Creator / Diana Coupland

Diana Coupland, born Betty Diana Coupland, (5 March 1928 — 10 November 2006), was a British actress best known for playing Jean Abbott in Bless This House.

Growing up she had hoped to be a ballet dancer but was unable to fulfill her dream after a horse-riding accident. By the age of 15, she started a singing career. After being heard by Barney Colehan, one of The BBC's producers, she began appearing on the radio. Three years later, she was singing in Leeds at the Mecca Locarno, and a year later, moved to London to sing at Mecca's Tottenham Court Road ballroom.

In 1953, she appeared in the opening scene of Flannelfoot as a nightclub singer. Her TV debut was in 1961, in an episode of Emergency – Ward 10. After years of guest shots and bit parts, she was cast as Jean Abbott in Bless This House, which ran from 1971 until the death of her on-screen husband Sid James in 1976. Coupland also returned as Jean in the 1972 film spin-off.

In 1973, Coupland starred alongside Reg Varney in The Best Pair of Legs in the Business, playing his disillusioned wife, Mary Sheridan. After the death of one of the actors in Triangle before the series was due to be filmed, Coupland was cast at short notice as Marion Carter (later Marion Terson). Another notable role following this included a six-week stint as Maureen Carter in EastEnders in 2000.

She was married to Monty Norman, the first composer of the James Bond films, from 1956 to 1975, and did the singing voice of Honey Ryder ("Underneath the Mango Tree") in Dr. No.

She died after surgey at the age of 78.

---

Works on TV Tropes she appeared in:

Film

• Dr. No (1962) — Honey Ryder (Non-Singing Voice)
• The Twelve Chairs (1970) — Madam Bruns
• The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970) — Mrs. Spimm
• Operation Daybreak (1975) — Aunt Marie

Series

• Z Cars, 9 episodes:
  • "Limping Rabbit" (1962) — Alice Cottrell
  • "Winner Take All" (1962) — Lily Stiles
  • "Teamwork" (1962) — Hilda Laker
  • "The Birds of the Air" (1963) — Ethel Roberts
  • "In a Day's Work" (1964) — Mrs. Keston
  • 2 episodes^{show list} "The Placer: Part 1", "The Placer: Part 2" (1967) — Fay Benn
  • 2 episodes^{show list} "Intrusion: Part 1", "Intrusion: Part 2" (1971) — Mrs. Benson
• Coronation Street, 2 episodes (1962) — Mrs. Dumbarton
• Maigret, episode "The Cellars of the Majestic" (1963) — Jo
• Dixon of Dock Green, 2 episodes:
  • "Fair Means or Foul" (1964) — Norma Parker
  • "S for Squealer" (1966) — Ruby Fisher
• Redcap, episode "Misfire" (1964) — Iris Pearson
• Please Sir!, episode "The Decent Thing" (1969) — Connie Eversleigh
• Bless This House, 65 episodes (1971-76) — Jean Abbott
• ScreenPlay, episode "The Trial of Klaus Barbie" (1987) — Paillares
• One Foot in the Grave, episode "Monday Morning Will Be Fine" (1992) — Meg
• The Bill, episode "The Sixth Age" (1994) — Nellie Hawley
• EastEnders, 13 episodes (2000) — Maureen Carter
• Doctors, 2 episodes:
  • "Happy Days Are Here Again" (2002) — Hilda
  • "The One You Love" (2006) — Claire Hudson
• CASUAL+Y, episode "Love Bites" (2004) — Lily Thirlwell

---