Stephanie Cole, Tenko and Open All Hours star, dies at 84
Stephanie Cole, the British actor known to television audiences from Tenko, Open All Hours and Doc Martin, has died aged 84.
Her agent, John Grant, announced her death in a statement shared with the press, as reported by Deadline on 18 September 2026. She had been living with Alzheimer's disease for some years before her death. Alzheimer's is a progressive illness that gradually affects memory and thinking.
Cole was born in Solihull in 1941. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where students prepare for work on stage and screen. She later held an OBE, a British state honour given for service to the arts and public life.
Her major early television role was Dr Beatrice Mason in Tenko. She took the part in 1980 in the drama about British and Dutch women held in a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. The role kept her on screen as part of an ensemble cast. It made her a familiar face to viewers.
She then played Mrs Featherstone in Open All Hours. The sitcom centred on a small corner shop and its careful owner. Cole appeared in 10 episodes. She returned when the show was brought back in 2013 as Still Open All Hours, a revival meaning a new run years after the original.
Cole also appeared in Waiting for God. The sitcom was set in a retirement home and followed two residents who refused to quiet down. The part added another comedy credit to a career that moved between comedy and drama.
She was an original cast member of Doc Martin, meaning she was with the series from its first season, according to BBC America. The drama follows a city surgeon who starts work as a GP in a Cornish village. Cole left the series at her own request. She also appeared in Coronation Street, the long-running soap about life on a Manchester street.
Off screen, she was married to actor Peter Birrel. He died in 2004. She is survived by one daughter from her previous marriage. Her screen work stretched from 1980 into the 2010s, moving across prime-time drama and sitcom.
