Jenny Tomasin shot to fame in the UK in the early 1970s when she
joined the cast of
Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) playing the scullery maid Ruby. She stayed with the series right until the end, appearing in forty one
episodes. When the series ended in 1975, plans were drawn up for a
spin-off series following the further adventures of Ruby with Hudson
and Mrs Bridges. Sadly the series was never made following the sad
death of
Angela Baddeley who played Mrs Bridges.
After that, Tomasin joined
Emmerdale Farm (1972) for a stint as Naomi
Tolly from 1981-82 and made guest appearances in such shows as
That's My Boy (1981) and
Doctor Who (1963).
Tomasin worked mainly in the theatre after that. Shows including a tour
of Lettice and Lovage and a West End run in 2004 in The Marquise by
Noël Coward playing yet another maid, this time called Alice.
In later years Tomasin's TV appearances had been confined to talking
about her time in
Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) but in 2005 all this changed when she returned to
Emmerdale Farm (1972) - this time as a new character Noreen Bell, a cantankerous villager who seems certain to cause strife for those who get in her way.