DS Icon: Anne 'Madge' Charleston

Anne Charleston has acted as a comforting maternal figure for numerous generations of TV viewers. As the gruff-voiced but soft-hearted Madge Bishop (née Ramsay) in Neighbours, she provided a hefty cornerstone for the Aussie soap to flourish from. Her partnership with Ian Smith (Harold) during her two stints on the show remains one of the most touching romances in soap history. The couple's return to Ramsay Street in 1996 after Harold came back from the dead (he was last seen five years previous disappearing off a cliff face leaving behind only his glasses) was only topped by Charleston's tearful farewell in 2001 when she died from cancer in her bed at No.24.

Away from Neighbours, Charleston is an accomplished thespian who has turned her hand to theatre, drama and panto. However, her strengths remain as a soap actress, giving impressive turns in the revived Crossroads and more recently as Lily Butterfield in Emmerdale. She hasn't shied away from reality TV projects either, letting cameras film her under the knife on Five's em>Cosmetic Surgery Live and having a giggle on Living's I'm Famous And Frightened, where she starred alongside Danniella Westbrook and Rustie Lee.

DS presents a celebration of Anne 'Madge' Charleston's life in pictures.