Dandy Nichols is remembered above all for one role only, that of the long-suffering Else, wife of the appalling Alf Garnett, in the long-running series Till Death Us Do Part, and the rather milder follow-up In Sickness and in Health, both written by Johnny Speight.

The role of Else Garnett (or Ramsey, as the family was called in the beginning) went first to Gretchen Franklin when a pilot episode of Till Death Us Do Part was made in 1965, but Nichols took over when the series got under way and she quickly proved the perfect foil to the bigoted and abusive Garnett, played by Warren Mitchell. The rapport between the two ensured the show’s immediate, if controversial, success, and the program was destined to attract top ratings for 10 years before a weary Nichols complained that she could no longer work with Warren Mitchell, and called it a day (in the series it was explained that she had left for Australia to visit her sister). She came back, however, as Else in the sequel, In Sickness and in Health, although she was by now confined to a wheelchair because of arthritis and with only months to live.

As Else, Alf Garnett’s dimwitted “silly old moo” of a wife, Nichols repeatedly demonstrated the command of technique and timing that she had learned from her long apprenticeship in the theater (she appeared, for instance, in the original Royal Court Theatre cast of David Storey’s Home in 1970 and acted in the West End with the likes of John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson). She also appeared in some 50-odd films, which ranged from Carry on Doctor and Confessions of a Window Cleaner to Nicholas Nickleby and Scott of the Antarctic. Film directors cast her initially as cockney maids and charwomen, but it was not long before her skills as a character actress were recognized and she was occasionally allowed to extend herself in more varied parts.

Born in Hammersmith, in western London, Nichols was nevertheless quite at home with the East End locale of the Garnett series, and she proved inimitable in the character with which she became most closely identified. Deadpan in the face of Garnett’s unforgivable verbal abuse, and resigned to her role as the target of much of her husband’s frustration and invective, she could be, by turns, hilarious and pathetic, and she quickly became a firm favorite of the British viewing public. Treasured memories of her performances included the carefully managed moments in which she would bring a careering Alf Garnett to a sudden stop in mid-tirade with some artlessly innocent observation or other, apparently oblivious of the inevitable result that she would draw the full venom of her husband’s ire upon herself. Else was a type that many people recognized from real life, and she provided some necessary warmth and pathos to contrast with the monstrous Alf’s aggression and viciousness. Without Else, and in a changed climate under the Thatcher government, the later series faltered and failed to resonate with viewers as earlier episodes had done.

Success in the role of Else Garnett, though it came relatively late in her career, brought Nichols the opportunity to play both starring and supporting roles in many other classic television shows. In the sitcom The Trouble with You, Lillian, for instance, she was equally effective as Madge, teamed up with the redoubtable Patricia Hayes. Among the other classic series in which she appeared to acclaim were Emergency-Ward 10, Dixon of Dock Green, No Hiding Place, Mrs. Thursday, and Bergerac. The critics also lavished praise on her performance in a television adaptation of the William Trevor play The General’s Day, in which she starred opposite Alastair Sim.