Editing Felicity Kendal (section)

==Later television work==
Davies was so impressed by the performances from Kendal, Keith and Eddington that when he was Head of Comedy for the BBC, he gave them all starring roles in new series: ''[[Yes Minister]]'' for Eddington, ''[[To The Manor Born]]'' for Keith, and ''[[Solo (TV series)|Solo]]'' (1981–82) for Kendal.{{sfn|Webber|2001|p=16}}
[[Carla Lane]] wrote ''Solo'', in which Kendal played the lead role of Gemma Palmer, who decides to split from her boyfriend and live independently.{{sfn|Webber|2001|p=113}}<ref>{{cite news |first=Stuart |last=Johnson |title=Wendy had the bright idea |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=10 January 1981 |page=10}}</ref> Lane also wrote ''[[The Mistress (TV series)|The Mistress]]'' (1985 and 1987) in which Kendal portrayed a florist having an affair with a married man, played by Jack Galloway in 1985 and with a different character played by [[Peter McEnery]] in the 1987 version.{{sfn|Webber|2001|p=113}}<ref name="BFIS"/> Both ''Solo'' and ''The Mistress'' were positively received,{{sfn|Webber|2001|p=113}} although some viewers were disappointed by the lack of innocence displayed by Kendal's character in ''The Mistress'' compared to that of the Barbara Good character.{{sfn|Pickering|1997|p=877}} Bonner and Jacobs commented that "As Barbara, her sexiness was contained in the loving relationship with her husband, but her subsequent casting in the TV sitcoms ''Solo'' (1981–82) and ''The Mistress'' (1985–87) reveals even in their titles a making of her imaginatively available for the lustful viewer."{{sfn|Bonner|Jacobs|2017}} The media scholar Mary Irwin considers that Kendal has avoided being typecast in roles of "acquiescent girlfriend or supportive wife", and that in ''Solo'' and ''The Mistress'' she "cut through commonplace binaries situating sitcom women as either bimbos or battleaxes".{{sfn|Irwin|2015|p=98}}

''[[The Camomile Lawn (TV serial)|The Camomile Lawn]]'' (1992) starred Kendal as Helena Cuthbertson, whose property encompassed a mansion and the lawn in the title.<ref name="GCAM">{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Hogan |title=Wow, there's a lot of sex and swearing': Channel 4's top-rated drama ever, 30 years on |date=8 March 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/08/the-camomile-lawn-channel-4-30-years |access-date=16 April 2024 |archive-date=26 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326165451/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/08/the-camomile-lawn-channel-4-30-years |url-status=live }}</ref> Eddington played her husband Richard.<ref name="GCAM"/> Attracting over seven million viewers, as of 2022 it remained the most-watched drama ever on [[Channel 4]].<ref name="GCAM"/> However the 1994 sitcom ''[[Honey for Tea]]'' starring Kendal was later described by Maureen Paton of ''the Daily Telegraph'' as "an unmitigated flop".<ref name="PATON03">{{cite news |first=Maureen |last=Paton |title=I never saw myself as a sex symbol |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 August 2003 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3600042/I-never-saw-myself-as-a-sex-symbol.html |access-date=16 April 2024 |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920184946/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3600042/I-never-saw-myself-as-a-sex-symbol.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Her American accent in the show was mocked by TV critic and humourist [[Victor Lewis-Smith]]: "In a single phrase, she veered uncontrollably from the Bronx to South Africa via Surrey, like some linguistic Spruce Goose, awkwardly taking off only to crash-land again within moments."{{sfn|Lewis-Smith|1995|p=40}}

Having focused on her theatre rather than her television career for some years following the poor reception to ''Honey for Tea'',<ref name="PATON03"/> in 2003 Kendal co-starred with [[Pam Ferris]] in ''[[Rosemary & Thyme]]'' as a pair of gardeners and detectives.<ref name="MENRT">{{cite news |title=Telly talk: Thyme to be telly 'tecs again |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/film-and-tv/telly-talk-thyme-to-be-telly-tecs-1123442 |date=19 February 2007 |access-date=16 April 2024 |archive-date=20 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420121853/https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/film-and-tv/telly-talk-thyme-to-be-telly-tecs-1123442 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kendal's character Rosemary Boxer is a University of [[Malmesbury]] lecturer in applied [[horticulture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itv.com/Drama/family/RosemaryandThyme/Castinterviews/FelicityKendal/default.html |title=Felicity Kendal interview |publisher=ITV |date=13 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205104359/http://www.itv.com/Drama/family/RosemaryandThyme/Castinterviews/FelicityKendal/default.html |archive-date= 5 February 2010 }}</ref> The show was negatively reviewed, but still popular with viewers, becoming the most viewed new drama series on [[ITV1]] in 2006.<ref name="MENRT"/> Vahimagi wrote that despite "pleasantly skittish performances" from the leads, the show was a "peculiarly dispiriting addition to the list of British detective drama".<ref name="BFIS">{{cite web |first=Tise |last=Vahimagi |title=Kendal, Felicity (1946–) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/564209/ |website=BFI ScreenOnline |access-date=14 April 2024 |archive-date=16 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416111124/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/564209/ |url-status=live }}</ref>