Thread: Linda Bellingham RIP

You must have led a sheltered life Wasabi.
Film and television

Film and television acting

Bellingham made her television début as a nurse in an ITV afternoon soap opera of the 1970s, General Hospital. She also starred in the films Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Sweeney! (1977), Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977), and Riding High (1981) with Eddie Kidd.
Other prominent roles included in the James Herriot drama All Creatures Great and Small (in which she was the second actress to play Helen Herriot on television, replacing Carol Drinkwater) and the situation comedy Second Thoughts and its sequel, Faith in the Future.
Bellingham starred in the 14-part Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 as the Inquisitor. She reprised the Inquisitor character for the Big Finish Productions audio series, Gallifrey, and in the Big Finish Productions audio drama Trial of the Valeyard. In 1999, she appeared in Gleb Panfilov's The Romanovs: A Crowned Family as Empress Alexandra.
From 2000 to 2003, Bellingham played Pauline Farnell, the compassionate accountant in At Home with the Braithwaites opposite Amanda Redman and former All Creatures Great and Small colleague Peter Davison. For several months in 2004, she had a recurring role in The Bill as villainess Irene Radford.
Bellingham also had a role in the ITV comedy Bonkers playing Mrs Wadlow, a man-eating suburban housewife who seduces her neighbour's teenage son and turns him into her gigolo. Later that year, she filmed guest appearances in episodes of Love Soup and Robin Hood.
Television commercials

Bellingham played the central character in the long-running "Oxo Family" series of TV commercials , starting in 1983, playing a mother who binds her family together by cooking them meals featuring Oxo products. The advertisements typically featured the family sitting down to a meal at which Oxo gravy would be served. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the family were seen to grow older. When the campaign was retired in 1999, the family moved out of the house.
Since 2011, Bellingham and actor Michael Redfern were the faces of online shopping brand isme.com .
Television presenting

Bellingham joined Loose Women in 2007 and continued as a regular panellist until 2011.
Bellingham guest presented the ITV programme Lorraine for one episode on 17 December 2010.
In 2012, Bellingham presented her own cookery series called My Tasty Travels. In 2013, Bellingham presented the ITV programme Country House Sunday.
Strictly Come Dancing

Main article: Strictly Come Dancing
In 2009, Bellingham was one of the contestants in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC ratings winner, where she was partnered with Darren Bennett. However, she was voted out by the judges in the fourth week.


She also did live theatre, and recieved the OBE for her charity work.