The actor Gwyneth Powell, who has died aged 76 after complications following an operation, will be remembered by a generation of television viewers thanks to her decade-long stint as Mrs McClusky, the firm but fair principal of the eponymous London comprehensive school in the popular BBC children’s TV drama Grange Hill.
Created by Phil Redmond in 1978, Grange Hill was a high-watermark in children’s broadcasting. The series had urban reality and hard-hitting storylines at its core, without ever patronising its audience or losing its scampish sense of humour and likable characters. It was already a success when Powell joined in 1980, but it went from strength to strength during her “tenure”, covering such topics as bullying, racism, inappropriate teacher-pupil relationships and, perhaps most famously, the character Zammo McGuire’s heroin addiction, which spawned the drug awareness campaign Just Say No in 1986.
Bridget McClusky was a no-nonsense, fair-minded and occasionally sardonic authority figure, and Powell’s warmth and naturalism ensured that she was a de facto headteacher to the nation’s children. She was equally valued by the young actors playing her charges, advocating for their wellbeing behind the scenes and ensuring that producers were mindful of their duty of care.
“I was told by lots of people [that McClusky] was a great fillip to young women teachers who started applying for headships,” she told the BBC in 2008. “I’m not saying [Grange Hill] would change society, but maybe it helped a lot of young people.”
She left after 11 series, but remained a staple presence on TV screens thereafter, escaping typecasting because she was both versatile and easy to work with – and latterly because many of her young viewers grew up to be television-makers themselves and relished the idea of working with a legend from their childhood.
Gwyneth was born in Levenshulme, Manchester, just after the second world war, the youngest child of Mary (nee Bustard) and Sidney Powell, a factory worker. She attended Cheadle County grammar school for girls and was cast in the very first play she auditioned for, as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, igniting her love for Shakespeare. Encouraged by her English teacher at 16, she successfully applied to the National Youth Theatre, with which she performed for the next five years during school holidays.
She trained to be a teacher at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, but never made use of her qualification because she was approached by an agent after playing Ursula in Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair for the NYT at the Royal Court (1966). She joined the Connaught repertory theatre in Worthing, initially as an assistant floor manager on a six-week contract, but flourished under its creatively ambitious artistic director Christopher Denys – and in less than a year was playing Queen Victoria in William Francis’s Portrait of a Queen.
In 1969 she joined the Bristol Old Vic company for two years and made her television debut: a minor part in the series Rogues’ Gallery. The next time she hit the small screen she had a starring role in LWT’s intelligent, dystopian drama series The Guardians (1971), having been recommended by its main writer, John Bowen, who had seen her playing Maggie in Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice at Bristol.
Her performance garnered good reviews, notably for some powerful two-hander scenes with Lynn Farleigh, and she subsequently became a familiar face thanks to appearances in Dixon of Dock Green (five roles between 1972-76), Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street (both 1976), and two Armchair Thriller serials written by Bowen: Rachel in Danger (1978) and Dying Day (with Ian McKellen, 1980).
During her time on Grange Hill she managed other television work, notably recurring roles in Squadron (1982) and The Gentle Touch (1982-84). Having decided to leave Grange Hill in 1991, she happened upon a copy of EM Delafield’s Diary of a Provincial Lady, which she then adapted into a one-woman show, facilitating a virtuoso turn for herself as a variety of well-drawn characters. She took it to Edinburgh and toured it so successfully that two sequels and a radio play followed. She continued to act in theatre – including playing Abby Brewster in Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace (Salisbury Playhouse, 2009) – and directed productions, too.
Never off television for long, Powell brought pathos to A Touch of Frost (1997) as a former sex worker who became the lover of David Jason’s lead character. She was in episodes of Peak Practice (1998, 2002) and Holby City (2001, 2006), and had recurring roles in the ill-fated soap opera experiment Echo Beach (2008), the BBC3 comedy The Gemma Factor (2010) and Nickelodeon’s House of Anubis (2012).
Her credentials as a TV icon were underlined when she revisited the role of Mrs McClusky in a number of high-profile shows – including the time-bending police fantasy Ashes to Ashes (2009) and Charlie Brooker’s crime spoof A Touch of Cloth (2013). Latterly she indulged her love of working with comedians by giving a superb performance as Polly in Greg Davies’s Man Down (2013-17) and most recently appeared in episodes of the BBC comedy Not Going Out and the detective drama Grace (both 2022), rounding out a varied and impressive five-decade career.
She was proud of her association with Grange Hill, happily giving interviews and supporting fan and reunion events, and taking great pleasure in catching up with her former “pupils”.
In 1971 she married the actor Alan Leith, who survives her.
Gwyneth Powell, actor, born 5 July 1946; died 8 September 2022
