Betty Aldiss. 1930 - 2012.

After a short illness Betty Aldiss, costume designer for the BBC, passed away on 11th November in hospital in Norwich
Born in Oxford on 30th April 1930, Betty studied fashion design at Oxford College of Art but on gaining her degree went to work in a dress shop. After a few years of frustration in Oxford she enrolled at the London Beauty School in Sloane Street and became a consultant in a West End salon. Finding the work uncreative she took up a position with Woollands, a Knightsbridge department store, until an old college friend who was working at Covent Garden told her of a post at Alex Shanks Stage Costumes Ltd in Garrick Street. Whilst working there, Betty became acquainted with Beatrice (Bumble) Dawson who recommended her to the Head of Costume at the BBC. She worked for the BBC for over twenty years.
As a costume designer Betty took on some major challenges including Sherlock Holmes, The Goodies, Little Women, Churchill's People, Porridge and, most famously, The Duchess of Duke Street (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA) but, as she herself observed, her biggest challenge was when she was given her first series 'Sykes' starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques.
Betty became a stalwart of the BBC Costume Department and approached the task in hand with a single-minded devotion and attention to detail which was always much appreciated by the directors she worked with.  She became so thorough in her preparation that she was eventually appointed the Drama Script Assessor and was responsible for analysing new projects, costing them then allocating personnel.
After two years in her new post she decided to take an early retirement to Holt in Norfolk with her husband, Anthony King-Deacon-the garden writer, and their cats. Following a garden accident Betty was invalided and became confined to a wheelchair. After her husband's death she went to live in Hill Barn Retirement Home, which was her final residence.
Her brother Brian Aldiss, the writer, and several nephews and nieces survive her.