Kathy Staff

Kathy Staff, best known to generations of television viewers as the formidable Nora Batty in Last of the Summer Wine, was one of Britain’s most cherished character actresses. Born Minnie Higginbottom on 12 July 1928 in Dukinfield, Cheshire, she was the daughter of a clothing company manager and lay reader at a mission church. Raised in a devout household, she abstained from smoking and alcohol throughout her life, a testament to the strong religious values that shaped her early years.

From an early age, Staff displayed a natural flair for performance, singing in her local church choir and appearing in pantomimes. She dreamt of becoming a ballet dancer, but with training costs beyond the family's means, she set her sights elsewhere. After leaving school, she trained as a shorthand typist and secured an office job at the National Gas & Oil Engine Company in Ashton-under-Lyne. It was there, through the firm’s amateur dramatics group, that her passion for acting was rekindled.

Her professional career began in earnest in 1946 when she joined touring repertory companies, adopting the stage name Katherine Brant, reportedly inspired by a shop sign she glimpsed from a bus to Oldham. She built her craft in rep theatres across Scotland and Wales, and while performing in Llanelli, she met John Staff, a local schoolteacher. They married in 1951, and she adopted his surname professionally. Following their marriage, Staff stepped away from acting for nearly a decade to raise their family.

Her return to the screen came in the 1960s, when an old friend from her rep days, actor Gerald Harper, persuaded her to take on work as an extra for Granada Television in Manchester. Earning £3 a day, she began picking up minor roles, debuting in the television series Skyport in 1960 and making her mark with various small parts in Coronation Street from 1962 onwards.

Staff’s first notable screen appearance came in A Kind of Loving (1962), one of the defining British "kitchen sink" dramas, in which she played a nosy neighbour opposite Alan Bates and Thora Hird. Her young daughter Katherine even had a part in the film. A few years later, she again portrayed a neighbour in The Family Way (1966), albeit uncredited.

Television quickly became the mainstay of her career. After a role in the Yorkshire Television schools programme How We Used to Live (1968), she was cast in the soap opera Castle Haven (1969) as Lorna Everitt, marking the beginning of her long association with British serial drama.

A lifelong Conservative, Staff once stood for election in her hometown of Dukinfield, running as a party candidate in 1971 for the Central ward. Though her bid was unsuccessful, it reflected her firm political convictions and deep-rooted ties to her local community.

By the mid-1970s, Staff had become a familiar face in several major soaps. She appeared as cleaner Winnie Purvis at The Woolpack in Emmerdale Farm (1975), and in Coronation Street as Vera Hopkins (1973, 1974–75), who briefly ran the corner shop. But her most prominent soap role came in Crossroads (1978–85) as Doris Luke, a gentle spinster first introduced as a housekeeper before becoming a cook at the motel. Her oft-repeated line, “No good’ll come out of it – you mark my words,” became a catchphrase of sorts. Staff once noted the contrast between her characters: “I enjoyed myself as Nora Batty because I enjoyed the comedy, whereas Doris was more like me.”

She managed to balance her work on Crossroads with her growing presence in Last of the Summer Wine, thanks to the accommodating attitude of the former’s producers. “They said, ‘If you give us three months' notice for your dates on Last of the Summer Wine, we'll write you out.’ So Doris was always falling off step ladders and ending up in hospital or going to see her sister.”

Nora Batty, however, would prove to be her defining role. First seen pegging out washing in the opening scene of Last of the Summer Wine's 1973 pilot, the stern, tightly wound widow with a pinched expression and famously wrinkled stockings quickly became a comic icon. Played with comic precision by Staff, complete with padding and a permanently pursed mouth. Nora was often the unwilling object of Compo’s (Bill Owen) affections, and his pursuit of her became a staple of the series. Her husband Wally, a timid figure played by Joe Gladwin, didn’t appear until the show’s second series.

Over 29 series and more than 35 years, Staff remained a central figure in the long-running BBC sitcom. Her work on the show cemented her status as one of the most recognisable faces on British television.

Outside of sitcoms and soaps, Staff continued to take on varied roles. She appeared in The Dresser (1983), Little Dorrit (1988) as the cook Mrs Tickit, and Mary Reilly (1996), opposite Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. She also featured in the 1983 television adaptation of Separate Tables, playing a boarding house maid.

In 1988, she starred in her own sitcom, No Frills, as Molly Bickerstaff, a recently widowed woman who moves from Oldham to live with her daughter and granddaughter in London. Although the series only ran for one season, it marked a rare lead role for the actress.

In 2001, Staff returned to a revived Crossroads, one of only three original cast members to do so. However, she departed the following year, uncomfortable with the show's new, more provocative tone — her exit foreshadowed the final demise of the once-beloved soap.

In 1997, she published her autobiography, My Story – Wrinkles and All, offering fans a candid and heartfelt glimpse into her life on and off the screen.

Kathy Staff passed away on 13 December 2008 at Willow Wood Hospice in Ashton-under-Lyne, aged 80, with her husband John by her side. Diagnosed earlier that year with a brain tumour, she left behind a rich legacy of memorable characters, her most enduring gift being the indelible image of Nora Batty, wrinkled stockings, hairnet, and all, etched into the hearts of viewers across the nation.