Denise Coffey - Revision history

Dave williams2 at 20:15, 21 June 2025

2025-06-21T20:15:32Z

Dave williams2 at 20:12, 21 June 2025

2025-06-21T20:12:11Z

Dave williams2 at 20:12, 21 June 2025

2025-06-21T20:12:04Z

Dave williams2: Created page with "Denise Coffey (born 12th December 1936, Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English actress, director and playwright. After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey be..."

2020-10-29T09:55:01Z

Created page with "Denise Coffey (born 12th December 1936, Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English actress, director and playwright. After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey be..."

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Denise Coffey (born 12th December 1936, Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English actress, director and playwright.

After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey began a career in repertory at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh, then moved to the Palladium Theatre there. She later worked for the BBC as a radio interviewer, before appearing in London's West End. In the 1970s she was a member of director Frank Dunlop's repertory company in London's Young Vic Theatre, appearing in several productions and beginning her career as a playwright with some children's shows.

Coffey has had a few supporting film roles. These have included Sidonia in Waltz of the Toreadors (1962), Peg in Georgy Girl (1966), Soberness in Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), and Mrs. E in Vivian Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980). Her television appearances include Do Not Adjust Your Set, the Stanley Baxter series (1968, 1971), Girls About Town (1970–71), Hold the Front Page (1974; which she also created), and End of Part One (1979).

She always refused to appear in commercials declaring that it was reprehensible to try to persuade people to buy things they didn't need.

On radio, Coffey featured in The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere, in the first series of The Burkiss Way and in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately and has made guest appearances on several programmes, including I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and Just a Minute. She starred with [[Miriam Margolyes]] in two series of Alison and Maud (2002-4). She was also a regular panelist on The Law Game.

She has also enjoyed success as a theatre director, including several notable productions at the Shaw Festival in Canada, such as Noël Coward's Private Lives and Shaw's Androcles and the Lion and Pygmalion.

She lives in Devon where she has a successful career as an artist.
[[category:Female Contributor]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Denise Coffey (born 12th December 1936, Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English actress, director, and playwright.
+Denise Dorothy Coffey (12 December 1936 – 24 March 2022) was an English actress, comedian, director, and playwright.
-After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey began a career in repertory at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh, then moved to the Palladium Theatre there. She later worked for the BBC as a radio interviewer, before appearing in London's West End. In the 1970s she was a member of director Frank Dunlop's repertory company in London's Young Vic Theatre, appearing in several productions and beginning her career as a playwright with some children's shows.
+== Career ==
-Coffey has had a few supporting film roles. These have included Sidonia in Waltz of the Toreadors (1962), Peg in Georgy Girl (1966), Soberness in Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), and Mrs. E in Vivian Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980). Her television appearances include Do Not Adjust Your Set, the Stanley Baxter series (1968, 1971), Girls About Town (1970–71), Hold the Front Page (1974, which she also created), and End of Part One (1979).
+Television audiences first became acquainted with her as the sole female in the late 1960s comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set, which also featured David Jason and three future Monty Python members: Terry Jones, [[Michael Palin]], and [[Eric Idle]]. The producer, Humphrey Barclay, discovered her on stage in 1967 during a performance at the Edinburgh Festival. He was so impressed with her energy, that he hired her to work on Do Not Adjust Your Set, which ran from 1967 to 1969. She later appeared in another sketch show, End of Part One, which aired from 1979–1980.
-She always refused to appear in commercials declaring that it was reprehensible to try to persuade people to buy things they didn't need.
+Coffey had a few supporting film roles: Sidonia in Waltz of the Toreadors (1962), Peg in Georgy Girl (1966), Soberness in Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), and Mrs E. in Vivian Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980). Apart from Do Not Adjust Your Set, her television appearances included the Stanley Baxter series (1968, 1971), Girls About Town (1970–71), Hold the Front Page (1974, which she also created), End of Part One (1979) and The Adventure Game (1980). Coffey played the role of Librarian "Jenny" in the BBC Schools 10 episode Look and Read series Dark Towers (1981).
-On radio, Coffey featured in The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere, in the first series of The Burkiss Way and in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately and has made guest appearances on several programmes, including I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and Just a Minute. She starred with [[Miriam Margolyes]] in two series of Alison and Maud (2002-4). She was also a regular panelist on The Law Game.
+== Death ==
+She died on 24 March 2022, at the age of 85.
 [[category: Female Contributor]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:12, 21 June 2025
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	Denise Coffey (born 12th December 1936, Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English actress, director, and playwright.		Denise Coffey (born 12th December 1936, Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English actress, director, and playwright.
		+

	After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey began a career in repertory at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh, then moved to the Palladium Theatre there. She later worked for the BBC as a radio interviewer, before appearing in London's West End. In the 1970s she was a member of director Frank Dunlop's repertory company in London's Young Vic Theatre, appearing in several productions and beginning her career as a playwright with some children's shows.		After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey began a career in repertory at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh, then moved to the Palladium Theatre there. She later worked for the BBC as a radio interviewer, before appearing in London's West End. In the 1970s she was a member of director Frank Dunlop's repertory company in London's Young Vic Theatre, appearing in several productions and beginning her career as a playwright with some children's shows.