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Katherine Patricia Routledge, CBE (born 17 February 1929) is an English actress and singer. In addition to her roles in British television, she has had a long and successful career in musical theatre, as well as in film. Routledge was born in Birkenhead. She was educated at Mersey Park Primary School, Birkenhead High School, an independent girls` school, and the University of Liverpool. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and launched her acting career at the Liverpool Playhouse. Routledge has had a prolific career in theatre, particularly musical theatre, in the UK and the US. Her West End credits include Little Mary Sunshine, Cowardy Custard, Virtue in Danger, Noises Off, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Solid Gold Cadillac, as well as a number of less successful vehicles. Routledge`s screen credits include To Sir, with Love, The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom, and Don`t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Routledge`s early television appearances included roles in Steptoe and Son. Firstly in the 1970 episode "Steptoe and Son — and Son!" as the virtuous mother of Harold`s illegitimate son, and then later in the episode "Seance in a Wet Rag and Bone Yard" as a clairvoyant called Madame Fontana in 1974. She also appeared in Coronation Street, and as a white witch in Doctor at Large (1971). However, she did not come to prominence on television until she featured in monologues written for her by Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood in the 1980s. She firstly appeared in Alan Bennett`s A Woman of No Importance in 1982, and then as the opinionated Kitty in Victoria Wood As Seen On TV in 1985. She performed two further monologues in Bennett`s Talking Heads in 1987 and 1998. In 1990, Routledge landed the high-profile role of Hyacinth Bucket in the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances.

In 2001, Routledge starred in Anybody`s Nightmare, a fact-based television drama in which she played a piano teacher who served four years in prison for murdering her elderly aunt but was acquitted following a retrial.

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