Charlotte Forman has been doing impressions of the Keeping up Appearances character on social media
Charlotte Forman (right) with actress Patricia Routledge (left)
A woman who went viral with her impressions of Hyacinth Bucket has now met her idol.
Charlotte Forman has been doing impressions of the main character from 90s TV show Keeping Up Appearances and posting them on social media.
The 30-year-old, who is a big fan of the BBC sitcom, has had a huge reaction to her online videos with one in particular attracting more than 613,000 views on TikTok.
Earlier this month, she was thrilled when she got the chance to meet Dame Patricia Routledge, 95, who played Hyacinth between 1990 and 1995, at Derby theatre.
Charlotte, who lives in Stanley, County Durham, said: “She’s definitely one of my idols. She was definitely one of the people that I wanted to meet on my bucket list. She was absolutely lovely.
“You can tell the character of Hyacinth is made for her because she’s naturally funny. She was so polite and she knew who I was. She saw the videos of me doing Hyacinth online so that felt great.
“She loved them, they made her laugh. She’s very happy that Hyacinth is still going around the world. She never thought Keeping Up Appearances would be popular on social media.
“People are watching her all over the world now and it’s being loved by a new generation.
“She said she still gets thousands of letters sent to her saying ‘I love your show’. Young children now are saying how much they love her show and how much the character reminders them of a neighbour.
“There’s at least one Hyacinth Bucket in every neighbourhood!”
Charlotte, who works as a singer, said she gets daily messages on social media about her Hyacinth impressions as they bring people nostalgia.
She said that she decided to write a letter to Patricia Routledge, letting her know about the viral videos, and her personal assistant got back to her to say how much she loved them.
She sent Charlotte a handwritten note, a signed photo and told her she was doing a live talk at Derby theatre on September 8. She asked her PA if she could meet the actress and she agreed.
Charlotte said: “The reason I wanted to meet her is because I have been such a fan of Keeping Up Appearances for so long.
“My mum brought me up on the show as a young child. As I got older, I realised I could do impressions and she happened to be the best impression I could do.
“I started doing impressions of her on social media because I love her character – I wanted to share this amazing woman with everyone else.
“It was amazing that she invited me backstage. She’s someone who I have watched for a long, long time.
“When you meet certain people, especially heroes of yours, you can sometimes be let down if they aren’t very nice but it was everything and more!”
Chronicle Live previously reported how Charlotte belts out tunes in Morrisons in Consett, County Durham. She started singing randomly in the foyer after noticing that the high ceilings complimented her voice.
Earlier this year, she decided to record herself performing as Cher in the store. She then posted the footage, which shows her singing the 1998 hit ‘Believe’, on social media.
The video, which is titled ‘becoming Cher in the supermarket’ has so far received two million views on TikTok.
Charlotte, who is originally from Essex, has previously been compared to singers such as Susan Boyle, Adele and Anastacia after posting footage of her public performances in Morrisons on TikTok.
Her renditions of Prince’s Purple Rain and George Ezra’s Green Green Grass attracted hundreds of thousands of views at the beginning of last year.
Charlotte previously said: “The staff look confused at first but they always smile. They are probably thinking why are you doing it in Morrisons, it is such a random place. It’s only for the acoustics!”
