Tributes to the actress Joan Hickson were today led by her son following her death in Colchester General Hospital at the age of 92.

The star of the BBC's Miss Marple dramas would be remembered as a true professional and a well-loved Wivenhoe character, Nicholas Butler said today.

Joan Hickson's biography Miss Hickson, who moved to Rose Lane 40 years ago but will be buried in Sidbury, Devon, died on Saturday after a long illness.

Mr Butler said: "She had a tremendously lively sense of fun and good humour.

"Miss Marple was a favourite role but there's a large body of work before that. She made her first professional appearance in 1927.

"She saw television grow up, worked for radio and made more than 100 films."

"I think she'll be missed very much," said Mr Butler. "My mother was not only first class at her job, she was a complete professional.

"She also had a charming off-stage personality. She would amuse her fellow actors and actresses with a lot of inconsequential humour."

Entertainer Vince Rayner, a neighbour and friend of Miss Hickson's, played small parts in two Miss Marple adventures including her swansong in 1992, the Mirror Crack'd.

"We used to travel up to London together," he said. "She was a very warm person and very encouraging to all those who worked with her.

"She used to say: 'There's no one star of these productions, we're all in this together.'

"She was a particular favourite of the Queen Mother and I wouldn't be surprised if her family got some kind of communication from the royal family."

In her final years Miss Hickson recorded a series of talking books including the Tales of Beatrix Potter and, of course, the Miss Marple stories. Joan Hickson knew what she was up against when she took on the role of Jane Marple.

When she stopped to chat to a friend one day in Wivenhoe, the response was: "You? But you're nothing like her. She"s short and fat with short hair."

Yet after the BBC's dramatisation of the Body in the Library was broadcast, it was clear she had created the quintessential portrayal - and in time the series was sold to 32 countries, including China and the USSR.

Miss Hickson, who acted under her maiden name, moved to Wivenhoe with her neurologist husband, Eric Butler, to escape the capital and sail their boat. Sadly, he became ill and died soon afterwards.

"I love getting back to Wivenhoe," she said in 1981. "I get out of my wig, bustle and costume in three minutes flat at the end of the play before jumping into a taxi outside the theatre and catching the train home."

In 1987 she was 'flabbergasted' to be awarded the OBE in the Queen's birthday honours, but modestly thanked Miss Marple.

"It must be because the programme has gone all over the world and is bringing in such lovely revenue. I think its enormous success is because it's so charmingly done."

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