Actress Maggie Jones who was best known for her role of Deirdre Barlow's mother, Blanche Hunt, in Coronation Street has died at the age of 75.

She had played the character since 1974 and had also had parts in several other notable British dramas.

She died peacefully in her sleep in hospital on the morning of 2 December , 2009.

In 2005 and 2008 she received a British Soap Award for 'Best Comedy Performance', though over the years Blanche's storylines included involvement in trials for fraud and murder.

Maggie Jones, was born in London on 21 June, 1934. She was a RADA graduate who made her first appearances in West End stage productions.

It was on Coronation Street in 1961 that she first acted on television, playing a policewoman. It was one of several small roles she would have on the soap over the following decade. Her main income came from small parts in various television plays and serials.

She auditioned to play Blanche Hunt in 1974, but the role went to Patricia Cutts. However, after Ms Cutts' death after just two episodes in September of that year, Maggie was called in to fill the gap for two year's worth of storylines.

During the following three decades Blanche appeared on the Street during key moments in her beleaguered daughter's life, such as the birth of Tracy Barlow, Deirdre's various marriages and divorces - and her trial for fraud in 1998.

From 1999 onwards she became a regular - her brusque one-liners helped the soap recall some of the comic traditions of the soap's infancy and helped make her one of the most popular residents of Weatherfield with audiences.

Aside from Coronation Street, credits include co-starring with Clive Swift in the 1980 sitcom The Nesbitts Are Coming and a part in The Barchester Chronicles mini-series (1982) with Donald Pleasence. She had also appeared in Heartbeat, Dalziel and Pascoe and Peak Practice.

She married John Stansfield in 1971 but was widowed in 1999.