June Whitfield - Recent Years

Recent Years

Having appeared in an episode of French & Saunders in 1988, from 1992 June Whitfield played Mother/Gran in Jennifer Saunders' sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. In 2000, she starred with the rest of the Absolutely Fabulous cast in the pilot Mirrorball. From 1993 to 2001, June Whitfield played Miss Marple in 12 radio adaptations of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books. Since 1990, she has appeared in films such as Carry On Columbus, Jude and Faeries, as the voice of Mrs. Combs. In 1998, Whitfield played the housekeeper in the London-set episode of Friends "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two" and voiced a character in an episode of the animated comedy series Rex the Runt.

In 1994, June Whitfield was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Comedy Awards, and, in 1998, she was upgraded to a CBE. In 2000, her autobiography And June Whitfield appeared, written with the help of Christopher Douglas. Whitfield's husband Tim Aitchison died in 2001. Since 2000, Whitfield has appeared in The Royal, Midsomer Murders, Marple, New Tricks and Last of the Summer Wine, which she joined in 2005. Whitfield had an episode of The South Bank Show devoted to her on 29 July 2007 and, in the same year, appeared in the English National Opera's production of On the Town in London's West End. In November 2007, she appeared in the Only Fools and Horses spin-off The Green Green Grass as the mother of Marlene. In 2008, Whitfield appeared in an episode of ITV medical drama, Harley Street. In 2009, she made a guest appearance in Kingdom and published an updated autobiography, At a Glance ... An Absolutely Fabulous Life, a collection of scrapbook pictures from her life and career.

Whitfield appeared in the Doctor Who two-part episode, "The End of Time", that aired over the Christmas/New Year period of 2009–10. On 29 December 2009, she was the subject of an entire evening's tribute programming on BBC Two.

In 2010, Whitfield was signed for a short appearance on soap opera Coronation Street. Her character, May, appeared at the funeral of Blanche Hunt. She explained to Blanche's daughter, Deirdre, how her mother died. In 2011 she played Margaret Rutherford in the BBC Radio 4 play A Monstrous Vitality, Andy Merriman's radio adaptation of his biography of Rutherford, A Dreadnought with Good Manners. She reprised her role of Mother/Gran in a two-part Christmas/New Year special of Absolutely Fabulous in 2011-12 and for an Olympic special on 23 July 2012.