Lynda Bellingham’s last role was also her hardest. As the brave cancer sufferer facing her illness with dignity and courage, she gave hope to thousands of others facing the same situation. Nigel Burton reports

WHEN doctors told Lynda Bellingham that her cancer was no longer curable she didn’t turn her back on the public who loved her.

Instead she fought the disease in the full glare of publicity - appearing on television and radio talking about her illness and her decision to stop her treatment.

The star, best known for her long-running role as the mother in the Oxo TV adverts, had colon cancer, which later spread to her lungs and liver.

It was her final role and one she threw herself into with gusto - dealing openly and humorously with what she called "that curveball" of terminal cancer.

The actress and presenter, who died on Sunday aged 66, insisted death should be confronted and discussed and made it her mission to transform it into a "positive" thing.

Her autobiography, called There's Something I've Been Dying To Tell You, was published this month and included a typically frank discussion of her decision to live her last weeks on her own terms.

“It had never occurred to me that I would die of cancer,” she wrote. “Heart failure maybe, liver damage quite possibly, but not cancer. How stupid is that? The statistics suggest one in three die of cancer...”

Later, when she met her cancer specialist she told him bluntly: “Can I just tell you I don’t want to spend years wandering round with no hair feeling like shit and upsetting my family, just to prolong the agony for a couple of years.”

Her decision to stop chemotherapy treatment meant that she lived up to that promise.

After revealing her terminal condition, the actress told the BBC: "There is an understanding that I decided to die. Nobody decides when they can die. What I did was talk to the oncologist. When I was in a lot of pain, and when you’re in a lot of pain, it affects your judgement. So the decision to give up chemo was a huge relief because I took back some control of myself. It’s there on the table if I want it."

Despite a career spanning four decades, Lynda Bellingham will always be associated with a series of television adverts for Oxo stock cubes. The ads, which ran for 16 years, featured Lynda as the matriarch of a typical nuclear family: mum, dad and three kids.

Michael Redfern played the bumbling dad and Lynda the unflappable mum armed with plates of roast beef and Yorkshire pud swimming in Oxo’s finest gravy.

Incredibly, Oxo managed to stretch the concept over 42 ‘episodes’ from 1983 until 1999 and when the last ad aired it was national news.

Bellingham got her first taste of stage success at school before going on to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In the 1970s she was cast in low-budget films and television series mainly on the strength of her good looks.

In her book she wistfully says she wishes she had been more discerning about the parts she played but the British film industry of the 1970s was on its knees and actors – especially rookie actors – could not afford to be choosy. Films like Confessions of a Driving Instructor paid the bills.

Later better parts came her way including playing Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great And Small, and the title role in sitcom Faith In The Future. Location shooting for All Creatures took place in Wensleydale and Lynda even took her seven-week-old son, Robert, along during the filming.

On stage, she appeared at the Old Vic and the Royal Court and in the West End production of Calendar Girls.

More recently, she became a familiar figure for a new generation as a co-star of the popular Loose Women daytime talk show.

Yesterday’s show began with tributes to the star and her co-host Coleen Nolan said: "It's so hard not to be sad and the only thing I think will get me through the day is I can almost feel her behind me whacking me, saying 'get on with it'."

Jane McDonald, who appeared on the panel show with her, praised Lynda's widower Michael. She told the show he had "been unbelievable throughout this whole experience, he has been a rock".

Speaking about her former co-star, she said: "She would be mortified if we were all sad and weeping and wailing because Lynda was the fun, fabulous amazing person."

Lynda, whose sister Barbara died from lung cancer, had been a high-profile supporter of Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support. She was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list for her charity work.

Sadly, her last wish – to celebrate one last Christmas – was not to be, but speaking shortly before her death, she has one last message: "It is essential to feel you have some control of your life.

"Grasp it all, don't be afraid, enjoy the bits you can and tell your family you love them while you have the chance."