The heart of Emmerdale
Tributes to soap’s top gossip, Betty
EMMERDALE actress Paula Tilbrook, known to millions of fans as Betty Eagleton, has died “peacefully” aged 89, her family have confirmed.
Paula played beloved Betty for 21 years on the ITV soap.
She took on the role as the one of the Dales’ biggest ever gossips in 1994 and left in 2015, returning briefly for a cameo in the Christmas Day episode that year.
A statement from her relatives said: “The family of Paula Tilbrook are sad to confirm the peaceful passing of their beloved Paula.
“She died of natural causes a few months ago at home with her loved ones beside her.
“The family respectfully requests privacy at this difficult time.”
Paula died on December 1, but news of her passing only came to light yesterday when her obituary was published by theatre industry magazine The Stage.
It said she “effortlessly established Betty as an iconic, straight-talking northerner who quickly moved to the centre of many of the soap’s most popular storylines”.
Betty is also fondly remembered for her relationship with Seth Armstrong (played by Stan Richards), largely regarded as one of the best ever to feature in the soap.
Last night Emmerdale bosses paid tribute, saying in a statement: “We are saddened to hear of the passing of our much loved colleague, Paula Tilbrook.
“Paula was at the heart of Emmerdale for many years and she will be greatly missed by all who worked with her and by the fans of her character, Betty.
“We have lost a great talent and a wonderful friend but she will forever live in the memories of those lucky enough to have known her.”
Mark Charnock, who plays Marlon Dingle, said: “I first saw the wonder that was Paula Tilbrook on stage at Oldham Coliseum and never before or since have I seen any actor hold an audience so completely in the palm of her hand.
“An amazing actress, truly hilarious company and a wonderful colleague and friend.
“I’ll miss her always.” James Hooton, who plays Sam Dingle, said: “She was a strong personality to have around the building and had a great career! RIP”
Tom Lister, who played Emmerdale’s Carl King from 2004 to 2012, wrote: “Oh Paula. How I loved working with you.
“We had some great fun.” Former Emmerdale series producer Kathleen Beedles remembered Paula as a “wonderful and lovely person”. She wrote: “When I ran Emmerdale if any character was making it impossible to schedule I’d have to approve the script changes.
“More often than not, the character breaking the schedule was Betty. Why? Because we loved her and loved Paula, and she was in so much of the show.
“She could cross any story or character and hold her own.
“In the online extension for Tom King, my favourite extra content was Betty leaving a gossipy voicemail, done with the aplomb of a monologue at The National.
“On-screen prowess aside, Paula Tilbrook was also a wonderful and lovely person. RIP.”
The character Betty Eagleton was last mentioned on the soap in February this year when she rang Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) to tell her that her fatherin-law, Sandy Thomas – played by Freddie Jones, who passed away in July 2019 aged 91 – had died. Paula was born in Salford on January 16, 1930. She showed an early interest in performing. From the age of 11 she attended stage school in Manchester, where she perfected her craft, taking singing, dancing and acting lessons. But her first ever performance was as Jill in a Sunday school production of Jack and Jill at the age of four.
She recalled: “Something came from the audience that I will never forget – approval and warmth.
“It was love from that very second. I was hooked.” She then gained professional experience in theatres throughout the
North West, including Manchester’s Library Theatre, Chesterfield Civic (now Pomegranate Theatre) and Nottingham Playhouse.
Entering the world of repertory theatre, she took a job as a stage manager in Colwyn Bay, Wales.
After meeting her late husband Leslie Hall, Paula put her acting ambitions on hold when they welcomed a son,
Greg, and a daughter named Gaynor.
Paula paused her career to bring up her kids and told the Emmerdale Companion:
“I would never allow anyone else to bring them up, so I stayed at home.”
However ambition still burned bright and she added: “I joined a couple of amateur dramatics societies because there was something missing in my life without it.
“Once the children had started school, I eased back into acting.” She began her career in comedy in Jack Rosenthal’s 1969 TV sitcom The Dustbinmen.
Tilbrook also appeared in a number of Ken Dodd productions, before being cast in episodes of another ITV favourite, Coronation Street.
She played Estelle Plimpton in 1977, and Derbyshire pub landlady Olive TaylorBrown in March 1980. She starred as a third character, Vivian Barford, in March 1991 and July 1993, and played another customer on the cobbles in 1973.
As well as soaps, Paula also appeared in TV series Tales of the Unexpected in 1979 and she was dog-lover Mrs Tattersall in popular sitcom Open All Hours.
In 1975, she was seen alongside James Maxwell and Bob Hoskins in Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, directed by Caspar Wrede for the short-lived 69 Theatre Company in Manchester Cathedral.
From the early 1970s, she had longstanding associations with the Bolton Octagon and Oldham Coliseum, where she made her last stage appearance as a characteristically formidable matriarch in Jimmie Chinn’s Straight and Narrow in 1994.
And on screen she was seen alongside Ian McKellen in the 1982 TV film Walter, had spells in Last of the Summer Wine and Brookside, and played long-suffering housewife Flo to James Bolam’s titular Andy Capp in 1988, based on the Mirror cartoon. But her biggest role was yet to come and in 1994 she was cast as Betty Eagleton.
Discussing her character’s romantic relationship with Seth, she told Emmerdale Companion: “She and Seth are two people of a certain age, who hadn’t just met.
“They had known each other when they were teenagers, so they could be relaxed with one another.
“It had been a toss-up whether Betty married Seth or Wally Eagleton, and she chose Wally. I thought that when she met Seth again perhaps she wished she had chosen him first time round rather than the man she did.
“I liked the idea of two people in their autumn years.” Her impact on the soap was huge and her last scenes in Emmerdale caused a stir when they were broadcast in May 2015.
The heartwarming storyline saw Betty finally find love and reveal to the village her plans to move to Australia.
Paula told Digital Spy at the time: “I’m absolutely overawed by it. I’m over the moon and I fill up every time I think about it! I don’t think we do this very often. I did ask our producer, bless her, not to have me murdered because I was fed up of murders.
“It’s a very, very dangerous place to be – you’re better in the Bronx than in Emmerdale village!
“She said, ‘Oh no, of course I won’t’ – and she hasn’t. It’s a proper ending and it’s a happy one.
“Who doesn’t like a happy ending?”
It was love from that very second.. I was hooked PAULA TILBROOK ON HER FIRST ACTING ROLE AGED 4