[Ammi]

Actress Pauline Collins, who starred in Shirley Valentine, has died at the age of 85, her family has announced.

She died “peacefully at her care home in Highgate this week, having endured Parkinson’s for several years”.

A statement to the PA news agency said: “We are heartbroken to announce that Pauline Collins died peacefully at her care home in Highgate this week, having endured Parkinson’s for several years.

“She was surrounded by her family.”

She starred in the first series of sitcom The Liver Birds but did not become a household name until getting a regular role in Upstairs Downstairs in 1971.

She married fellow actor John Alderton in 1969.

Her role in the 1989 film Shirley Valentine, playing the lead character of the bored Liverpudlian housewife, earned her an Oscar nomination.

She had first played the role in the 1988 West End production at the Vaudeville Theatre, winning an Olivier Award for best actress.

The statement continued: “Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. A bright, sparky, witty presence on stage and screen.