Vicki Michelle

Vicki Michelle MBE (born 14 December 1950) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC television comedy series 'Allo 'Allo! and as a recurring character Patricia Foster in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.

Her father was a fish-trader and her mother an actress. She attended Knewnham Junior School in Wanstead and West Hatch Technical High School. After O-levels she stayed on at school to complete a secretarial course. Hoping to become a ballet dancer she joined the Aida Foster stage school.

Michelle on tour in 'Allo 'Allo! in 1986

Michelle was given small television roles while still at stage school, the first being in Dixon of Dock Green. She appeared in big-screen versions of popular English sitcoms The Likely Lads and George and Mildred, and played alongside her sister Ann Michelle in the British horror film Virgin Witch and with Joan Collins in Alfie Darling, the sequel to Alfie. She also appeared regularly in the 1970s children's BBC TV series Crackerjack. More recently, she played the role of Amanda Newman in the 2010 TV film Resentment, and she was Deborah Whitton in the 2013 rom com The Callback Queen. In the early 1980s she appeared in some high-profile advertisements for Harp Lager; the slogan was "Sally O'Brien and the way she might look at you", and there was surprise when it was discovered that the actress playing the Irish character Sally O'Brien was English, but with an Irish grandparent. Also at this time she had small parts in Minder and The Professionals and in 2007, she appeared in a Children in Need special of Hotel Babylon and, the following year, appeared on BBC's cookery programme Celebrity MasterChef.

After spending much of 2008 on tour with the 'Allo 'Allo! stage show, Michelle took a break to pursue various other projects, including appearing as the Wicked Queen in a pantomime production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Hull New Theatre. She rejoined the cast of 'Allo 'Allo! in March 2009, reprising her role as sexy waitress Yvette. Michelle made several appearances in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as Patricia Foster, mother of Jonny Foster – a role which she reprised for two episodes in early 2009. In Autumn 2014, Michelle returned to the stage in the hit play 'Hello Norma Jeane' at London's Kings Head Theatre, where she took on the role of an Essex grandma who claims to be Marilyn Monroe.

In 2012, Michelle was executive producer of the film based on the Ray Cooney theatrical Run For Your Wife.

Michelle was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to charity.

Theatre

2014

• Hello Norma Jeane - Lynnie - Kings Head Theatre, London - Matthew Gould

2014

• The Importance of Being Earnest - Lady Bracknell - McGrigor Hall, Frinton - Edward Max

2012

• Wife Begins at Forty - Linda Harper - Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford - Ray Cooney

2012

• That’s Love - Sarah Daniels - UK Tour - Ron Aldridge

2011

• Stop Dreamin’ - Vi Collins - UK Tour - Ray Cooney

2010

• Stop Dreamin’ - Vi Collins - UK Tour - Ray Cooney

2010

• Wife Begins at Forty - Linda Harper - Grand Theatre, Blackpool - Brian Godfrey

2009

• The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas - Mona Stangley -New Theatre, Hull - Jonathan Parker

2008/09

• Allo Allo - Yvette Carte-Blanche - National Tour - James Robert Carson

2008

• Lock Up Your Daughters - Mrs Squeezum - Hoxne - Matthew Townshend

2007

• Annie - Miss Hannigan - Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage - Scott St. Martin

2007

• Double Vision - Dawn & Donna - Lyceum Theatre, Crewe - Jay Marcus

2006

• Audacity - Gillian - Lyceum Theatre, Crewe - Jay Marcus

2006

• Salad Days - Lady Raeburn & Asphynxia - National Tour - Matthew Townshend

2006

• Funny Money - Betty - UK Tour - Giles Watling & Ian Dickens

2005

• Stepping Out - Maxine - Theatre Royal, Lincoln - Chris Colby

2005

• Salads Days - Lady Raeburn & Asphynxia - National Tour - Matthew Townshend

2005

• Annie - Miss Hannigan - Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury - Eric Potts

2005

• Bedside Manners - Sally - Overseas Tour - Chris Moreno

2005

• Don’t Dress For Dinner - Jacqueline - Overseas Tour - Chris Moreno

2004

• Reflections - Narrator - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone

2004

• Out Of Order - Pamela Willey - National Tour - Ian Dickens

2002/03

• Don’t Dress For Dinner - Jacqueline - International Tour - Ian Dickens

2002

• The Tart & The Vicars Wife - Glenda Parry - Theatre Royal, Lincoln - Chris Colby

2001

• Annie - Miss Hannigan - Theatre Royal, Lincoln - Chris Colby

2001

• Business Affairs - Hilda Bigley - National Tour - John B Hobbs

2001

• Table Manners - Ruth - National Tour - Ian Dickens

2000

• Round & Round The Garden - Ruth - National Tour - Ian Dickens

1999

• Beauty & The Beast - Bathsheba - Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe - Steve Shappelle

1998

• Women of a Certain Age - Renee - National Tour - David Simmons

1998

• Don’t Dress For Dinner - Jacqueline - National Tour - Ian Dickens

1996/97

• Allo - Yvette Carte-Blanche - National Tour - Peter Farago

1996

• Dracula - Mina - National Tour - Alan Cohen

1995

• Don’t Dress For Dinner - Jacqueline - National Tour - Peter Farago

1993/94

• Don’t Dress For Dinner - Jacqueline - National Tour - Peter Farago

1987/88

• Allo Allo - Yvette Carte-Blanche - International Tour - Peter Farago

1986/87

• Allo Allo - Yvette Carte-Blanche - West End - Peter Farago

1985

• Doctor In The House - Vera - National Tour - Paul Elliott

1969

• Play It Again Sam - Angie - West End - Joseph Hardy

Pantomime

• 1983 - Snow White - Wicked Red Queen - Opera House, Cork
• 1988 - Snow White - Wicked Queen - The Alexandra House, Birmingham
• 1991 - Aladdin - Genie - The New Theatre, Cardiff
• 1992 - Aladdin - Genie - Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
• 1993 - Jack & The Beanstalk - Fairy - The Grand Theatre, Swansea
• 1994 - Aladdin - Genie - Theatre Royal, Plymouth
• 1996 - Mother Goose - Fairy - Hippodrome, Birmingham
• 1997 - Jack & The Beanstalk - Fairy - Churchill Theatre, Bromley
• 1999 - Aladdin - Genie - The Grand Theatre, Swansea
• 2000 - Snow White - Wicked Queen - Alban Arena, St. Albans
• 2001 - Snow White - Wicked Queen - Broadway Theatre, Lewisham
• 2002 - Aladdin - Aladdin - Civic Hall, Bedworth
• 2003 - Peter Pan - Herrietta & Mrs Darling - New Theatre, Hull
• 2004 - Cinderella - Lady Cruella - New Theatre, North Wales Theatre, Llandudno
• 2005 - Sleeping Beauty - Fairy Moan - Broadway Theatre, Peterborough
• 2006 - Sleeping Beauty - Lilac Fairy - Plaza Theatre, Stockport
• 2007 - Robin Hood - The Enchantress - Connaught Theatre, Worthing
• 2008 - Snow White - Wicked Queen - New Theatre Hull
• 2009 - Snow White - Wicked Queen - Playhouse, Western Super Mare
• 2010 - Sleeping Beauty - Carabosse - Palace Theatre, Newark
• 2011 - Sleeping Beauty - Carabosse - Harlequin Theatre, Redhill
• 2012 - Beauty And The Beast - Silver Enchantress - Hexagon Theatre, Reading
• 2013 - Sleeping Beauty - Lilac Fairy - Middlesbrough Theatre
• 2015 - Sleeping Beauty - malicious (the evil fairy) - Lincoln Theatre Royal
• 2016 - Jack and the Beanstalk - Fairy Pea Pod - King's Theatre, Portsmouth

She is married to Graham Fowler.

In 2015, Michelle was a guest on Big Brother's Bit on the Side and feared she could have been blinded after being hit on the back of the head with a champagne glass thrown by Farrah Abraham during a fight between Abraham and Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace. She later pressed charges.

Vicki Michelle now suffers from the condition tinnitus.