Margaret Jones (21 June 1934 – 2 December 2009) was an English actress, best known for playing Blanche Hunt in the British soap opera Coronation Street, a role which she first portrayed in 1974 and played regularly from the late-1990s until shortly before her death. She won the British Soap Award for Best Comedy Performance in 2005 and 2008. Career Jones graduated from the drama school RADA and performed in numerous plays including Pride and Prejudice and The Women on the West End stage. Her first television role came in 1961 when she appeared in one episode of Coronation Street as a policewoman. Jones's first major television role was in BBC's 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga. Jones played the maid, Smither, a small but recurring part. Later , she appeared twice in Nearest and Dearest . Prior to playing Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street her best-known role was as Polly Barraclough in Sam with Mark McManus and she also appeared in the 1971 BBC miniseries adaption of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, In 1967, several years after her first Coronation Street role she had another guest role on the opposite side of the law, as a shoplifter. In 1974, she made her first appearance as Blanche Hunt, the mother of Deirdre. The part had originally been played by Patricia Cutts, who died by suicide after appearing in only two episodes. Jones, who had previously auditioned for the role, accepted an offer to take over the part at short notice as storylines had already been written for Blanche. Jones remained a regular cast member until 1976. She re-appeared in the show briefly when Blanche's grandchild Tracy was born in 1977, when Deirdre's marriage to Ray Langton collapsed in 1978 and when Deirdre married Ken Barlow in 1981. Throughout the 1980s, Jones was a regular face on British television, appearing in several series. These included The Barchester Chronicles, The Beiderbecke Tapes, In Sickness and in Health, Sharon and Elsie, We'll Think Of Something, The Nesbitts Are Coming, Bulman and Lovely Couple, alongside Pauline Quirke. After guest appearances in shows such as Dalziel and Pascoe, Goodnight Sweetheart, Heartbeat and Peak Practice in the 1990s, Jones reprised the role of Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street in 1996. She became a regular cast member again in 1999. Blanche's trademark withering one-liners and no-nonsense attitude made her a firm favourite of fans of the long-running