Janey Godley, no-nonsense Scottish comedian who drew on her ...

She turned to comedy in the early 1990s, doing open-mic nights in London. “I thought, ‘How hard can it be? It’s just talking, en’it?’” she recalled. Her show Caught in The Act of Being Myself appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003. Meanwhile, her first straight play, a harrowing account of poverty and heroin addiction, was performed at the festival in August of that year.

Later Edinburgh shows included Good Godley (2004) and Domestic Godley (2008); the latter won the Nivea Funny Women Fringe Award.

Janey Godley continued to write and perform after ovarian cancer was diagnosed in 2021, producing a murder mystery novel (Nothing Left Unsaid) and a touring show called Not Dead Yet.

She had her own, well-defined ideas about what might await her in the next life. “I think I get to have quite a lot of weird sex with Donny Osmond,” she told The Herald. “He doesn’t have a choice. It’s just how it is.”

Janey Godley married, in 1980, Sean Storrie. They had a daughter, Ashley, also a comedian; mother and daughter were both nominated for an “Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Comedy” award in 2019 (Janey took home the prize).

Janey Godley, born January 20 1961, died November 2 2024