Emmerdale and Hollyoaks actress Georgina Hale has died aged 80.
The soap star, who worked as an actor on both screen and stage for five decades, is reported to have died on January 4th.
Her cause of death is not yet known.
Fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their condolences to the popular actress.
One wrote: “#GeorginaHale was great in Doctor Who and One Foot in the Grave.” One of my favorite actresses.
Others said: “Sad news.” Georgina Hale is gone. She was on TV back in the 70s and 80s. “Good actress.”
Emmerdale and Hollyoaks actress Georgina Hale has died aged 80. The soap star, who had a five-decade acting career, is believed to have died on January 4th
Georgina and Huw David pictured in Emmerdale
“Sad news, brilliant career, Budgie and one of the best Minder episodes of all time.”
“Georgina Hale was an interesting actress with a unique performance that ensured she always brought a touch of eccentricity to the screen. 'RIP.'
For her performance in the original London production of Steaming, Georgina received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
The actress also won a British Academy Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 1975 for the Ken Russell film Mahler.
Georgina's other TV roles included an appearance in Doctor Who – The Happiness Patrol in 1988.
In 2010, The Guardian listed the actress as one of the ten greatest British character actresses.
Georgina was born in Ilford, Essex, in 1943, the daughter of innkeepers Elsie (née Fordham) and George Robert Hole, and married John Forgeham in 1964, although they later divorced.
She made her film debut in 1971 in the historical drama “The Eagle in the Cage”, in which she played Betsy Balcombe opposite Kenneth Haigh as Napoleon Bonaparte.
The actress in 1980's “McVicar” alongside Roger Daltrey
Adam Faith and Georgina in “Budgie” in 1971. The actress played the headstrong Mrs. Jean in the second season
Georgina also succeeded Elizabeth Estensen in the eponymous role of T-Bag, the villainous, tea-drinking sorceress in a series of children's adventure shows (pictured in 1992).
Fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their condolences to the popular actress
Georgina admitted she grew up overweight and shy and constantly changed schools as her parents moved to different pubs, which she said ruined her education.
She told the Glasgow Herald in 2002: “I couldn’t write, spell or read.”
“It was a real shame and you were the idiot in the class who kept getting hit in the head.”
Georgina's mother died when she was 18, followed by her father four years later, and at the age of 19 she received tickets to West Side Story, which “blown her away” as she had never set foot in a theater before had seen the show.
She then completed training at Rada, graduating in 1965 and giving herself the stage name Hale.
She had roles in Royal Shakespeare Company productions and made her West End debut in 1976 in Chekhov's The Seagull at London's Duke of York Theatre.
Georgina also succeeded Elizabeth Estensen in the eponymous role of T-Bag, the villainous, tea-drinking sorceress in a series of Thames Television children's adventure shows.