Stephanie Cole, star of Tenko, 'Open All Hours' and Coronation Street, dies aged 84 after Alzheimer's battle
From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.
Stephanie Cole in a scene from Doc Martin, one of many television roles across a career that also won her the 1992 Best TV Comedy Actress award for Waiting for God.Stephanie Cole in a production still from Tenko, the BBC wartime drama in which she played Dr Beatrice Mason — one of the roles that earned her an OBE in 2005 for services to drama.A convenience shop exterior used in Open All Hours, the BBC sitcom in which Stephanie Cole played Mrs Featherstone opposite Ronnie Barker — a role she took on while also championing real-life survivors of Japanese…Stephanie Cole (left) as Sylvia Goodwin in Coronation Street, a role she won a British Soap Award for while in her 70s.
Stephanie Cole, OBE, one of Britain's most beloved character actresses across seven decades of television, died on Friday morning after living with Alzheimer's disease for several years. Her agent John Grant, speaking on behalf of her family, called her "an extraordinary talent" whose career included "many iconic performances in theatre and television." She was 84.
Cole won the British Soap Award for best comedy performance for playing Roy Cropper's sharp-tongued mother Sylvia Goodwin in Coronation Street from 2011 to 2013.
Her breakout role was as Dr Beatrice Mason in the 1980s BBC wartime drama 'Tenko', playing a doctor caring for British women held in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.
She also won the British Comedy Award for best actress for 1990s sitcom 'Waiting for God' and was awarded an OBE in 2005 for services to drama, elderly people and mental health charities.
