Stephanie Cole dies aged 84 after remarkable TV and theatre career

Tenko, Waiting for God, Open All Hours and Coronation Street actress Stephanie Cole has died aged 84 after living with Alzheimer’s disease for several years.

Stephanie Cole dies aged 84

Stephanie Cole passed away on Friday, September 18, with the news confirmed by her agent John Grant on behalf of her family. A statement described the actress as an “extraordinary talent” whose long career included many much-loved performances on television and stage.

Cole was also remembered for her support of mental health charities, an area of work recognised when she was made an OBE in 2005. Born in Solihull in 1941, Cole trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before beginning a career that would last for more than six decades.

From Tenko to Open All Hours

Stephanie Cole (5 October 1941 – 18 September 2026) R.I.P pic.twitter.com/6w9yByJAaJ

— 🇬🇧📺 Classic British TV 📺🇬🇧 (@Classicbritcom) September 18, 2026

One of her best-known early television roles came in Tenko, the BBC wartime drama about British women held in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp after the fall of Singapore. Cole played Dr Beatrice Mason, known to the other women as ‘Big Bea’, appearing across three series and a special between 1981 and 1985.

Comedy fans knew her just as well as Mrs Delphine Featherstone, nicknamed the ‘Black Widow’, in Open All Hours, starring Ronnie Barker.

Another career-defining part followed in Waiting for God, where Cole played the outspoken Diana Trent opposite Graham Crowden. Cole was only 48 when she took on the role of the elderly retirement-home resident. Her performance earned her the 1992 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress.

Stephanie Cole in Coronation Street and Doc Martin

Younger viewers may know Cole particularly well from Coronation Street, where she played Sylvia Goodwin, Roy Cropper’s mother, from 2011 to 2013. Her performance won the Best Comedy Performance prize at the 2012 British Soap Awards. Cole also played Joan Norton, aunt of Martin Clunes’ character, in Doc Martin.

Her other screen credits included Keeping Mum, Gentleman Jack, Inside No. 9, Still Open All Hours and The Cleaner, with her last major television role coming in the BBC comedy in 2021.

A career that began at just 17

What an actress…#RIPStephanieCole

Patricia Stephanie Cole OBE
5 October 1941 – 18 September 2026#Tenko #OpenAllHours #ABitOfADo#WaitingForGod #KeepingMum #DocMartin #CoronationStreet #ManDown #StillOpenAllHours #TalkingHeads #InsideNo9 #Scarborough and so much more… pic.twitter.com/vaepywmeKa

— The Cult Of British Comedy 🇬🇧 (@CultOfBritCom) September 18, 2026

Cole’s acting career had an extraordinary start. At 17, she played the 90-year-old medium Madame Arcati in Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit. More than four decades later, aged 63, she returned to the same role when the play was revived at London’s Savoy Theatre in 2004.

Her stage work also included A Passionate Woman, Driving Miss Daisy, Talking Heads, Noises Off and King Lear. Away from television, she became a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4, including the popular sitcom Cabin Pressure, in which she played Carolyn Knapp-Shappey opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.

Cole is survived by her daughter, Emma Battcock. Her family has asked for privacy following her death.