Those we lost in 2021: Una Stubbs remembered by Martin Freeman

1 May 1937 - 12 August 2021
The actor recalls his Sherlock co-star, a doyenne of British TV whose youthful, no-nonsense energy and humour were irresistible

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January, 2009. We were making the pilot episode of Sherlock. A long night shoot lay ahead of us, a 4 or 5am job. Ben Cumberbatch was busy that night wrestling with Phil Davis as a baddie cabbie. That left me with a lot of time on my hands, trying to stay awake and focused. Fortunately, for company I had Una Stubbs. It was pretty much the first time I'd met her, certainly the first time I got to know her. She was funny, naughty and incredibly warm and generous. Oh, and very stylish too. As first impressions go, it summed her up pretty well.

I had watched Una all my life, off and on. She'd been famous before I was born, from being the dancing girl in the Dairy Box ads, one of Cliff's gang in Summer Holiday, and as Rita in Till Death Us Do Part. I was a massive fan of Till Death... from an early age; about the time that I was watching her on Worzel Gummidge (a fantastic performance as Aunt Sally), Give Us a Clue, and turning up in one of the greatest comedies ever, Fawlty Towers.