Jean Boht, best known for playing matriarch Nellie Boswell in BBC sitcom Bread, has died. She was 91. 

Boht had a long and distinguished career in comedy and drama. She was most famous for her roles in Bread and I Woke Up One Morning, both written by Carla Lane, and Brighton Belles and the Liverpool-set drama Boys From the Blackstuff.

She also appeared in a 1981 adaptation of the DH Lawrence novel Sons and Lovers and Terence Davies' 1988 film Distant Voices, Still Lives.

A statement from her family said: "It is with overwhelming sadness that we must announce that Jean Boht passed away yesterday, Tuesday September 12. Jean had been battling vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease with the indefatigable spirit for which she was both beloved and renowned."

She was named BBC TV Personality 1988 by the Variety Club of Great Britain, and won the prize for top TV Comedy Actress at the British Comedy Awards in 1990.

Her husband, composer Carl Davis, died last month.

Buy Bread on DVD here.