
Barbara Joy Flynn (born 5 August 1948) is an English actress. She first came to prominence playing Freda Ashton in the ITV drama series A Family at War (1970–1972). She went on to play the milk woman in the BBC comedy Open All Hours (1976–1985), Jill Swinburne in The Beiderbecke Trilogy (1985–1988), Dr. Rose Marie in the BBC series A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–1988), Judith Fitzgerald in the ITV drama Cracker (1993–1995), and Mrs. Jamieson in Cranford (2007–2009). In 2021, she appeared in Doctor Who: Flux as Tecteun, a founder of Time Lord society and The Doctor's adopted mother. Starting in 2023, she acted in Beyond Paradise, playing the mother of the detective's girlfriend. This included some episodes in 2024 where she was reunited with Peter Davison, her A Very Peculiar Practice co-star.
In her own words, she tends to play "feisty, strong women"
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA. Credits and photos from TMDB.
The titles people know Barbara from.
IMDb rating of each title on Cineora, by year.

as Narrator · 10 episodes
as Anne Lloyd · 24 episodes

as Narrator
as Narrator
as Councillor Lavinia Bone · 6 episodes
as Julia · 1 episode
as Aunt Hermione · 5 episodes
as Queen Victoria
as Lady Camdon

as Pat · 6 episodes

as Narrator (Voice)
as Aunt Bella

as Mrs Beaumont

as The Queen · 5 episodes
as Carol · 1 episode
as Eileen Dallaglio
as Rita
as Mrs Jamieson · 7 episodes

as Narrator · 3 episodes
as Helen Potter

as Judith Fitzgerald
as Miss Browning · 4 episodes
as Kim's Mother
as Prof. Corner
as Mrs Mason · 2 episodes

as Goneril

as Chris' Mother

as Dr Jeffries · 1 episode

as Me Jeffries

as Eleanor Goodchild · 4 episodes
as Mrs Allerton · 1 episode


as Jill Swinburne · 4 episodes

as Jill Swinburne · 2 episodes
as Monica Height · 1 episode

as Belinda

as Pauline Sutton · 1 episode

as Monica Potter
as The Milk Woman · 11 episodes

as Angie

as Heather · 1 episode

as Angie · 1 episode
as Monica Potter · 1 episode

as Freda MacKenzie · 8 episodes
The people who keep turning up in Barbara’s titles.









