Mildred Roper arrive, George often runs away to the pub or next door, unless Mildred bellows for him to sit. Upon the death in 1980 of Yootha Joyce, who had played Mildred, Thames Television did talk of producing a spin-off for the character of George, looking at him cope with life as a widower. This project did not materialise, but Brian Murphy did reunite with "George and Mildred" co-star Roy Kinnear and writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke for "The Incredible Mr. Tanner", a comedy produced for Thames soon after Yootha Joyce's death. Yootha Joyce appeared as Mildred Roper in all episodes
Yootha Joyce after his subsequent relationships broke down. In the 1960s and 1970s she became a familiar face in many one-off sitcom roles and supporting parts in films, with her first main recurring role being Miss Argyll, frustrated girlfriend of the title star Milo O'Shea in three series of "Me Mammy" (1968–71); most of the tapes of that series are now lost. Prior to that, she played a cameo role in Jack Clayton's "The Pumpkin Eater" (1964) as a psychotic young woman opposite Anne Bancroft, delivering a performance that has been called one of the "best screen acting miniatures one could hope