Wanda Ventham

Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress, known primarily for her role as Colonel Virginia Lake in the 1970s science-fiction television series UFO, and for her recurring role as Cassandra Trotter's mother Pamela Parry in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1989–92. She also appeared in two episodes of The Saint alongside Roger Moore.
In April 2014, People magazine featured her in its "Most Beautiful People in the World" edition.

Ventham was born in Brighton, the daughter of Gladys Frances (née Holtham) and Frederick Howard Ventham. She originally held aspirations of becoming an artist and attended art school for one year, working as a scenic painter for the Connaught Theatre during her school holidays. It was her exposure to professional theatre that prompted her to leave art school and pursue a career in acting. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, along with Judi Dench, graduating in 1956.

Ventham's first film role was in My Teenage Daughter (1956), with Anna Neagle and Sylvia Syms. She also appeared in Carry On Cleo (1964) and Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968). She starred alongside Mark Burns in the mystery film, Death is a Woman (1966). Her best known role was on television as Col. Virginia Lake, second in command to Cmdr. Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) in the cult series UFO.

Ventham's numerous other TV credits include regular roles in Heartbeat as Fiona Weston, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates as Margaret Balshaw, and The Rag Trade as Shirley. She also played a love interest for Arthur Daley in Minder, Susan's mother in Coupling, and Deborah's mother in Men Behaving Badly. She appeared in the lead role in the 15-part BBC series The Lotus Eaters (1972–73), opposite Ian Hendry, and made a guest appearance in Rutland Weekend Television. She was in an episode of Danger Man, and the series Patrick McGoohan completed immediately afterwards - the allegorical spy series The Prisoner - as well as the sitcoms Executive Stress and Next of Kin, and the sketch show The Two Ronnies.

She has appeared in Doctor Who on three occasions over three decades: as Jean Rock in The Faceless Ones (1967), as Thea Ransome in Image of the Fendahl (1977) and as Faroon in Time and the Rani (1987). Her appearance in Image of the Fendahl was opposite Denis Lill. Ventham and Lill would later play Pamela and Alan Parry in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

In 2014, she and her husband Timothy Carlton appeared in the BBC adaptation of Sherlock as the parents of Sherlock Holmes, who is played by their son Benedict Cumberbatch. Ventham appeared in Holby City as Myrtle McKee, a hospital patient who leads a double life.

Ventham married her first husband James Tabernacle in 1957 and they had one daughter, Tracy Tabernacle. 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 and they have been married since April 1976. The couple appeared together in Series 2 of BBC drama The Lotus Eaters in 1973, and in Series 3 of BBC series Sherlock in 2014, in which they played the parents of the title character played by their real son, actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

Film

Television

Theatre