Emmerdale and Coronation Street actress Meg Johnson dies

Actress Meg Johnson, who appeared in three of the UK's most popular soap operas, has died at the age of 86.

A soap stalwart, Johnson was Coronation Street's Eunice Gee and Brookside's Brigid McKenna, before joining Emmerdale as Pearl Ladderbanks in 2003.

In a statement, her family, talent agency Jorg Betts Associates and ITV said she had been "kind and wonderful" and always had "a twinkle in her eye".

They said she had dementia in recent years, but "battled on" regardless.

They said it was with "great sadness" that they had to announce she died "peacefully" on Saturday evening, "surrounded by her family"

"Meg was a kind and wonderful lady, full of warmth and always with a twinkle in her eye," they said.

They said she had had "an outstanding career" and had "battled on personally and professionally regardless" after her dementia diagnosis.

"She will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her," they added.

A host of soap stars took to social media to pay tribute to Johnson, including her Emmerdale co-star Danny Miller, who said he was "truly devastated".

"Pearl was a fair way to describe our lovely Meg," he said.

He said she was the creator of the phrase "pig's bum" which she would say whenever she forgot her lines and had been "a loved soul throughout the building".

Former cast member Gemma Oaten said the "late and great" Johnson had been a "beautiful woman inside and out, who was always so kind to me".

Born in Manchester in 1936, Johnson had a number of TV roles before making her Coronation Street debut in 1976 as Brenda Holden.

She went on to jon the soap's cast as Eunice Gee in 1981, a role she returned to several times for the next two decades.

She was also part of the cast of Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV in the mid-1980s, alongside the late comedian, Dame Julie Walters and Celia Imrie, and in 1997, she took to the stage in the original cast of the London revival of Chicago, playing prison warder Matron Mama Morton for more than a year.

In 2000, she was cast as Brigid McKenna in Channel 4's Brookside, playing the role until the soap's cancellation in 2003, when she moved on to Emmerdale, where she portrayed the much loved character Pearl Ladderbanks for 17 years.

Johnson was married to ITV Granada continuity announcer Charles Foster, who was widely reported to have died earlier in 2023.