Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress with many roles on British television since beginning her career in the 1950s. She played Colonel Virginia Lake in the 1970s science-fiction television series ''

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

'' and had a recurring role as

Cassandra Trotter Cassandra Louise Trotter (née Parry; born 16 June 1966See ) is a fictional character from the British sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses''. She is portrayed by Gwyneth Strong. Biography The intelligent, slightly spoiled daughter of the owner of ...

's mother Pamela Parry in the sitcom ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas ...

'' between 1989 and 1992. Her many other television appearances include ''

The Sweeney ''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Insp ...

'', '' The Avengers'', '' The Saint'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'', ''

The Gentle Touch ''The Gentle Touch'' is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which began on 11 April 1980 and ran until 1984. The series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police o ...

'', '' Heartbeat'' and ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', and ...

'', and she appeared in two '' Carry On'' films. In April 2014, ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' magazine featured her in its "Most Beautiful People in the World" edition.

Early life

Ventham was born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on 5 August 1935, the daughter of Gladys Frances (née Holtham) and Frederick Howard Ventham.Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. Originally aspiring to become an artist, she attended art school for a year whilst working as a scenic painter for the

Connaught Theatre The Connaught Theatre is a Streamline Moderne-style theatre and cinema in the centre of Worthing, in West Sussex, England. Built as the Picturedrome cinema in 1914, the venue was extended in 1935 and became the new home of the Connaught Theatre ( ...

in Worthing, West Sussex, during her school holidays. The exposure to professional theatre prompted her to leave art school and pursue a career in acting.Ventham, Wanda. Audio commentary for "Timelash". In: ''The Complete UFO Megaset'' (DVD). A&E Home Entertainment. 2003. She trained at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

, as a contemporary of

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

, graduating in 1956.''Central School of Speech and Drama Alumni Newsletter'', July 2012, issue 19, pg. 19

Career

Ventham's first film role was in ''

My Teenage Daughter ''My Teenage Daughter'', later ''Teenage Bad Girl'', is a 1956 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms and Norman Wooland. The screenplay concerns a mother who tries to deal with her teenage daughter's ...

'' (1956), with Dame

Anna Neagle Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox (''née'' Robertson; 20 October 1904 – 3 June 1986), known professionally as Anna Neagle, was an English stage and film actress, singer, and dancer. She was a successful box-office draw in the British cinema ...

and

Sylvia Syms Sylvia May Laura Syms (born 6 January 1934) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films ''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1957), ''Ice Cold in Alex'' (1958), ''No Trees in the Street'' (1959), ''Victim'' (1961), and ''The Tamari ...

. She also appeared as a debutante in 1962 with a ten-second talking role in the Norman Wisdom film ''On the Beat'' and in 1963 as a nurse in the Norman Wisdom film ''A Stitch in Time'' – both were uncredited. She also appeared in ''

Carry On Cleo ''Carry On Cleo'' is a 1964 British historical comedy film, the tenth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, and Jim Dale are present and Connor made his l ...

'' (1964) and ''

Carry On Up the Khyber ''Carry On Up the Khyber'' is a 1968 British comedy film, the 16th in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It stars ''Carry On'' regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butte ...

'' (1968). She starred alongside Mark Burns in the mystery film ''

Death Is a Woman ''Death Is a Woman'' is a 1966 British mystery film directed by Frederic Goode and starring Mark Burns, Shaun Curry, William Dexter, Wanda Ventham, Terence De Marney and Trisha Noble. Location filming took place in Malta. Plot A British underc ...

'' (1966). Her best-known role was on television as Col. Virginia Lake, second-in-command to Commander Ed Straker (

Ed Bishop George Victor Bishop (11 June 1932 – 8 June 2005), known professionally as Ed Bishop or sometimes Edward Bishop, was an American actor. He was known for playing Commander Ed Straker in ''UFO'', Captain Blue in '' Captain Scarlet and the Myst ...

), in the cult series ''

''. Ventham's numerous other TV credits include regular roles in '' Heartbeat'' as Fiona Weston, ''

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates ''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates'' is a British crime drama television series, starring Patricia Routledge as the title character, Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp, that aired for four series between 3 January 1996 and 4 September 1998 on BBC One. ...

'' as Margaret Balshaw, and '' The Rag Trade'' as Shirley. She also played a love interest for

Arthur Daley ''Minder'' is a British comedy-drama series about the London Organized crime, criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television, and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV for ten ...

in ''

Minder A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds". Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...

'', Susan's mother in ''

Coupling A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mov ...

'', and Deborah's mother in ''

Men Behaving Badly ''Men Behaving Badly'' is a British sitcom that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang (Martin Clunes) and his flatmates Dermot Povey (Harry Enfield; series 1 only) and Tony Smart (Neil Morrissey; series 2 on ...

''. She starred opposite

Ian Hendry Ian Mackendrick Hendry (13 January 1931 – 24 December 1984) was a British actor. He worked on several British TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, including the lead in the first series of '' The Avengers'' and '' The Lotus Eaters'', and played ...

in the 15-part BBC series '' The Lotus Eaters'' (1972–73), and made a guest appearance on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

sketch show ''

Rutland Weekend Television ''Rutland Weekend Television'' (''RWT'') was a television sketch show on BBC2, written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series were broadcast, the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes i ...

(Se1Ep5)''. She was in an episode of ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

'', and the series Patrick McGoohan completed immediately afterwards – the allegorical spy series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

'' – as well as the sitcoms '' Executive Stress'' and ''

Next of Kin A person's next of kin (NOK) are that person's closest living blood relatives. Some countries, such as the United States, have a legal definition of "next of kin". In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, "next of kin" may have no legal d ...

'', and the sketch show ''

The Two Ronnies ''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from April 1971 to December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, ser ...

''. She has appeared in ''

'' on three occasions over three decades; as Jean Rock in ''

The Faceless Ones ''The Faceless Ones'' is the mostly missing eighth serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 April to 13 May 1967. In this serial, the Sec ...

'' (1967), as Thea Ransome in '' Image of the Fendahl'' (1977) and as Faroon in ''

Time and the Rani ''Time and the Rani'' is the first serial of the 24th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 7 to 28 September 1987. It was the first to feature Sylvester McCoy ...

'' (1987). Her appearance in ''Image of the Fendahl'' was opposite Denis Lill, with whom she would later act when they were cast as Pamela and Alan Parry in the sitcom ''

'' (1989–1992). In 2014, she and her husband Timothy Carlton appeared in the BBC adaptation of '' Sherlock'' as the parents of

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

, who is played by their son

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Oli ...

. Ventham appeared in ''

'' as Sheilagh Chiltern, the grandmother of

Lofty Chiltern Ben "Lofty" Chiltern is a fictional character from the BBC medical dramas ''Casualty'' and ''Holby City'', played by actor Lee Mead. He first appeared in ''Casualty'' twenty-eighth series episode "The Last Chance Saloon", broadcast on 1 March 2 ...

Personal life

Ventham married her first husband James Tabernacle in 1957 and they had one daughter, Tracy. They were divorced on 12 November 1974. She met actor Timothy Carlton in 1970 while filming sequences for the drama series ''

A Family at War ''A Family At War'' is a British drama series that aired on ITV from 1970 to 1972. It was created by John Finch and made by Granada Television for ITV. The original producer was Richard Doubleday, and with 13 directors during the series. The ...

'' and they have been married since April 1976.Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. The couple appeared together in the second series of BBC drama ''The Lotus Eaters'' in 1973, and in the third and fourth series of BBC's '' Sherlock'' in 2014 and 2017, where they played the title character's parents, with their son, actor

starring in the titular role of Holmes.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ventham, Wanda Living people 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Brighton Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Cumberbatch family English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses People from Brighton 1935 births