Half of the LipService duo who appeared in Coronation Street

Coronation Street actress Maggie Fox, who had a career touring live theatrical comedy shows, has died in a ‘sudden accident’.

Her death was announced by her friend and comedy partner in the double act LipService, Sue Ryding, who did not reveal details of the cause of death.

She said: ’It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Maggie Fox, my comedy partner of 40 years and co-artistic director of LipService.

‘Maggie passed away yesterday with her family around her… As you can imagine I am completely heartbroken. We are still all in a state of shock as this was very sudden following an accident.’

The pair were currently touring a show called Château Ghoul, set in a  boutique hotel where guests keep dying, and their previous shows included Horror for Wimps, The Picture of Doreen Gray and Withering Looks.

Ryding added: ‘I met Maggie when we were drama students at Bristol University in the 1970's. We were in a very serious production of Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea but for some reason the audience was on the floor laughing. A tragedy for Ibsen (he was good at those) but the launch of an epic comedy partnership.

‘Our theatre company LipService was officially launched in 1985 and we have written 22 original comedies, touring all over the world, managing to have children in between. It's notoriously difficult to present new work in theatre and we are really proud that we managed to do so and to build an audience for it.

‘We had planned a new digital version of Chateau Ghoul which we had already filmed which will be shared with you later in the year in memory of Maggie.’

Fox played Ruth Audsley, an old friend of Hayley Cropper, in Coronation Street in 2001 and she returned to the soap in 2010 to play Judge Travers in Kylie Turner’s custody battle.

She also played housekeeper Bilson in The Forsyte Saga, a registrar in Shamelss and voiced a librarian in Bob The Builder.

Published: 24 Mar 2022