Sylvia Coleridge (10 December 1909 – 31 May 1986) was a British stage, film, radio and television actress. She was married to Albert George Fiddes-Watt and their daughter Kate, born 1943, is also an actress as ''Kate Coleridge.''

Birth

Coleridge was born in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Ne ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, now

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Career

After her stage debut in 1931, her theatre work included appearances at

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal Vi ...

, the Malvern Festival and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her television acting credits include: ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science ...

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

Paul Temple Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...

'', '' The Lotus Eaters'', '' Ace of Wands'', ''

The Tomorrow People ''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979. The theme music was c ...

'', ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debut ...

'', '' Public Eye'', '' Sutherland's Law'', ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'', ''

The Onedin Line ''The Onedin Line'' is a BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, n ...

'', '' Survivors'', ''

Armchair Thriller ''Armchair Thriller'' is a British television drama series broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980 in two seasons. Taking the form of a sequence of unconnected serials, scripts for ''Armchair Thriller'' were adaptations of published novels and storie ...

'' (in the serial ''

Quiet as a Nun ''Quiet as a Nun'' is a thriller novel, written by Antonia Fraser. First published in 1977, it features Fraser's sleuthing heroine Jemima Shore as she revisits the convent school where she was educated following the mysterious death of one of t ...

''), ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first ser ...

'' (in the episode ''Gambit'' as the Croupier), ''

Shoestring Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both e ...

'', ''

The Flipside of Dominick Hide ''The Flipside of Dominick Hide'' is a British television play first transmitted on BBC1 on 9 December 1980 as part of the ''Play for Today'' series. Peter Firth stars in the title role as a time traveller from Earth's future who illegally visit ...

'', ''

Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

'', '' Funny Man'', ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, oft ...

'', ''

Artemis 81 ''Artemis 81'' is a British television play which was written by David Rudkin and directed by Alastair Reid. Commissioned by BBC producer David Rose, it was broadcast by the BBC on 29 December 1981. It was one of the last TV performances from ...

'', ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, an ...

'' and the sitcom '' Maggie and Her''. Coleridge made a guest appearance in the '' Doctor Who'' serial ''

The Seeds of Doom ''The Seeds of Doom'' is the sixth and final serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 31 January to 6 March 1976. In the serial, the ...

'' (1976).

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. ( ...

mentioned on the "Special Edition" DVD commentary for ''

The Robots of Death ''The Robots of Death'' is the fifth serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 29 January to 19 February 1977. In the serial, the Fou ...

'' that he had been so taken with Coleridge's eccentric performance in the serial that he had later suggested her as the new ''Doctor Who'' companion to producer Graham Williams.

Death

She died in London and was interred in the East London Cemetery.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Performances listed in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleridge, Sylvia British stage actresses British film actresses British radio actresses British television actresses Sylvia People from Darjeeling Actresses from London 1909 births 1986 deaths 20th-century British actresses 20th-century English women 20th-century English people