Jean Marsh dies age 90

Upstairs Downstairs co-creator and actress Jean Marsh has died aged 90, her agent has confirmed.

The British screen and stage star won an Emmy in 1975 for her portrayal of hard-bitten but ultimately kind-hearted maid Rose Buck in the TV drama about class in Edwardian England.

Marsh also had roles in Hollywood films including Cleopatra, Willow and Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy and on TV in Doctor Who.

In a statement, Marsh’s friend the film director Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg paid tribute to her as “wise and funny… very pretty and kind, and talented both as an actress and writer”, adding she died “peacefully in bed looked after by one of her very loving carers”…..