Michele Dotrice is a showbiz queen. She made her stage debut at three weeks, her TV bow at 13 and by her mid-twenties had secured lifelong fame with Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.
Now, at 74, she’s finally getting a chance to wear the crown she deserves – as Queen Victoria in SKY History’s new historical drama, Royal Mob.
Having become a household name as Betty, the put-upon wife of infuriating man-child Frank Spencer, her new role should be familiar territory indeed
After all, “One is not amused”, could easily have been poor Betty’s adage as well as Queen Victoria’s.
But there’s another reason to celebrate – Michele is thrilled the industry finally has more chances for women like her.
She says: “It used to be the case that there weren’t really many roles for older women. But there’s been a turnaround.
“It’s very exciting to see the shift away from male-dominated leading characters and where the woman is not always the beautiful actress.
“I love that there are now some of us with experience taking on leading roles.”
There’s one leading role she has no intention of ever playing again though.
Anyone hoping to hear Michael Crawford’s Frank once more utter his infamous “Oooh Betty!” catchphrase, had better settle for the repeats instead.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of when Some Mothers... hit screens, but Michele has ruled out another reboot to follow a 2016 Sport Relief sketch.
Asked about the chances of a new series, she exclaims: “God forbid! Are you serious? Michael would still insist on doing the stunts and he’s 80 now!
“No more stunts. I find it difficult enough getting up in the morning to have a good cough. I think we can safely say that isn’t going to happen.”
Playing a middle-aged Victoria has, however been a perfect fit for Michele – and she dived into the research.
“I got through a pile of books,” she says, holding up one after the other. “But I think this one is my favourite: ‘The Greedy Queen’. She was quite depressed and food helped her. She’d be at a banquet with all the crowned heads of Europe and wouldn’t talk because she was just shovelling the food in!”
Michele won’t be drawn on comparisons with The Crown other than to underline the historical credentials of Royal Mob – a timely point considering the row about Netflix needing a ‘fictionalised drama’ disclaimer on its flagship show.
“What I love is the idea that our show is 80% dramatization, but also 20% documentary – so you have all the input of these incredible historians like Simon Sebag-Montefiore and Miranda Carter giving you an insight into what you’re about to see, or what you’ve just seen,” says Michele. “The accuracy is phenomenal.”
The child of thespians, Michele, was quite literally born into showbiz.
Her father was stage and screen stalwart Roy Dotrice, who performed on both sides of the pond, mother Kay Newman went from theatre to Crossroads, and sisters Yvette and Karen were also actresses. Karen played Jane Banks in Mary Poppins and 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns.
“My mother gave birth and then carried me on in her arms,” Michele laughs. “Brave woman but then she was an actress and, as you know, the show must go on.”
Michele’s now the last one standing in the family business though.
“By now they’ve all either dropped off their perch or got wise to it,” she says. “I’m the only one still at it.”
In fact, there was only ever one brief period when she considered a different career.
“I was 10 and must have been a very strange child because, while other young people had posters of Elvis Presley on the wall, I had Sir Mortimer Wheeler, a celebrated archaeologist. I thought that might be a fascinating way to earn a living until a year later when I was with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre up at Stratford.
“There was an actor, a boy, in that company who would have been 12 at the time and he said, ‘You should really think about going to a stage school. It’s very good. You get off from classes and work a lot.’ It sounded right up my street. That boy was Dennis Waterman. So it was his fault, in part, that I became an actress.”
Waterman was right and the young Michele would go on to appear in everything from The Old Curiosity Shop on BBC (aged 14) and Hammer horror films to dramas Jason King, Jane Eyre and The Father with Hollywood legend Robert Shaw.
It was all preparation for the role that made would make her a household name – Betty Spencer.
“I think what made it work was that Frank and Betty loved each other,” she says. “And the fact that Michael and I were not comics also helped. We came at the scripts from a real point of view, not for laughs. So, for example, when Betty tells him she’s pregnant, the confusion is wonderful.
“That was all down to the writing of the lovely Raymond Allen, who sadly passed away recently. He was a wonderful writer, and basically was Frank Spencer.
“He wrote the series in his mum and dad’s shed at the bottom of the garden on the Isle of Wight and would phone it through from the call box at the end of the street.
“When he came up to the first recording of the show the commissioner at the BBC wouldn’t let him in because they didn’t believe he was the writer. He was turned away… that’s the kind of thing that would happen to Frank.”
There were only three series and three Christmas specials between 1973 and 1978 but the show regularly recorded viewing figures as high as 25 million. At the height of its success, Michele was handed the ultimate accolade British TV could bestow at the time – an appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show.
“It was one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had,” she remembers. “Of course, they totally got me. I was wearing a beautiful Zandra Rhodes dress cut down to the navel and Eric came through the curtains, fumbling with his glasses, and goes, ‘Hello son. Have you come to the show or are you dressed for an operation?’
“I have peed on more stages in the West End than you’ve had hot dinners and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was impossible but also the best fun.”
After the sitcom, Michele found herself typecast. But that ended when she went to US with her actor husband Edward Woodward.
“I was offered a lot of stuff in that kind of vein [of Betty] for a long while afterwards,” she says. “But Edward, my husband, and I were in America while he was doing The Equalizer in New York and then another series in LA… so I stepped away [from acting] for a while.
“Edward wanted to come back to live in Cornwall and raise our daughter Emily. He had had a heart attack by that point and I was a carer for a long time. It’s only really been since he passed 11 years ago that I’ve been slowly getting back into it again.”
She never totally disappeared from our screens however, as she appeared in period drama Bramwell and shows like Holby City, Midsomer Murders and Death In Paradise.
She starred in the 2020 movie Blithe Spirit with Isla Fisher and Dan Stevens, as well as ITV drama McDonald and Dodds and the acclaimed BBC series A Very English Scandal with Hugh Grant.
It was after an Olivier Award-nominated performance on stage in Nell Gwynn that she got the call to do Royal Mob.
“It is incredible how powerful Queen Victoria was in a very much a male-dominated century.” she reflects.
Michele’s just as happy with her own legacy – so now sees every job as a bonus.
“I have no ambitions left, if the odd part comes along for me to do, then that’s the icing on the cake”, she says. “I’m a very lucky lady.”
Royal Mob premieres tomorrow (Monday) 9pm, Sky HISTORY (available on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and NOW TV).
All episodes will be available on catch up services.
