Mrs Mavis Ada Hooper - King's Oak semi-regular, 1981-1985.
Miserable Mavis Hooper, played by Charmian Eyre, was in the Crossroads saga from 1981 to 1985. And when Mrs Overall, played by Julie Walters in the hilarious Victoria Wood As Seen On TV series made her debut in '85, the resemblance between the two was obvious and brilliant.
This has served to underline Mavis in my memory, but there's no doubt she's worth remembering anyway - for forging a friendship with shifty young Iris Scott, putting up with shifty husband Sid, and generally being a rather grim good egg.
Mavis ran a boarding house in King's Oak, and her biggest treat in life seemed to be popping in next door to watch the neighbour's colour telly.
On New Year's Day 1982, she drank a toast to a "happy and prosperous new year". But, of course, she didn't have one.
Whilst Mavis advised Iris "If you've got a man, you be with him," her own husband, Sid, left a lot to be desired, turning up after a long period of estrangement in 1982 and bringing poor old Mave more heart ache with his betting and attraction to Iris's mother, Rose. He soon flitted again, but turned up when Mavis was ill in hospital and then turned out to be not such a bad old stick after all.
In 1984, Mavis turned sixty and reviewed her life. She decided to divorce Sid and fell for the charms of elderly conman Cecil Beecher-Blount.
Cecil was revealed to be a rotter (although the news was kept from Mavis) and Mavis stayed with Sid.
Mavis was very kind to Benny (when his ESP wasn't freaking her out - "Don't catch that bus!!") and Uncle Wally Soper. She died in 1986. Sid had suspected that her heart lay elsewhere - with Cecil Beecher-Blount to be precise, but on her deathbed she told him she loved him.
Poor old Mave.
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