Una Stubbs
English actress, television personality, and former dancer (1937-2021)

Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was an English actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television, in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film Summer Holiday (1963) and later played Rita Rawlins in the BBC sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975) and In Sickness and in Health (1985–1992). Her other television roles include Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981) and Miss Bat in The Worst Witch (1998–2001). She also appeared as Sherlock Holmes's landlady Mrs. Hudson in the BAFTA-winning television series Sherlock (2010–2017) where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Crime Thriller Awards.
Early life
Stubbs was born in 1937 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Angela K. Rawlinson and Clarence Reginald Stubbs. Stubbs was a great-granddaughter of Sir Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the garden city movement, who was the driving force in the creation of Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, both in Hertfordshire.
She grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and was sent to La Roche dancing school in Slough by her mother.
As a 16-year-old, in 1953, she danced in a Folies Bergère-style musical revue, "Pardon My French", at the Prince of Wales Theatre, alongside Frankie Howerd and the pianist Winifred Atwell. She first appeared on television as one of the Dougie Squires Dancers on the British television music show Cool for Cats (ITV) in 1956.
The public source identifies “Una Stubbs” as english actress, television personality, and former dancer (1937-2021). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Stubbs, English and actress.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1319582. VIAF identifies the subject as 295455258. The Library of Congress control number is no2007024413. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1937, 2021, 1963 and 1965.
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This entry incorporates text from “Una Stubbs” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.