Tina Heath (born 1953) is a British actress and former television presenter.

Early career

Her first television appearance was in 1969, when she appeared in ''Broaden Your Mind'' on BBC 2 alongside

Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter. He is best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on '' I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life and educati ...

and

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies. Brooke-Taylor became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and beca ...

. A one-off appearance in ''

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 and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...

'' followed in 1970. She appeared in the '' Look and Read'' serial '' Cloud Burst'' in 1974.

''Lizzie Dripping''

In 1973, she played the title role in the children's television serial '' Lizzie Dripping'' after first playing the character in an episode of '' Jackanory Playhouse'' in 1972.McGown, Alistair D. & Docherty, Mark J. (2003) ''The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama - An Encyclopedia'', BFI Publishing, , p. 76 Her character was supposed to be 12 years old, but in fact Heath was already 20 at the time.

Further television appearances

The BBC serial production of ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'', (1973), followed, and Heath played the character of Helen Burns, the fourteen-year-old boarding-school girl who is cruelly birched by Miss Scatcherd, and who befriends the ten-year-old Jane when Jane is a newcomer to Lowood Institute. Other television appearances included a BBC ''

Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wor ...

'' production of '' The Linden Tree'' by J.B. Priestley, in September 1974; ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

'', ( Regina versus McDowell), 1974, (which replaced 'The Traffic Warden's Daughter', which wasn't originally aired); '' Churchill's People'' in 1975; Muriel Spark's '' The Girls Of Slender Means''; and '' The Sweeney'', in 1976.

''The Sunday Gang''

Her first television presentational role was on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

's ''The Sunday Gang'' which ran from August 1976 on Sunday mornings, a role that continued for two years, where she met her future husband, Dave Cooke, who worked as musical director on the show. (Cooke took part in the 1981 ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ...

'' contest as part of the group 'Headache', placing 7th of the 8th entrants.) Heath continued to act during this period, appearing in BBC Two's ''Maiden's Trip'' in 1977.

''Blue Peter''

On 5 April 1979, she joined the children's series, '' Blue Peter'', and left on 23 June 1980 to have her daughter, Jemma Victoria Cooke. She was the first incumbent ''Blue Peter'' presenter to become pregnant. During her 14-month stint, she had an ultrasound scan live on television and climbed to the top of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, while heavily pregnant.I Love Blue Peter - Tina Heath presenter biography
bbc.co.uk; accessed 25 July 2020. In 1981, she returned to ''Blue Peter'', to model corsets alongside her successor, Sarah Greene. In 2001, she appeared in the special ''Blue Peter'' pantomime ''Rock n' Roll Christmas'', where she played the role of 'Miss Dripping'.

Personal life

Heath and her husband Dave Cooke have two children. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, they set up the podcast ''The Home Service''.https://www.instagram.com/thehomeservicepodcast/?hl=en

References

External links

* 1953 births Living people British children's television presenters English television presenters English Christians Audiobook narrators {{UK-tv-bio-stub