Tragic EastEnders star died alone in sheltered housing of accidental morphine overdose
SHE was one of the original stars of EastEnders, her face known to millions of Britons gripped by the goings-on in Albert Square.
But Sandy Ratcliff – who played cafe owner Sue Osman – died alone in sheltered accommodation after accidentally overdosing on morphine, an inquest heard yesterday.
Miss Ratcliff, who appeared in the BBC soap between 1985 and 1989, was also suffering two terminal lung conditions.
She took on a number of tough storylines, including losing her baby to cot death syndrome before divorcing her on-screen husband, Ali.
But she was written out of the show – which boasted peak viewing figures of 30million for its 1986 Christmas episode – due to an off-screen heroin addiction.
Over the last 20 years she had struggled with drug dependency and more recently suffered with chronic illnesses, the inquest heard.
Miss Ratcliff, whose real first name was Alexandra, died at 70 in the bedroom of her sheltered housing accommodation at St Peter’s House in Stoke Newington, north London, on April 7 this year. An inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court in east London heard she had been discharged from hospital the day before and given morphine for pain relief.
Her cause of death was given as bronchopneumonia and morphine toxicity as a result of a malignant lung tumour and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Miss Ratcliff’s son, William Palmer, told the inquest his mother suffered three strokes in the years leading up to her death, with the first taking place shortly after her partner died in 2013.
Giving evidence, he said the stroke had left her with pain in her left arm, for which she was prescribed codeine. But the coroner was told Miss Ratcliff would take more than her prescribed amount for both pain management and ‘recreational use’.
At one point, she was taking 100 tablets per week, before it was reduced to eight, the inquest heard. Mr Palmer said: ‘ She stopped [taking illicit drugs] a good few years before her death. I hadn’t seen her for five or six years before 2013. Certainly in 2013 she was clean. I only found out about her lung cancer in March but she had benign tumours for years. She hadn’t kept up with appointments and refused to go to hospital.
‘I don’t think she was suicidal. She just wasn’t enjoying life.’
Miss Ratcliff’s GP, Dr Helen Freeman, said: ‘The difficulty with chronic pain is that it is difficult to manage with opioids and she was taking these at higher levels.’
Dr Freeman said the actress was aware she had a malignant tumour after being diagnosed in 2014. Giving evidence, Dr Freeman said Miss Ratcliff was seen on numerous occasions by GPs in early 2019, but declined admission to hospital. Dr Freeman said she visited the actress on March 18 and told her ‘she could be dying and was fatally unwell’.
Pathologist Alan Bates said the level of morphine in Miss Ratcliff’s blood was within the therapeutic range. But he added: ‘As morphine is a respiratory depressant, there is a greater danger of overdose when there is significant natural lung disease.’
Recording a narrative conclusion, coroner Mary Hassell said Ratcliff was ‘near to the end’ when she was admitted to hospital. She said: ‘I don’t think the morphine was used to end her life. She died from a combination of two naturallyoccurring terminal conditions and an excess of morphine.’
Speaking after Miss Ratcliff’s death, Nejdet Salih, who played Ali, told The Sun: ‘It’s very sad. I remember the first time I auditioned for the show, we had this instant chemistry and banter.’
Miss Ratcliff first became known as a model in the 1970s, when she was cast as ‘The face of the 70s’ by royal photographer Lord Snowdon. Before starring in EastEnders, Miss Ratcliff also featured in Crossroads. She married photographer Peter Wright in 1968, but the couple broke up and by 1973 she had her only son, William, by theatre director Terence Palmer.
One of her last public appearances was at the Old Bailey trial of her then boyfriend, Michael Shorey, who was found guilty of murdering two women in 1991.
Speaking back in 2010, Miss Ratcliff admitted that she had a ‘hard time’ following her departure from EastEnders.
‘She just wasn’t enjoying life’