Margaret John

Gavin & Stacey cast pay tribute to Margaret John

Gavin and Stacey stars yesterday paid tribute to actress Margaret John who played flirty OAP Doris in the hit comedy.

Margaret John obituary

Welsh actor known for her role in the TV sitcom Gavin & Stacey.

Gavin and Stacey actress Margaret John dies at 84

Gavin and Stacey actress Margaret John has died at the age of 84, it has been announced.

Video: Gavin and Stacey's Margaret John interview

Gavin and Stacey actress Margaret John has died at the age of 84, it has been announced. John, who also starred in the BBC Wales comedy High Hopes, died in hospital in Swansea after a short illness.

The actress, who received a Bafta Cymru Lifetime Achievement award in 2009, starred as neighbour Doris in the Barry-based BBC hit comedy.

Their sketch show was an obnoxious, homophobic mess, so it's probably wise that Mathew Horne and James Corden have returned in the show that first made them popular, Gavin & Stacey. The first episode of this final series was like a warm bath: slightly eccentric characters, love and empathy bubbling around the intertwined lives of three families. Gavin has moved to Wales to work and live with Stacey and was bored. His first day at work was littered with grating, if sweet, interventions - balloons, phone messages, a packed lunch from Rob Brydon's Uncle Bryn - which delighted his new, and yes kooky, colleagues.

You can see why Gavin & Stacey is universally loved: the dialogue is carefully colloquial, everyone has their turn, it affirms family and friendship, has a dark edge - but for this viewer there is a sense of old tricks being recycled. Everyone's quirks ("What's occurrin'?") are so well-worn they have lost their magic.

The only distinctive performances are Ruth Jones's monotone Nessa, with baby (who is with her though concealed at all times) and the marvellous, foul-mouthed Doris/Dor (Margaret John) who stuck two fingers up at the expectation that she'd make salad for the christening party. You should root for Corden's Smithy, father of Nessa's baby and trying to find a role for himself now his best friend has moved away and the mother of his child is with a new partner, but he's supremely irritating and unfunny.

Video: 'Doris' on Gavin and Stacey role

Video interview with actress Margaret John who has become a hit with viewers of Gavin and Stacey, playing neighbour Doris with a colourful array of one-liners.