Keeping Up Appearances star, 93, gives rare TV interview: 'Absolute legend'

Keeping Up Appearances icon Dame Patricia Routledge has sent fans into a frenzy as she appeared in a rare TV interview celebrating the 30th anniversary of the BBC sitcom.

The 93-year-old reminisced on her time on the show in BBC's Keeping Up Appearances: 30 Years of Laughs, which aired over the weekend.

The anniversary show shared hilarious clips of Patricia's character Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced 'Bouquet') as she constantly strived to impress the upper and upper-middle class with her timid husband Richard (played by Clive Swift who died in 2019) always in tow.

In the special Patricia said she could not remember exactly when she realised the show's stardom.

"I don't know when the moment hit me that we were rather successful, but the taxi drivers quite often would say something like, 'You're not going to tell me how to drive this are you?'" she said with a laugh.

"We were one of the Queen Mother's favourite sitcoms, which was lovely to know. And [Queen Elizabeth II] enjoyed it too.

"Hyacinth would have been flattered beyond words."

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Keeping Up Appearances ended in 1995 and Patricia was last seen acting in Anybody's Nightmare in 2001. While she has been featured in a number of documentaries recently, she has lived mostly a quiet life since stepping back from acting.

In 2017 she was awarded the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Fans who watched the anniversary special praised the Keeping Up Appearances star on Twitter, saying they loved seeing her back on the screen.

"Watched the Keeping Up Appearances special on Channel 5 and my goodness Dame Patricia Routledge is so precious she must be protected at all costs," one said.

"Really enjoyed the Keeping Up Appearances documentary on Channel 5. So nice to see Dame Patricia Routledge and other surviving cast members reminiscing about working on such a great sitcom," a fan added.

"Watching the show about Keeping Up Appearances – it’s so good! We need a whole series of episodes celebrating dame Patricia Routledge, she’s just amazing in everything she’s ever done," a third claimed.

"Dame Patricia Routledge is an absolute legend," a comment read.

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