🔗 Share this article

Lady Pat Routledge, who has died at the age of 96, imprinted herself on the British consciousness as the pretentious Hyacinth Bouquet.

Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," the character trampled over her long-suffering husband and confused neighbours in the popular sitcom, among Britain's best-loved comedies in the 1990s.

Acting like a duchess while residing in a suburb, Hyacinth's over-the-top social-climbing plans were ultimately doomed to collapse—while she battled to maintain her dignity.

It was Lady Patricia's best-known part in a career that included her win stage honors on both sides of the ocean, become the lead of the playwright's famous TV soliloquies, and star as BBC1's investigative Mrs. Wainthropp.

Early Years and Career Beginnings

Katherine Pat Routledge was delivered in Birkenhead on February 17 1929.

Her father was a clothier and she later recalled sheltering from German air raids in the cellar of his store during the war.

She studied English at local the University of Liverpool and intended to become a teacher. Instead, she joined the local theatre prior to training at the Bristol Old Vic.

Her successful stage career took her from the regions to the West End, and finally to New York, where the composer selected her to appear in his stage production 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had previously received a Tony award for her acting in Darling of the Day.

She could transition effortlessly from comedies to classics.

She went from Shakespeare's birthplace, appearing with the RSC and later to the London's national stage in London.

At the National, her starring part in the stage musical Carousel featured her singing the rousing You'll Never Walk Alone.

She also took several supporting film roles, notably in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the comedian's comedy outing Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast work demonstrated her versatility and won her awards, but it was television that provided Routledge with her most high profile characters.

Television Success and Memorable Characters

Early small-screen work featured well-liked programmes like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

Subsequently, among Britain's most respected playwrights, the dramatist, wrote a series of remarkable Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

Routledge conquered her initial reluctance to act his scripts and shone as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.

She went onto portray a lonely, middle-aged shop clerk tipped into a relationship with a unconventional podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A humorous turn as the larger-than-life character on The Victoria Wood Show resulted in the creation of Mrs. Bucket.

Routledge recalled being given the scripts by the author, the screenwriter—who had also done Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I had opened the script for a moment at 1 a.m. in the morning," she said, "I went straight through and the character leapt off the page. I knew that lady, I'd met a few of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances aired for five seasons and included several holiday episodes.

In a documentary, she later claimed that fans had included the royal family and Pope Benedict XVI.

It became the broadcaster's most exported show of all time and meant Routledge was known as far away as Botswana.

For her work on the sitcom, she was voted the UK's all-time best-loved actor in 1996, but following half a decade in the part, she felt it was time for a new direction.

"I decided to end it to an close," she explained, "and, naturally, the BBC wasn't pleased with very much."

She thought that the writer was starting to recycle ideas and mentioned a piece of guidance from the performer, the comic.

"He made sure to finish with people asking, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she said, instead of people saying, ‘Is that still on?’"

Subsequent Work and Personal Life

Portraying the homely but sharp sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates gave her continued success on television, but she consistently referred to the theatre as "the real challenge."

Long after she ceased acting frequently on television, Routledge made theatre tours equally in the United Kingdom and overseas.

If interviewers posed the predictable inquiry, she asked them to write the word withdrawal because, she explained: "It isn't in my lexicon."

She did not wed or had kids, but informed the press of a couple of great romances in her younger days, including one with a married man.

"I experienced remorse and an acute sense that there had to be loss," she confessed. "I suppose I persuaded myself that it was all right for the moment as his marriage was not a living thing."

Instead, she dedicated herself to her art, honoring it with the skill, discipline and commitment that were consistently respected by her colleagues.

She was scathing about the BBC's decision in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but this time set in the 1950s and starring a younger version of her character.

Questioning the Corporation's policy of resurrecting classic sitcoms she said, "For what reason are they doing this kind of project, they must be desperate."

She had already clashed with the BBC over their decision not to commission a film she had authored about the writer Beatrix Potter (she was a Patron of the Beatrix Potter Society), which finally broadcast on another network.

On turning 90, she continued to reside peacefully in the city, where she occupied herself collecting money for the church roof.

In 2017, she became a Dame of the Order of the British Empire but—in contrast to Hyacinth—honors did not go to her mind.

Dame Routledge always stated she thanked her Northern upbringing and solid family for providing her practicality with her time and her money.

Even so, she admitted that, should any extra cash arrive, she'd certainly spend it on "a case of sparkling wine"—an love of the better pleasures in life that she had in common with her best-remembered character.

"I never was stage-struck," she said. "I am not stage-struck now. Nobody's as amazed than I am that I have, in fact, devoted my career pursuing this."