Michael Sharvell-Martin supported many famous comedians in their television shows, and was a much-loved pantomime dame in theatres all over Britain. In television, he was seen in Love Thy Neighbour, Dad’s Army, three Mike Yarwood series, Yes, Minister, The Kenny Everett Television Show and Are You Being Served? But he will be best remembered for The Benny Hill Show (1969-70), Dave Allen at Large (1971-79), which received four Bafta nominations, Terry and June (1980-85) and all five series of No Place Like Home (1983-87), in which he played the role of a neighbour, Trevor Botting.
Sharvell-Martin was persuaded to play the dame in panto by the choreographer Dougie Squires and Peter Tod, who ran the Hippodrome in Birmingham. He decided his dame would be a cosy, cuddly character. In an interview in 1997, he commented: “I knew this worked when Lionel Blair said to me, ‘I’d really like you to be my mum.’” In fact, that happened when Blair and Sharvell-Martin appeared in Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, in 1986-87. In Goldilocks, Sharvell-Martin was always the eccentric Gertie Gemmell. In Cinderella, he would play one of the Ugly Sisters, and in all the other famous pantos, he took the role of the traditional Dame.
From Darlington to Bournemouth and from York to Windsor, he supported personalities as diverse as Paul Daniels, Lorraine Chase and Frank Bruno. He was at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, last year, taking part in Aladdin, his 35th panto, with Wendy Craig and Jess Conrad. The Stage praised his “gloriously anarchic plate-smashing sequence, eventually covering the stage with broken china”. He was due to appear at the Theatre Royal again this Christmas, but became too ill to do anything so strenuous. Bill Kenwright, who runs the theatre, appointed him as script adviser instead.
Away from comedy, Sharvell-Martin had a serious interest in the theatre. In 1996, he was the first chairman of the Irving Society, the organisation dedicated to honouring the life and career of the great Victorian actor-manager Sir Henry Irving.
Michael Sharvell-Martin, who was born in Herne Bay, Kent, in 1944, died at his home in Somerset on October 28, aged 65. He is survived by his wife, Linda, a former dancer, and their two daughters, Ellen and Kate.
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