Shirley Stelfox: Character actress who was best known as the prudish spinster, busybody Edna Birch, in Emmerdale

Stelfox made Edna Birch one of the best loved characters on the programme in years

Stelfox with Bracken, her ‘Emmerdale’ dog Batley, at the British Soap Awards in 2002 (PA)

A strong and versatile character actress, Shirley Stelfox enlivened every type of drama, and was a gift for casting directors. Whether playing the glamorous, the brassy, the wretched or the gossipy, she was ever the reliable old pro. After decades of service in supporting parts, driven by her dislike of committing to anything for a long stretch, she settled down at last with her final role, in the ITV soap, Emmerdale.

Playing that soap evergreen, the moralising busybody, she made the prudish and judgemental spinster Edna Birch one of the best loved characters on the programme in years, and as always, found warmth and curiosity even when playing what could on the surface be stock characters. "I wanted to do every medium and every role, from Greek tragedy to Shakespeare through to farce and everything in between", she once said of the career she had managed so deftly. "But, with Edna, I liked the role and I like the people I am working with."

She had done plenty of short stints in soaps previously, memorably as Melanie Owen's mother in EastEnders and as gold-digging Madge in Brookside, (referred to by Bill Dean's wonderfully disapproving Harry Cross as "that bit of stuff"). She also had a tiny role in the very first episode of Coronation Street, a series she returned to several times over the years. But her Emmerdale role made the biggest impression; when her beloved dog had to be put down, her performance led to the storyline-winning Best Exit at that year's Soap Awards.

She was born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, in 1941, the youngest of three children. Her mother was a milliner, her father a haulage contractor. Despite being diagnosed with bilateral amblyopia, a condition that makes reading small print difficult, she set her sights on acting at an early age. She attended Lakes Road secondary school while playing in amateur groups and in pantomimes at the Old Chapel in Dukinfield. She made her film debut in David Lean's Hobson's Choice (1954) at 13, then attended Rada.

Her vivid features and gift for a well-drawn characterisation kept her busy in television from the off, but her stage credentials were equally impressive and diverse. She was a spidery Regan in King Lear at the Ludlow Festival in 1972 and at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, played Lady Macbeth in 1973, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1978 and Yelena in Uncle Vanya in 1974.

She was as at home in children's theatre, such as playing Phoebe in Toad of Toad Hall (Duke of York's, London, 1971) as she was in farces such as Not Now, Darling (Strand Theatre, 1968) and as Mrs Snapper in Noël Coward's Cavalcade (Chichester Festival Theatre, 1985). In later years her stage appearances were sparse, but concluded handsomely with Mrs Arbuthnot in A Woman of No Importance (Leicester Haymarket, 1997). Although her film roles were less plentiful, they were just as diverse, ranging from Michael Radford's 1984 and Terry Jones' comedy about brothel madam Cynthia Payne, Personal Services (1986), to Carry On At Your Convenience (1971).

But her television credits were vast; after playing endless barmaids and girlfriends in her early career, she was delighted to be cast in Debbie Horsfield's Making Out (1989-91), a corrective to the paucity of good female roles around at the time. An ensemble piece about a group of female factory workers, the series mixed comedy and drama excellently, telling human stories against a backdrop of unemployment and economic strife. Stelfox also formed a production company with her co-star, Margi Clarke, and actor Rio Fanning.

A clash in filming dates meant that she was unable to continue at the same time with another television role she had made an impact with, that of Hyacinth Bucket's under-dressed and oversexed sister-in-law in Keeping Up Appearances (1990), but middle-age still saw her getting the best TV roles of her career, as in Wiliam Ivory's Common as Muck (1994-97), as the sozzled, grieving mother of a murder victim in Inspector Morse (1987), in John Godber and Jane Thornton's brief, cosy sitcom Bloomin' Marvellous (1997), and as the mother in Victoria Wood's Pat and Margaret (1994).

While appearing in an episode of the thriller series Strangers in 1978 she met Don Henderson, who became her second husband. Henderson's abrupt death in 1997 shocked the whole industry; he was a cherished actor and the pair had been blissfully happy living in Stratford-upon-Avon. Both were imaginative, unpredictable actors, welcoming performers who will be greatly missed.

Shirley Stelfox, actress: born Dukinfield, Cheshire 11 April 1941; married firstly Keith Edmundson (marriage dissolved; one daughter), 1979 Don Henderson (died 1997); died Nottinghamshire 7 December 2015.