TV producer Beryl Vertue, whose company created the hit series Men Behaving Badly and Sherlock, has died aged 90.
The influential media executive “passed away peacefully” on Saturday surrounded by family.
Ms Vertue was made an OBE in 2000 and a CBE in 2016 for her work in the TV industry.
Her daughters Sue and Debbie said: “It's with the heaviest of hearts that we have to share the sad news that mum/Beryl passed away peacefully last night. It wasn't Covid, it was just her nearly 91-year-old body saying enough is enough.
“We were there so the passing was as good as one could hope for. Nothing wrong with her brain - even earlier this week she was grilling us both about work.
“It’s really impossible to believe that she has gone though, because I know we’re not alone in thinking that somehow she’d go on forever. She meant so much to so many.
“She loved a glass of wine at lunchtime, she loved asking the common sense question, she was often the last person at a party, she didn’t suffer fools, she was fair, she was kind, she was fun, she was stubborn, in fact she was the total package and we will miss her beyond words.
“She was more than a mother to us - she was also a friend. To many in the industry she was more than a friend - she was often a mother.”
Her career started when she was asked by Steptoe And Son writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson to type up their scripts.
When the pair set up Associated London Scripts (ALS) with Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes, she began finding work and negotiating fees for figures such as sitcom scriptwriter Johnny Speight and actor-comedian Frankie Howerd, in effect becoming their agent.
She also had success selling shows such as Til Death Us Do Part and All In The Family to the US market.
She is one of Britain’s most decorated producers. In 2004, she received Bafta’s Alan Clarke award for outstanding creative contribution to television, while March 2012 saw her honoured with the lifetime achievement gong at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards.
In 2016, Cumberbatch presented her with a lifetime achievement prize at the Women In Film And TV Awards.
