HEARTBREAKING REASON BEHIND HER PASSING… – Beloved British actress Dame Penelope Keith, best known for The Good Life and To the Manor Born, has passed away at the age of 86 after a battle with cancer, her family has confirmed.
Dame Penelope Keith, one of Britain’s best-loved comedy actresses, known for sitcoms The Good Life and To The Manor Born, has died aged 86.
The actress, who married former policeman Roger Timson in 1978 and had two adopted sons, died at her 17th-century home in Milford, Surrey, following a battle with cancer.
A statement issued this morning on behalf of her family said: ‘We are deeply saddened to announce that Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully whilst living with cancer at her home in Surrey where she had lived for more than 50 years.
‘The family is grateful for the care and support she received throughout her treatments, and ask that their privacy be respected at this time.’
Dame Penelope started her career on the stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963, but became a household name for her TV roles in some of the country’s most popular sitcoms.
She won a Bafta in 1977 for The Good Life, in which she played snobbish suburbanite Margo Leadbetter, who lives in Surbiton, next door to Tom and Barbara Good (Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal), with her husband Jerry (Paul Eddington).
In an attempt to escape the rat race, the Goods try to become self-sufficient, turning their garden into an allotment and introducing farmyard animals, much to Margo and Jerry’s horror.
In the early episodes, Margo was heard but not seen, but her presence increased as the show became popular.
In a tribute today, Kendal remembered Dame Penelope as a ‘comic genius’ who was ‘a joy to know and work with’.
+14
View gallery
Actress Dame Penelope Keith, who lived in Surrey, pictured in a photoshoot in April 2017
+14
View gallery
The BBC’s To The Manor Born Dame ran for three years, from 1979, and starred Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles
+14
View gallery
The Good Life cast, from left: Felicity Kendal, Richard Briers, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington
+14
View gallery
Dame Penelope Keith and her husband Rodney Timson at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral at Westminster Cathedral in September 2025 – believed to be the last time she was seen in public
+14
View gallery
Penelope Keith pictured in July 1976, shortly after she began appearing in The Good Life
+14
View gallery
An iconic moment with Ernie Wise and Eric Morecambe in their Cyrano De Bergerac sketch in 1977
TRENDING
Rag’n’Bone Man’s wife crashed her Range Rover into mother and children
19.5k viewing now
Meet the men rejecting Western women for traditional wives in Asia…
182k viewing now
PM-in-waiting to launch tax raids from ‘No10 of the North’
4.8k viewing now
Kendal said: ‘I am deeply saddened to hear of my friend Penelope’s death. The shows I worked on with her were such special times in our lives and demonstrated her comic genius.
‘My heart goes out to her beloved Rodney at this time, theirs was a great love story and partnership. She was a joy to know and work with, and she will be much missed.’
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth said Dame Penelope was ‘such a special lady – a wonderful actress, a real friend, so funny, so generous with the time she gave to good causes’, adding: ‘Hers was indeed a good life.’
Great British Bake Off former presenter Sue Perkins hailed Dame Penelope as ‘queen, legend, icon’, adding on Instagram: ‘Creator of some of the greatest sitcom characters of all time’.
In To The Manor Born, Dame Penelope’s character, widowed aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, is forced to sell her vast country estate, Grantleigh Manor, after the death of her husband.
What was your favourite Penelope Keith role?
She moves into the estate’s modest lodge house from where she can keep an eye on the new owner, nouveau riche supermarket millionaire Richard DeVere, played by Peter Bowles.
Named one of the late Queen’s favourite stars, Penelope was a made a Dame Commander of the British Empire by Elizabeth II in an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in March 2014.
Two years later, in celebration of Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, Dame Penelope embarked on a tour of the Queen’s official residences across the the UK in the documentary series Penelope Keith At Her Majesty’s Service.
Speaking in 2007, in an interview published by the Daily Mail, she said: ‘Humour is power and a force for good because if you can laugh, particularly at yourself, you are some way to being able to make sense of things.
‘Political correctness is abominable. We have always been able to laugh at each other – it’s a part of who we are and it’s been a thoroughly healthy thing. Now we have surrendered the right to cause offence.’
Speaking about To The Manor Born in the same interview, she also said: ‘Twenty years ago, we would never have thought that such a vital part of the British way of life – the attachment of landowning families to their land – might become endangered and even despised.
+14
View gallery
The actress with the then-Prince Charles at a reception at Clarence House in London in 2007
+14
View gallery
In the 1980s children’s show Tickle On The Tum with Ralph McTell and Jacqueline Reddin
+14
View gallery
Looking elegant in pinstripes at the Wimbledon Championships in London in July 2021
+14
View gallery
One of the late Queen’s favourite actresses, Penelope Keith was a made a Dame Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in March 2014
+14
View gallery
Penelope, pictured in May 1976, started her career on the stage before starring in sitcoms
+14
View gallery
At a theatre awards event in 2005 with her husband Rodney Timson
‘We took people like Audrey for granted, and we liked them, in a way, because we understood that even if they were, well, a little eccentric, they cared about what they did and performed a valuable function.’
The comedy star also appeared in sitcoms Executive Stress, No Job For A Lady and Next Of Kin, and won a Bafta for a TV adaptation of The Norman Conquests, in a role she reprised after a run on stage.
She also lent her voice to adverts, including Pimm’s, Lurpak, and most famously, the Parker Pen Company, which was named one of the 100 greatest adverts.
In recent years, she made a return to the theatre, taking on roles such as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest and, in 2022, leading a touring production of Two Cigarettes In The Dark.
Dame Penelope won the 1976 Olivier Award for best comedy performance for the play Donkeys’ Years.
She also turned her hand to factual programmes, including Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages, Penelope Keith’s Coastal Villages and Penelope Keith At Her Majesty’s Service.
Dame Penelope married former police detective Roger Timson in 1978. She met the twice-divorced policeman, who was eight years younger than her, while appearing on stage in Chichester, West Sussex, and he was on duty.
After marrying her, Mr Timson left the police to begin a new career as her manager – and they later adopted two brothers, keeping them out of the public eye.
Dame Penelope is thought to have last been seen in public with Mr Timson attending the Duchess of Kent’s funeral at Westminster Cathedral last September.
West End theatres will dim their lights this Wednesday at 7pm in memory of Dame Penelope.
Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre co-chief executive Claire Walker said: ‘We are proud to come together as an industry and honour the life and extraordinarily prolific career of Dame Penelope Keith, who will undoubtedly be remembered for many years to come as one of this country’s most venerated actors.
‘We offer condolences to her loved ones and all who knew her.’
Dame Penelope Keith: Actress who was known for her snobby yet lovable characters
By Casey Cooper-Fiske
From playing social climber Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life to aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born, Dame Penelope Keith was known for her snobby yet lovable and humorous characters.
Born on April 2 1940, the actress’s early years growing up in Clapham, south London, were somewhat urban, though she was sent to boarding school in the coastal town of Seaford, East Sussex, aged six.
It was as a schoolgirl that she discovered a love of performing, and went on to study at London’s Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, having reportedly been rejected by the Central School of Speech and Drama for being too tall at around 5ft 10in.
She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the early 1960s and, in 1975, landed her big TV break in well-loved BBC sitcom The Good Life, as Margo, alongside co-star Felicity Kendal.
Across four series and 30 episodes, Margo was regularly peeved by her friendly, yet lower-class neighbours in Surbiton, Barbara (Kendal) and Tom Good (Richard Briers), often leaving her husband Jerry Leadbetter (Paul Eddington) to apologise.
+14
View gallery
On location in Somerset in 1981, Dame Penelope Keith, as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, with Peter Bowles, who played her wealthy would-be suitor Richard DeVere, in To The Manor Born
Dame Penelope won a Bafta in 1977 for her role in the series, which eventually saw her character revealed to have a heart of gold.
Another hit, To The Manor Born, in which she played the widowed aristocrat Audrey, followed soon after, and Dame Penelope has also put her recognisable voice to good use as the narrator for children’s show Teletubbies and in adverts for everything from Pimm’s to Parker Pens.
In the first episode, she was heard but not seen, but her presence increased as the show went on.
In To The Manor Born, Dame Penelope’s character Audrey is forced to sell her vast country estate, Grantleigh Manor, after the death of her husband.
She takes up residence in the estate’s modest lodge house – managing to somehow afford her butler and Rolls-Royce – where she can keep a disapproving eye on the manor’s new owner, nouveau riche supermarket millionaire Richard DeVere, played by Peter Bowles.
The comedy star also appeared in sitcoms Executive Stress, No Job For A Lady and Next Of Kin, and won a Bafta for a TV adaptation of The Norman Conquests, in a role she reprised after a run on stage.
In recent years, she returned to the theatre, taking on roles such as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest.
+14
View gallery
Her contribution to the arts and charity was recognised with a damehood. While she would never insist on being addressed as Dame Penelope, she once admitted with a laugh that ‘it’s lovely when people do’
She was also involved in several charities, including the Actors’ Benevolent Fund, taking on the role of president following the death of Sir Laurence Olivier in 1989, and also worked with prison organisation KeepOut and the National Memorial Arboretum.
Her contribution to the arts and charity was recognised with a damehood in the 2014 New Year Honours list, and while she would never insist on being addressed as Dame Penelope, she once admitted with a laugh that ‘it’s lovely when people do’.
In her later years, she was ‘firmly rooted in the country’, living in Surrey with husband Rodney Timson and their two cats and two dogs.
Asked years later whether their marriage felt like four decades together, Dame Penelope remarked to the Press Association: ‘I don’t think so. When you get older, as we always say, it’s always Friday and it’s always Christmas – time just goes so quickly and you have to make the most of it.’
She said that the secret to a successful marriage is ‘home-made marmalade’.
Despite being busy with TV, theatre and charity work, unlike her Good Life character Margo, who was more interested in soirees and social climbing than spades and shrubbery, Dame Penelope’s fondest pastime was donning her gardening gloves.
She once said: ‘Margo didn’t like gardening, but I get my hands dirty, very dirty.’
Dame Penelope indulged her passion and pride in the great British outdoors in the More4 documentary Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages, which saw her visit some of the country’s best-loved villages and reflect on rural life.
However, she was not keen on the internet and social media, such as X, once saying that she believes people are ‘too bound up with computers’ these days and adding that emails had been keeping her from the garden.
She said: ‘I got an email this morning that I’ve got to go through, and I think, “Oh dear, I’d sooner be in my garden”.
‘We must remember that the internet and technology is our servant not our master. I’m afraid it’s taking over, isn’t it?’
