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Reference > Erinsborough News > Maggie Wins A Battle

Maggie Dence was keen to get back into TV serials. She hadn’t done much work since playing Rose Sullivan all those years ago, as she had been devoting most of her energy to the theatre. But Maggie balked at the initial suggestion from Neighbours’ producers that, at the age of 48, she return to TV as a grandmother!

“My own mother was a grandmother at 42, but I don’t think I am quite ready for it. Not in front of a national audience on television, plus the 20 million or so who watch the show in England,” she explained.

So Maggie became Aunt Dorothy to Neighbours’ Lochy McLachlan.

“She starts off as a bit of a stirrer, but she settles down a bit. She has a strong personality, so I’m sure she will continue to cause trouble for everyone.”

For Maggie, the role will mean long separations from her husband, actor and producer Graham Rouse.

“He is in Sydney directing E Street,” she said. “But I have it written into my contract that I get home every six weeks.”

As for performing for a television audience, most of whom would not have been born when Maggie made her landmark appearances as Mavis Bramston, she is completely realistic.

“There are people out there whose first film was Batman,” she laughed. “… and I’m not talking about the original.”

This article originally appeared in Woman's Day magazine, dated March 1990

Article submitted by Steve