Theatre-school founder Anna Scher dies aged 78

Theatre-school founder Anna Scher has died aged 78.

Scher’s death was confirmed by agency and management company Nic Knight Management, which worked in association with Anna Scher Theatre since 2008.

In a statement shared online, it said: “It is with deep sadness that I must report that Anna Scher, the best and kindest drama teacher in the UK for the last 50 years, has passed. Joining her husband, Charles, in a better place to rest. She will be missed but never forgotten. RIP.”

Anna Scher Theatre was established in 1968 and has been credited with nurturing working-class talent. Actors who studied with Scher include Kathy Burke, Phil Daniels, Natalie Cassidy, Dexter Fletcher, Pauline Quirke, James Alexandrou and Joe Swash.

Paying tribute, Burke shared a picture of Scher with her husband Charles Verrall, and said: "RIP Magnificently mighty and wonderful, Anna Scher. Pictured here with partner in crime, the gorgeous Charles Verrall who passed away only last month. These two people were responsible for hundreds of us having a better life. We thank you and love you."

Alexandrou said: "I’m sitting in the theatre I founded [and]heard the devastatingly sad news that my first acting teacher Anna Scher has passed. I can’t overstate what a profound influence she had in my life. It’s a joyous realisation that I wouldn’t be sitting here without her."

Agent Brooke Kinsella said: "No one believed in us working-class children more. She changed the course of so many lives. More scared of her than my mum and dad combined, I owe everything to her. What a remarkable woman. Sleep tight, Anna."

Scher, who began work as a primary school teacher, started a drama class during lunch breaks and after school in the late 1960s.

In 1970, the class moved to a council hall across the road and by 1976 was based in a former church in Islington, which was renamed the Anna Scher Theatre.

She was made an MBE in 2013.