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Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress with many roles on British television since beginning her career in the 1950s.
Ventham played Colonel Virginia Lake in the 1970s science-fiction television series UFO and had a recurring role as Cassandra Trotter's mother Pamela Parry in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses between 1989 and 1992. Her many other television appearances include Danger Man, The Rag Trade, The Sweeney, The Avengers, The Saint, Doctor Who, The Gentle Touch, Minder, Heartbeat and Holby City, and she appeared in two Carry On films.
In April 2014, People magazine featured her in its "Most Beautiful People in the World" edition.
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 Commander 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 in Series 2 and 3 of 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 starred opposite Ian Hendry in the 15-part BBC series The Lotus Eaters (1972–73), had a recurring role in the final series of The Troubleshooters, and made a guest appearance in the fifth episode of the first season of the BBC Two sketch show 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, with whom she would later act when they were cast as Pamela and Alan Parry in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1989–1992).
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 Sheilagh Chiltern, the grandmother of Lofty Chiltern.
| 1956 | My Teenage Daughter | Gina | |
| 1959 | The Navy Lark | Mabel | |
| 1961 | We Joined the Navy | The "Initiative test" girl | |
| 1962 | Solo for Sparrow | Waitress | |
| 1963 | The Cracksman | Sandra | |
| 1964 | Carry On Cleo | Pretty Bidder | Uncredited |
| 1965 | The Big Job | Dot Franklin | |
| The Knack ...and How to Get It | Gym Mistress | Uncredited | |
| 1966 | Death Is a Woman | Priscilla Blunstone-Smythe | |
| The Spy with a Cold Nose | Mrs. Winters | ||
| 1967 | Mister Ten Per Cent | Kathy | |
| 1968 | The Blood Beast Terror | Clare Mallinger | Ventham also provided stunt work for the film and appeared in costume as the giant moth monster. |
| Carry On Up the Khyber | Khasi's First Wife | ||
| 1974 | Col. Virginia Lake | ||
| Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter | Lady Durward | ||
| 2002 | Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War | Victoria | |
| 2005 | Asylum | Bridie Straffen | |
| 2012 | Run for Your Wife | Lady on Bus | Cameo |
| 2016 | Violet |
| 1962–1963 | The Rag Trade | Shirley | Series regular; 18 episodes |
| 1964 | Thorndyke | Maud | Episode: "A Case of Premeditation" |
| 1964–1965 | Danger Man | Stella Dorset Penny | 2 episodes |
| 1964–1966 | The Saint | Laura Stride Penny Pearson | |
| 1965 | The Likely Lads | Angela | Episode: "Last of the Big Spenders" |
| 1965 | The Avengers | Nurse Spray | Episode: "The Gravediggers" |
| 1967 | The Prisoner | Computer Attendant | Episode: "It's Your Funeral" |
| 1968 | The Caesars | Ennia | Episode: "Caligula" |
| 1967–1971 | The Troubleshooters | Moira Hart | Recurring; 4 episodes |
| 1967 1977 1987 | Doctor Who | Jean Rock Thea Ransome/Fendahl Core Faroon | Serial: "The Faceless Ones" (6 episodes) Serial: "Image of the Fendahl" (4 episodes) Serial: "Time and the Rani" (3 episodes) |
| 1969 | The Gold Robbers | Dee Latter | Episode: "An Oddly Honest Man" |
| Department S | Leila Rankin | Episode: "The Man from 'X'" | |
| Dixon of Dock Green | Debbie Franklin | Episode: "Bobby" | |
| 1970 | Z-Cars | Mrs. Owen | Episode: "By Bread Alone Part One" |
| 1970–1971 | A Family At War | Jenny Graham | Recurring; 3 episodes |
| 1970 | Doctor at Large | Maggie Weston | 1 episode |
| 1970–1973 | UFO | Col. Virginia Lake | Series regular; 9 episodes |
| 1971 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Jasmine | "Walt, King of the Dumper"IMDB |
| 1972–1973 | The Lotus Eaters | Ann Shepherd | Lead role; 15 episodes |
| 1975 | The Sweeney | Brenda | Episode: "Abduction" |
| Julie Brent | Episode: "The Talking Doll" | ||
| Rutland Weekend Television | Various characters | 2 episodes | |
| 1976 | Emmerdale Farm | Heather Bannerman | Recurring; 6 episodes |
| 1977 | Crown Court | Sybil Halstead | 2 episodes |
| 1978–1979 | Fallen Hero | Dorothy Hopkins | Lead role; 11 episodes |
| 1980 | The Two Ronnies | Jack | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | Minder | Beryl Murdoch | Episode: "Dreamhouse" |
| Union Castle | Ursula, Lady Thaxted | 7 episodes | |
| The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim | Veronica Allen | 1 episode | |
| The Brack Report | Kate Randall | ||
| 1982 | Only When I Laugh | Fiona | Episode: "Conduct Unbecoming" |
| 1984 | Killer | Dorothy Routledge | 1 episode |
| 1986–1987 | Executive Stress | Sylvia | Recurring; 4 episodes |
| 1988 | All Creatures Great and Small | Mrs. Ridge | Episode: "The Jackpot" |
| 1989 | Capstick's Law | Madge Capstick | Recurring; 6 episodes |
| 1989–1992 | Only Fools and Horses | Pamela Parry (Cassandra's Mum) | Recurring; 4 episodes |
| 1995–1996 | Next of Kin | Rosie | Recurring; 6 episodes |
| 1996–1997 | Heartbeat | Fiona Weston | Recurring; 4 episodes |
| 1997 | Alas Smith and Jones | Episode: "Cookery" | |
| Men Behaving Badly | Penny (Deborah's Mum) | Episode: "Ten" | |
| 1998 | Hetty Wainthropp Investigates | Margaret Balshaw | 2 episodes |
| Casualty | Mrs. Seabrook | Episode: "Everlasting Love" | |
| 2000 | Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) | Alice Fullcup | Episode: "Mental Apparition Disorder" |
| 2001 | Coupling | Edna (Susan's Mum) | Episode: "My Dinner in Hell" |
| 2005 | Midsomer Murders | Romany Rose | Episode: "Second Sight" |
| 2007 | Lewis | Eleanor Mallory | Episode: "Expiation" |
| 2014–2017 | Sherlock | Mrs. Holmes (Sherlock Holmes' mother) | 3 episodes |
| 2014–2018 | Holby City | Sheilagh Chiltern | Recurring; 10 episodes |
| 2018 | Father Brown | Ellen Jennings | Episode: "The Angel of Mercy" |
| 2019 | Departure | Wendy | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Penance | Fay | 3 episodes |
| 1960 | Watch It, Sailor! | Daphne Pink | Apollo Theatre, London |
| 1979 | Julius Caesar | Portia | Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester |
| 1990 | Out of Order | Pamela | Shaftesbury Theatre, London |
| 1992 | It Runs in the Family | Rosemary Mortimore | Playhouse Theatre, London |
| 2002 | One for the Pot | Amy Hardcastle | Theatre Royal, Windsor |
| 2012 | Quartet | Cissy | Theatre-on-the-Bay, Cape Town |
| 2014 | Entertaining Angels | Ruth |
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