Actress and writer Jean Marsh, known for Upstairs, Downstairs and Doctor Who, died on Sunday, April 13, 2025. She was 90 years old.

Marsh co-created and starred in Upstairs, Downstairs, a British TV series about the lives of servants and the wealthy family they work for in central London. She played the kind maid Rose Buck on the series, which was set during the period of 1903 to 1930. In Doctor Who, she played three different roles: first as Lady Joanna, the sister to King Richard; then as Sara Kingdom, one of the First Doctor’s companions; and then as the villain Morgaine opposite the Seventh Doctor.

She was born on July 1, 1934, in Stoke Newington, London. Marsh’s career began in 1947 in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, then throughout the ‘50s, she was in The Limping Man, and episodes of The Third Man and The Twilight Zone. She played Octavia in Cleopatra, did episodes of ITV Play of the Week, and starred in The Informer series.

Marsh was in an episode of The Waltons and Hawaii Five-O, starred in The Changeling, played Roz Keith in the Nine to Five TV series, she was in Return to Oz, and played Queen Bavmorda in Willow. She and actress Dame Eileen Atkins (the other co-creator of Upstairs, Downstairs) co-created the BBC drama The House of Eliott in 1991.

She did an episode of Murder, She Wrote, was in Fatherland, played Mrs. Croker in The Ghost Hunter, and was Mrs. Ferrars in the Sense & Sensibility miniseries. Marsh returned to Doctor Who to voice Sara Kingdom and other characters in audio adventures and her final role was playing Queen Bavmorda again for the Willow TV series in 2022.