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Wanda Ventham Wanda Ventham 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 Pamela Parry in the sitcom Only Fools and
Horses from 1989–92. She also appeared in two episodes of The Saint alongside Roger
Moore. Early life
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,
graduating in 1956. Career
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).
Ventham's numerous 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
did right after - the allegorical, spy series, The Prisoner, 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.
Personal life Ventham married her first husband James Tabernacle
in 1957 and they had one daughter, Tracy Tabernacle. They were divorced on 12 November 1974. Ventham
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. They are the parents of actor Benedict
Cumberbatch. Ventham is a collector of barn owl memorabilia.
Filmography Theatre