My mother, Carol Lawrence, who has died aged 81, was a stage and costume designer at an exciting time in British theatre who pivoted to a successful second career at the BBC, finding her niche in Saturday morning television.
In 1966, Carol was one of only eight students of the inaugural year of the renowned Motley theatre design course then being convened at Sadler's Wells theatre by Percy (Margaret) Harris. It was there that she met my father, the stage designer Hayden Griffin, a fellow student, and they married in 1968. Carol went on to design shows at the Royal Court, Sadler's Wells, for the English and Welsh National Operas and many other prestigious productions including shows at the Aarhus theatre, Denmark. She also went on to be one of the mainstays at Motley, writing The Motley Book of Props in 1975 and teaching on the course for many years.
After her divorce from Hayden in the early 1980s, Carol left the theatre and went to the BBC as a costume designer, working on countless shows from 'Allo 'Allo! to EastEnders. However it was on the flagship Saturday morning shows such as Live and Kicking, TMi and Going Live! that her ability to improvise and put things together at a moment's notice (honed by her years in the theatre), and her wonderful, left-field sense of humour, genius for invention and sheer sense of fun came together. She became indispensable.
Carol was born in Newport, Isle of Wight, the daughter of Elsie (formerly Groves) and William Lawrence, who both worked at an aircraft factory. William, who was a works policeman at the factory, died when Carol was three years old and Elsie, who had been in service as a maid before the war, opened up their house as a B&B.
After Sandown grammar school, Carol studied stage design at Wimbledon School of Art under Richard Negri before being accepted on to the Motley course and embarking on her remarkable career.
In the 90s, the BBC made many staff redundant, including Carol. Designers were re-employed on a freelance basis and expected to pitch for jobs but, despite her fears, Carol was never out of work. Julian Stone, the stage manager on those Saturday morning shows, said: "What she brought was a creative tour de force; a mind that could work at weird tangents to come up with amazing things made out of rehashed bits of stuff that were tweaked and combined to produce an end result that was so impressive."
In the last 10 years, Carol, who lived in East Dulwich, south-east London, reduced her workload but continued to take on jobs and, eternally creative, draw and make art.
Carol is survived by her children, Rhys, Siân and me, and two grandchildren, Niamh and Aoife.