Shirley Valentine gave Pauline Collins a role to match her talent. She seized it with style and glee

"Pauline Collins was the smart, funny, cherubically sexy female actor in the 1970s who became a recognisable star on both sides of the Atlantic in the smash hit British TV show Upstairs, Downstairs, the Downton Abbey of its day. Collins in Upstairs, Downstairs. Photograph: ITV/Shutterstock She played Sarah, the pert-yet-vulnerable parlour maid with a dodgy past, who has a relationship with the handsome chauffeur Thomas, played by Collins's real-life husband, John Alderton."

"But her moment of greatness came on the big screen as Shirley Valentine: the liberating, naughty-but-nice adventure that paved the way for Calendar Girls and the Mamma Mia! movies: a buoyant, funny, sunshine-y comedy with a wonderful role for a mature female lead, broaching the subject of female sexuality that was not governed by the usual male ideas about demure youth."

"It originated from Collins playing the lead role of a lifetime in Willy Russell's 1986 stage play: Shirley Valentine, the yearning and unexpectedly sensual everywoman heroine of an escapist midlife comedy. The trailer for Shirley Valentine. Collins became the toast of London's West End and Broadway and was then triumphantly cast in the smash-hit film version very much following the similar stage-to-screen journey of Julie Walters in Russell's 1980 play, Educating Rita."

Pauline Collins rose to prominence in the 1970s as a smart, funny, cherubically sexy actor and became a recognisable star on both sides of the Atlantic through Upstairs, Downstairs. She played Sarah, a pert-yet-vulnerable parlour maid who forms a publicised relationship with chauffeur Thomas, portrayed by Collins's real-life husband John Alderton. Collins achieved her defining film success as Shirley Valentine, a liberated, unexpectedly sensual everywoman who leaves a boring life for a holiday in Greece and then stays to pursue real experience and sexual awakening. The role originated in Willy Russell's 1986 stage play, transferred to London's West End and Broadway, and followed a stage-to-screen path similar to Educating Rita.

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