Ruth Madoc is a British actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the 1980s BBC television comedy Hi-de-Hi!, for which she received a BAFTA TV award nomination for Best Light Entertainment Performance, and as Thomas's mother in the second series of Little Britain.
Early life
Madoc was born in Norwich where her parents worked in medicine at the time. Her parents travelled around Britain for much of her childhood, and she was brought up by her Welsh grandmother Etta Williams and her English grandfather, in Llansamlet within Swansea. Later she trained at RADA in London.
Career
After RADA Ruth worked in The Black and White Minstrel Show. Her first husband was the actor Philip Madoc, with whom she appeared in the 1981 TV serial The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. They had a son, Rhys, and a daughter, Lowri, but eventually divorced. In 1971 Ruth Madoc played Fruma Sarah in the film version of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and in 1972 she appeared as Mrs Dai Bread Two in the film of Under Milk Wood. She also appeared regularly in the entertainment programme Poems and Pints on BBC Wales. She provided one of the alien voices in the Cadbury's Smash commercials in the 1970s, and made a brief appearance in the 1977 film, The Prince and the Pauper. She is an experienced theatre actress who has appeared in many productions, including the stage version of Under Milk Wood, Steel Magnolias, Agatha Christie thrillers, the musical Annie and many pantomime parts. She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1984 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. In 2002 she and her second husband bought a home in Glynneath. In 2004 she appeared in the reality television programmeCariad@Iaith on S4C, in which celebrities went on an intensive course in the Welsh language. She has also appeared in the LivingTVreality showI'm Famous and Frightened! which she went on to win. Madoc was awarded an honorary degree by Swansea University in July 2006. She also appeared in "Annie" as Miss Hannigan on tour. In 2007 she appeared as a fictional version of herself in episode 2 of the BBC Radio 2 comedy Buy Me Up TV. In 2008 she appeared at the Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl playing the Bad Fairy in the pantomime 'Sleeping Beauty', with Sonia and Rebecca Trehearn. In 2009 Madoc returned to situation comedy when she appeared in Big Top on BBC1, alongside Amanda Holden, John Thomson and Tony Robinson. In 2010 Madoc investigated her family history for the BBC Wales programme Coming Home and learned that she is related to David Lloyd George. In January 2015 Madoc appeared as the Fairy Godmother in the pantomime Cinderella at the Palace Theatre, Mansfield.
