Dame June Whitfield our Nellie

captain clutterbuck

LOTSW Fanatic
I am so so sad to report that the death of Dame June Whitfield has been announced . She was the cornerstone of British Comedy on the Radio and TV [It is easier to list the Comedy Shows June never appeared in ] and will be fondly remembered by people of ages from her time as Eth Glum in the long running radio show , to of course the infamous series with Terry Scott, to Ad Fab and of course our beloved show. I truly believe she is one of the unsung comedy greats and is up there with the great performers who are held in such reverence and loved by all , sadly she has now joined them . Hopefully in the coming days she will be afforded the tributes and affection she so richly deserves . A very very sad loss.
 
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Agreed another sad loss to the industry, and like those that have gone before her there is very little of her class and ability to replace her
 
There'd be some party going on with this crowd up above.
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BBC broadcast a documentary all about June earlier tonight and it just reinforced what and accomplished, revered and versatile Actress June was , a great watch .
 
Yes another sad loss: some of the images used are well known and of course Nellie and Truly had met before in the blood donor waiting room ...
 
I see the BBC tribute to June last night. They managed to show a couple of pics of her in lotsw and that was it, ignoring the contribution she made to our programme. (No surprise there) Other than that a good presentation.
 
Just a bit of a post script to say considering how many roles and shows Dame June performed/performed in, I have to say the turn out of colleagues was really poor , the three main stars of Ab Fab Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawahla plus Roy Hudd, writer Gyles Brandreth and Welsh actress Nerys Hughes plus I spotted Jon Plowman the director/producer but no evidence of any other stars .

I would have expected Russ Abbot to attend considering he starred with her in LOTSW and also Boomers, none of the cast from the latter show attended which is disappointing as it was made fairly recently and only ended in 2016 . Given her longevity and having seen attendance at other high profile stars funerals such as Cilla Black and Sir Bruce Forsyth it was a very poor turnout .

I have to say I am somewhat perplexed by the lack of respect shown I concede a lot of her contemporaries have sadly passed away but for such a doyen of British Entertainment I think it was an insult. It is not as if it was not well publicised when Dame June passed away it was splashed all over the papers and TV News.
 
It is so difficult to strike a balance I can see the family's side for privacy and for undertaking a selection process in the context of inviting people to the funeral [ for non-celebrity funerals the notice is posted and anyone wishing to pay their respects , even for certain celebrity funerals in the past Joe Public has attended outside the Church and the service has been relayed through a PA and speakers] . From what I learned Dame June's funeral was very much a celebration of her life but that celebration was curtailed in content either by the family placing restrictions on who could attend or by the fact that fellow actors failed to turn up and if the latter is true I feel it is so disrespectful.
 
I guess it has to be what the person wanted at their own funeral.. be bit disrespectful to go against those wishes.
 
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