Editing Arthur Lowe (section)

===Early career===
In 1945, Lowe's father was organising special railway trips and excursions, including private trains for circuses and theatre companies.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=49}} He arranged an audition for Lowe with Eric Norman for the Frank H. Fortescue Famous Players repertory company. Lowe was immediately offered a trial in the comedy play ''Bedtime Story'', in which he took the part of Dickson. In this role he made his professional acting debut at the [[Hulme Hippodrome|Manchester Repertory Theatre]] on 17 December 1945.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=50}} He was paid £5 per week for twice-nightly performances.<ref name="TV Times">"Arthur Lowe&nbsp;– The Proud Father", ''TV Times'', 14–20 October 1978</ref> In eight months with Fortescue's he appeared in 33 plays and gave 396 performances.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=61}}

During this time Lowe began a romantic relationship with [[Joan Cooper]] (1922–1989), a married actress in the company whose husband also began an affair at about the same time.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|pp=62–63, 73}} Arthur and Joan were engaged in June 1946 and lived together from August. After Joan's divorce came through they married at a registry office in Robert Adam Street, The Strand, London, on 10 January 1948.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=72}}<ref name="ReferenceA">GRO Register of Marriages: MAR 1948 5d 800 MARYLEBONE&nbsp;– Arthur Lowe = Gatehouse or Cooper</ref> Joan had a son, David Gatehouse, from her first marriage.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=58}} Another son, Stephen Lowe, was born on 23 January 1953.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=93}} The couple remained together until Lowe's death.

Lowe worked with [[repertory]] companies around the country. After a year at the County Theatre, [[Hereford]], 1946–1947, he moved to London in 1948{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=64}} and for the next three years mostly worked in South London theatres.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|pp=72–73}} An early brief film role was as a reporter for the ''[[Tit-Bits]]'' magazine, near the end of the [[Ealing Studios]] dark comedy classic ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'' (1949). His first [[West End theatre|West End]] role came in 1950, as Wilson the butler in Guy Bolton's ''Larger Than Life''.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=82}} Lowe became known for his character roles, which in 1952 included a breakthrough part as Senator Brockbank in the musical ''[[Call Me Madam]]'' at the [[London Coliseum]].{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=91}} Other roles in musicals included a part in the 1954 London revival of ''[[Pal Joey (musical)|Pal Joey]]'' and eighteen months as the salesman in the first West End production of ''[[The Pajama Game]]'', from 1955 to 1957.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|pp=95–96}} His name first appeared in lights in 1957, at the Piccadilly Theatre, with the part of Bert Vokes in the murder melodrama ''[[A Dead Secret]]''. This also brought his first West End reviews.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=100}}

Lowe first appeared on television in 1951, in an episode of the BBC series ''I Made News''.{{sfnp|Lowe|1997|p=52}} He would work in television every year afterwards, until his death.{{sfnp|Lowe|1997|pp=201–208}} 1950s roles included various minor parts in dramas, including the crime series ''[[Murder Bag (TV series)|Murder Bag]]''. He played the role of the gunsmith in ''[[Leave It to Todhunter]]'' (1958), appeared in the comedy series ''[[Time Out for Peggy]]'',{{sfnp|Lowe|1997|p=203}} and played a fussy, nervous character in an episode of ''[[Dial 999 (TV series)|Dial 999]]''. His first regular television part was as ship steward Sydney Barker in the ABC-TV series ''All Aboard'' (1958–1959).{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=111}}

In 1960 Lowe took up a regular role as draper and lay preacher [[Leonard Swindley]] in the [[Northern England|northern]] [[soap opera]] ''[[Coronation Street]]'', in which he appeared until 1965. He negotiated a contract through which he only had to work six months of the year, three months on and three months off.{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=123}} During the months he was not playing Swindley, he remained busy on stage or making one-off guest appearances in other TV series such as ''[[Z-Cars]]'' (1962) and ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' (1967) (episode entitled "Dead Man's Treasure"). His most acclaimed stage roles during this period included pompous north-country alderman Michael Oglethorpe in Henry Livings's ''Stop It, Whoever You Are'' at the [[Arts Theatre]] (1961),{{sfnp|Lord|2002|pp=124–125}} and Sir Davey Dunce in ''The Soldier's Fortune'' at the [[Royal Court Theatre]] (1966).{{sfnp|Lord|2002|pp=149–150}}

Lowe did not relish work on ''Coronation Street'' and was happy to give it up,{{sfnp|Lord|2002|p=141}} but viewer responses to his character led to him reprising Swindley for starring roles in the spin-off series ''[[Pardon the Expression]]'' (1966) and its sequel ''[[Turn Out the Lights (TV series)|Turn Out the Lights]]'' (1967).