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Dame Patricia Routledge, who has died at the years of 96, etched her presence on the British psyche as the snobby Hyacinth Bouquet.

Insisting it was "pronounced Bouquet," the character trampled over her patient husband and bewildered neighbours in the popular sitcom, among Britain's most successful sitcoms in the 1990s.

Acting like a aristocrat while living in a suburban area, Bucket's monstrous status-seeking schemes were in the end doomed to collapse—while she battled to keep her composure.

It was Lady Patricia's most famous part in a professional life that included her win stage awards on both sides of the Atlantic, emerge as the star of the playwright's famous TV monologues, and star as BBC1's crime-busting Hetty Wainthropp.

Early Years and Start in Acting

Catherine Patricia Routledge was born in Birkenhead on February 17 1929.

Her dad was a clothier and she remembered sheltering from enemy air raids in the cellar of his store during the Second World War.

She studied literature at nearby Liverpool University and planned to become a teacher. Rather, she joined the Liverpool Playhouse prior to training at the Bristol Old Vic.

Her prosperous stage journey brought her from the regions to the West End, and eventually to Broadway, where Leonard Bernstein selected her to appear in his stage production 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had already won a Tony honor for her acting in Darling of the Day.

She could move effortlessly from comedies to serious drama.

She went from Shakespeare's birthplace, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later to the London's national stage in the capital.

At the National, her starring role in the stage musical Carousel featured her performing the rousing You'll Never Walk Alone.

There were also several supporting film roles, especially in the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis comedy outing Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast performances demonstrated her range and won her accolades, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her best-known characters.

Television Success and Memorable Characters

Initial small-screen work included popular shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

Subsequently, one of Britain's most respected writers, the dramatist, penned a set of outstanding Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

Routledge overcame her early reluctance to act his scripts and shone as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.

She later play a isolated, middle-aged shop assistant drawn into a relationship with a kinky foot doctor in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A humorous turn as the larger-than-life character on The Victoria Wood Show led to the creation of Hyacinth Bucket.

Routledge recalled being sent the scripts by the writer, the screenwriter—who had also done Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I opened the pages for a while at one o'clock in the night," she said, "I went straight through and the character jumped off the script. I knew that woman, I knew a few of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances aired for five series and included several Christmas episodes.

In a documentary, she later claimed that admirers had numbered the royal family and the pontiff.

It became the broadcaster's most-sold show ever and ensured Routledge was recognised as far away as Botswana.

For her performance on the comedy, she was voted Britain's all-time best-loved actress in 1996, but after half a decade in the role, she decided it was the moment for a change.

"I brought it to an close," she explained, "which, of course, the BBC wasn't pleased with very much."

She thought that the writer was starting to recycle concepts and recalled a bit of guidance from the performer, Ronnie Barker.

"He made sure to finish with people asking, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she said, rather than people remarking, ‘Is that still on?’"

Subsequent Work and Private Reflections

Playing the homely but astute detective in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her continued success on television, but she consistently called the theatre as "the test."

Long after she ceased acting frequently on television, Routledge undertook stage travels equally in the United Kingdom and overseas.

Whenever interviewers asked the predictable inquiry, she requested them to write the word retirement because, she clarified: "It's not in my lexicon."

She never married or raised kids, but told the press of two great romances in her youth, including one with a wedded man.

"I experienced guilt and an sharp feeling that there would be pain," she confessed. "I guess I persuaded myself that it was all right for the time being as his marriage was no a vibrant relationship."

Instead, she dedicated herself to her craft, serving it with the skill, dedication and commitment that were always admired by her colleagues.

She was critical about the broadcaster's decision in 2016 to bring back Keeping Up Appearances, but this time set in the 1950s and featuring a younger version of her role.

Questioning the Corporation's policy of rebooting old comedies she remarked, "Why are they doing this kind of thing, they must be desperate."

She had previously disagreed with the BBC over their decision to not commission a documentary she had authored about the writer Beatrix Potter (she was a Patron of the literary group), which finally broadcast on another network.

Upon reaching 90, she persisted to live quietly in the city, where she occupied herself raising funds for the church structure.

In 2017, she was appointed a Dame of the Order of the British Empire but—unlike her character—titles never go to her mind.

Dame Routledge often stated she thanked her north of England roots and solid family for giving her practicality with her life and her money.

Nonetheless, she confessed that, should any extra money arrive, she'd certainly use it on "a case of champagne"—an love of the finer pleasures in existence that she shared with her best-remembered character.

"I was never theatre-obsessed," she said. "I'm not stage-struck now. Nobody's as amazed than I am that I've, actually, spent my career doing acting."