Mrs. White

Mrs. White is one of the funniest characters in the Cluedo Television Series. Usually portrayed as a dithering old woman, with a penchant for drinking and slipping the odd piece of silverware into her handbag.

Below is a comparison of the different Mrs. Whites and a rating of their hamminess, psychoticness, characterisation and looks (as compared with the boardgame cards). There is also a brief description of the actresses' careers.

UK Series 1 - June Whitfield

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From the outset, the British television series decided to bring us stalwart British actors and actresses; and with June Whitfield they certainly did that.

Famous for many years, June is probably most well know for the "Carry On" films she appeared in, the television series "Terry and June" in the late 70's, early 80's; and of course, her wonderful portrayal of Edina's mother in the TV comedy "Absolutely Fabulous".

June Whitfield had the wonderful task of being the first person to present Mrs. White on television, and she did an amazing job. Her character has to be described as one of the funniest in all of the series, of all of the characters. Her ever so slightly inebriated cook would sip at a hip flash while being interviewed; and would have the audiences roaring with laughter whenever she got her words mixed up, e.g. "Well, I've been illuminated!", "I secreted m'self behind the curtains" and "Thank you Mr. Baloney" instead of Bellini.

Browse June Whitfield products at: Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Ratings:
Look: **** (4/5)
Character: ***** (5/5)
Ham: **** (4/5)
Psycho: *** (3/5)
IMDB Entry For
June Whitfield
 
UK Christmas Special & Cluedo CDi/PC CDRom - Joan Sims

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Continuing the idea of getting stalwart actresses, the fabulous Joan Sims was cast in the second series, and later became the only person to also appear in the computer game.

Like June Whitfield, Joan Sims is most remembered for her many "Carry On" films, but has also been in shows such as "On The Up" and "As Time Goes By".

In the Christmas special episode, the Mrs. White that Joan played was a very flustered character, who is easily confused. However, when Joan reprised her role in the CDi game, her character developed a more sinister edge, who had a habit of threatening people with heavy spanners!

Browse Joan Sims products at: Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Ratings:
Look: ***** (5/5)
Character: **** (4/5)
Ham: **** (4/5)
Psycho: *** (3/5)
IMDB Entry For
Joan Sims
 
UK Series 2 - Mollie Sugden

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Mollie Sugden's portrayal of Mrs. White was probably more realistic than most of the others. You could really imagine her as Mrs. Peacock's cook, who would get annoyed at the guests who would come and stay at the Grange. Rather than suddenly becoming psychotic, you would understand her reactions and motives.

Mollie's Mrs. White also had very light fingers. In one episode she was caught stealing silver spoons from Mrs. Peacock!

Mollie Sudgen has to be remembered as the fabulous Mrs. Slocombe from "Are You Being Served" and "Grace and Favour".

Browse Mollie Sugden products at: Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Ratings:
Look: ***** (5/5)
Character: **** (4/5)
Ham: *** (3/5)
Psycho: *** (3/5)
IMDB Entry For
Mollie Sugden
 
UK Series 3 - Pam Ferris

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Pam Ferris is probably the least well known of the Whites. She rose to fame just before making Cluedo; playing Ma Larkin in the extremely popular TV series "The Darling Buds of May". A show that was said to have been a favourite in Buckingham Palace! It was also the show that gave us Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 2004 she appeared as Aunt Marge in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (underneath a good amount of latext!)

Born in 1948 Pam is the youngest of the Whites by a good amount of time. The others were born in 1925 (June Whitfield), 1930 (Joan Sims), 1922 (Mollie Sugden) and 1925 (Liz Smith).

Her version of Mrs. White was slightly different to the others, partly due to her age. She was a bit more in touch with reality than the likes of June and Liz, but still kept the maternal, nanny-like nature of White, especially in her relationship with Miss Scarlett.

Browse Pam Ferris products at: Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Ratings:
Look: **** (4/5)
Character: **** (4/5)
Ham: ** (2/5)
Psycho: ** (2/5)
IMDB Entry For
Pam Ferris
 
UK Series 4 - Liz Smith

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Liz Smith's Mrs. White can only be described as psychotic! This is not the sort of person you would EVER trust to cook your dinner. With shocking purple rinse hair which rose in points and death stares a plenty, any sensible guest would rather ask for a piece of fruit instead of eating one of her meals (and then still be worried!)

Liz's White was very funny to watch, but quite out of character to the Mrs. White we had grown to know and love. But then... the majority of the season four characters were just as psychotic!

Liz Smith is another regular face on British screens and her IMDB entry runs on for pages. She's probably best known at the moment for playing Nanna in "The Royle Family", but has done such wonderful characters as Letitia in "The Vicar of Dibley" and both Bette and her twin sister Belle in "2point4 Children". In 2005 she appeared on the silver screen in Tim Burton's remake of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as Grandma Georgina

Browse Liz Smith products at: Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Ratings:
Look: *** (3/5)
Character: *** (3/5)
Ham: ***** (5/5)
Psycho: ***** (5/5)
IMDB Entry For
Liz Smith
 

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