Dame Patricia Routledge opened up about her decision to stop playing Hyacinth Bucket in the beloved BBC sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances, in a new programme for BBC Four.Dame Patricia Routledge reveals why she quit Keeping Up Appearances

Dame Patricia Routledge, 96, appeared in a new programme for the BBC where she remembered her portrayal of social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket in the sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances.

The comedy – also starring Clive Twist, Geoffrey Hughes and Judy Cornwell – aired on BBC One from 1990 until 1995 when Patricia, then aged 77, decided to leave the show.

Explaining her decision to quit in a candid new interview, the actress said: “Well, I brought it to an end, which, of course, the BBC didn’t care for very much.

“I thought the writer was beginning to recycle old ideas. And also, remembering the glorious Ronnie Barker, he always stopped when he was at the height of something and he always left with people saying, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ Rather than people saying, ‘Is that still on?’

“That’s the place to be, really, and I had other adventures to explore. I’m an actress, and I wanted to take on the stories of other people.”

Dame Patricia Routledge Remembers… Keeping Up Appearances aired on BBC Four

Elsewhere in the BBC Four programme, which aired on Tuesday evening, Patricia said she was “amazed by the enormity” of Keeping Up Appearances’ success 30 years after its final episode.

Giving an insight into what made her want to play Hyacinth in the first place, the Talking Heads star added: “I had opened the script for a moment at one o’clock in the morning, read straight through and Hyacinth leapt off the page.

“I knew that woman, I knew several of that woman,” she chuckled.

She was even more sure when she discovered that Clive Swift would be playing her on-screen husband, Richard Bucket.

Patricia said: “When (the producer) mentioned Clive Swift, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, how wonderful. Now we really are in business’.”

Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift starred in Keeping Up Appearances for five years

Last year, Patricia revealed that the iconic comedy series had many famous fans, including the Queen Mother and Pope Benedict XVI.

She shared in a documentary special titled Keeping Up Appearances: 30 Years of Laughs: “We were one of the Queen Mother’s favourite sitcoms, which was lovely, and the Queen enjoyed it, too. Hyacinth would have been flattered beyond words, and why not.”

Following the end of Keeping Up Appearances, Patricia had other high-profile roles including as Hetty Wainthropp in BBC’s Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996-1998). She also returned to the stage with a two-year run as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (1999-2001).

Dame Patricia Routledge Remembers… Keeping Up Appearances is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.