The actor Judy Loe, who has died aged 78 after suffering from cancer, graduated from children’s television to popular dramas such as The Chief and Casualty – but she never escaped the tag of being the widow of Richard Beckinsale, the British comedy actor remembered for his roles in Rising Damp and Porridge. “I get annoyed at being continually presented as the brave little widow having a tough time,” she said in 1987, eight years after his death at 31 from a heart attack.
Their daughter, Kate Beckinsale, went on to become a Hollywood star, while Loe enjoyed a satisfying career on British television. She was settling down to a new life with the director Roy Battersby and looking to the future when she landed one of her best roles, in the seven-part romantic drama Yesterday’s Dreams (1987). As a divorcee in a new relationship with a mechanic, she is still being wooed by her former husband, a high-powered business executive. Her character, Diane, eventually decides to leave the past behind.
