where the Heart Is (2004), Agatha Christie's Marple (2006), the Midsomer Murders episode "Last Year's Model" (2006) and Doc Martin (2007).
She made a guest appearance on Coronation Street Icons: Norris Cole, a 2021 television documentary about the character played by Malcolm Hebden after the actor's retirement.
[14] Directed by Judy Flynn and filmed in the town of Rye, East Sussex, Barlow played Barbara, a woman who is trying to find a wife for her son.