Mavis Wilton - Reception

Reception

Brian Meade of the Daily Mirror has suggested that Mavis was a "national institution" who enriched the life of millions. In the Scottish newspaper The Herald Alison Kerr listed Mavis as one of the female characters that in her opinion have been "the real pivot" in the serial, "ever ready with a sympathetic word". An article in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner said that Mavis was one of Coronation Street's best-loved characters, describing her as timid and "clad in sensible cardigan and shoes". Jules Stenson writing in The People said that Mavis was much like the previous character Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant): they were both "easily bullied" and, like Minnie, Mavis seemed to be "on the shelf for life" until her marriage to Derek.

In Meade's opinion, Mavis gave a name to and represented a certain type of woman: "A 1940s spinster with a 1940s head who's looked 50 since birth. A Woman's Realm made flesh. And you have a name for her. She's a Mavis ... Mavis Riley was a masterpiece of observation". His opinion was shared by Gerlinde Frey-Vor and Julia Hallam, who consider Mavis to be a "model for a spinsterly type of woman". Brian Meade suggested that Barlow had "honed a comic gem until it cut into the national consciousness" in her characterisation of Mavis, likening her to other successful TV characters like Basil Fawlty, Del Boy Trotter and Alf Garnett. Meade applauded Barlow for staying true to Mavis's character for 26 years, "sustaining the most timid, world-weary of women with remarkable consistency. Try to recall her great lines and you are stumped. Every sentence she whimpered seemed to begin with 'Ooh Derek' and end with: 'Well, I don't really know'", but he suggested that she had graced some of Coronation Street's "finest scenes", pointing to Mavis and Rita's spoof of a Laurel and Hardy act as one example.

The character received various accolades over the years. At the TV Times "Corrie Awards", Mavis and Derek were nominated for "Best Couple", and Susannah Clapp listed Mavis in The Observer's "10 best Coronation Street characters" list. Clapp said "Thelma Barlow played, with exceptional delicacy, in a variety of pastel pinnies, for 26 years." She concluded that she had a "tumultuous relationship with her soulmate, Derek". When Barlow quit the role as Mavis in 1997, various Coronation Street stars praised her contribution: Sherrie Hewson (who played Maureen Holdsworth) said "Thelma's a wonderful lady and a superb actress. We'll miss her"; Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster) said "Thelma's quality as an actress shone through for everyone to see after the death of Derek"; Peter Baldwin (Derek) said "It has made a difference to the programme and the departure of Derek and now Mavis is going to upset a lot of viewers".

Mavis has been praised for providing Coronation Street with much comic relief via her partnerships with Rita and Derek. Reflecting on Mavis and Derek's partnership in 2010, Paul Vallely of The Independent said that they were an example of a "great double act", but he noted that they could not survive in the serial after it became focused on "dramatic storylines".

Mavis has remained a popular and well-loved character. In 2010, thirteen years after her departure, Darren Fitzgerald wrote in The Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) that he wanted to see Mavis return to the serial and that he would have written out half of the cast and brought her back as a replacement. But Mavis has also been criticised: Jack Kibble-White, writing for MSN, called Mavis and Derek a "pathetic couple", suggesting that their gnome plot was one of the serial's most bizarre.