Thelma Barlow, who played Mavis Wilton in Coronation Street, has paid tribute to her late co-star Peter Baldwin, who passed away last month.
The letter from Thelma Barlow to the Radio Times reads as follows:
"Derek and Mavis were figures of fun a lot of the time – people don’t always recognise that those who are quiet and unassuming can have more to offer than people who make a lot of noise about life. Once they got together, it was those two against the world – they took strength from and supported one another. It was a really good relationship. They were kind and considerate, but they learnt how to defend themselves and each other when others weren’t very kind.
"It was a total shock when they decided to kill off Derek – I had been intending to leave for a couple of years, as I wanted to do more theatre, so they could easily have killed off Mavis instead.
"It was a cruel blow to Peter, and to me and to the Street really, as Derek was such a popular character. Now, with Peter’s death, a chunk has been taken out of my life – I loved him dearly. I shall miss him such a lot.”
Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.
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4 comments:
Such a nice letter, says it all really, and in such a gentle way. I missed Mavis and Derek both, for a long time, and generally, I miss the era of Mavis and Derek and many other characters of those earlier days.
Beautiful.
Her polite way of explaining Peter was unhappy with the end of his Corrie career, made me feel sad and defensive for him. They were a great duo - and Thelma's tribute here is excellent
So nice to see this tribute and also to read Thelma's description of the relationship of Mavis and Derek.....I'm recently following the ITV 3 re-runs from 1987 and its so entertaining to see the again the quality storylines and acting of that time as well as the terrific humour which is so lacking in the current 2018 series. I wish you well Thelma and you should look back with pride at all the enjoyment you gave people during your time with Peter in this iconic series.....
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