Maggie Ollerenshaw

Maggie Ollerenshaw, proud Mancunian and supporter of Manchester City football club since childhood, made her television debut in 1974. She is especially famous for playing comedic Northerners, particularly in the sitcoms 'Last of the Summer Wine' and its prequel 'First of the Summer Wine' and 'Open All Hours' and its belated follow-up 'Still Open All Hours'. The late Thora Hird, no mean comic actress herself, declared Maggie to be one of the finest light comedy actresses in the country but her versatility is shown by the range of her stage roles - playing intense American leads in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire', as well as Shakespearean roles in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' and 'King John' for Barrie Rutter's Northern Broadsides company. In addition she has toured internationally in her own show 'Sincerely Yours', a tribute to singing icon Vera Lynn and adapted works to be broadcast as plays on BBC Radio 4. In 2007 she married fellow actor Geoff Leesley in New York.