The actor Jean Boht, who has died aged 91, became a household name when she starred as Nellie Boswell, the indomitable matriarch ruling the roost over her Liverpool working-class Catholic family, in the BBC TV sitcom Bread, screened in the 1980s at a time of high unemployment.
Boht was seen unleashing Nellie’s acid tongue on her five grown-up children as they battled for jobs and exploited the system to survive, while her husband, Freddie (played by Ronald Forfar), cheated on her with a lover called Lilo Lil, and Grandad (Kenneth Waller), her grumpy father, spent much of his time telling others to “piss off”. There were complaints from viewers about bad language before the 9pm watershed. Meanwhile, some in Liverpool accused the programme of stereotyping scousers as work-shy benefits cheats.
