Wanda Ventham

In April 2014, People magazine featured her in its "Most Beautiful People in the World" edition.

• Name — Wanda Ventham • Birthplace — Brighton, Sussex, England • Born — 5 August 1935 • Education — Central School of Speech and Drama • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1956–present • Children — 2, including Benedict Cumberbatch • Relatives — Sophie Hunter (daughter-in-law)

Ventham was born in Brighton on 5 August 1935, the daughter of Gladys Frances (née Holtham) and Frederick Howard Ventham. Originally aspiring to become an artist, she attended art school for a year whilst working as a scenic painter for the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, West Sussex, during her school holidays. The exposure to professional theatre prompted her to leave art school and pursue a career in acting. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, as a contemporary of Judi Dench, graduating in 1956.

Ventham's first film role was in My Teenage Daughter (1956), with Dame Anna Neagle and Sylvia Syms. She also appeared as a debutante in 1962 with a ten-second talking role in the Norman Wisdom film On the Beat and in 1963 as a nurse in the Norman Wisdom film A Stitch in Time – both were uncredited. 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.

Ventham married her first husband James Tabernacle in 1957 and they had one daughter, Tracy. They 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 the second series of BBC drama The Lotus Eaters in 1973, and in the third and fourth series of BBC's Sherlock in 2014 and 2017, where they played the title character's parents, with their son, actor Benedict Cumberbatch starring in the title role of Holmes.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1959-1962 — ITV Television Playhouse — Penny/Morya — 2 episodes • 1961-1966 — No Hiding Place — Janet Farley/Liz Forster • 1962 — The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theater — Waitress — Episode: "Solo for Sparrow" • 1962–1963 — The Rag Trade — Shirley — Seasons 2-3 • 1963 — BBC Sunday-Night Play — Julie — Episode: "Two by the Sea #2: Wedding Bells" • 1964 — The Human Jungle — Nurse — Episode: "Success Machine" • 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 Worker — Sandra — Episode: "No Automation Without Representation" • The Likely Lads — Angela — Episode: "Last of the Big Spenders" • The Avengers — Nurse Spray — Episode: "The Gravediggers" • 1966 — Two of a Kind — Auntie Yum Yum/Ern's Wife — 2 episodes • The Rat Catchers — Kjellin/Gerde • Hugh and I — Episode: "Tooting Footlights" • Armchair Theatre — Julie/Milly Craddock — 2 episodes • Mrs Thursday — Rowena Grant — Episode: "Hunter's Moon" • Watch the Birdies — Irene Grant — Miniseries • Out of the Unknown — Josephine — Episode: "The Eye" • 1967 — ITV Play of the Week — Erica — Episode: "Dr. De Waldo's Therapy" • The Prisoner — Computer Attendant — Episode: "It's Your Funeral" • 1968 — City '68 — Alison — Episode: "Love Thy Neighbour" • The Caesars — Ennia — Episode: "Caligula" • Love Story — Birgit — Episode: "The Vast Horizons of the Mind" • 1967–1971 — The Troubleshooters — Moira Hart — 4 episodes • 1967 1977 1987 — Doctor Who — Jean Rock Thea Ransome/Fendahl Core Faroon — Serials: "The Faceless Ones", "Image of the Fendahl" and "Time and the Rani" • 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 — 3 episodes • UFO — Col. Virginia Lake — 9 episodes • 1970 — Doctor at Large — Maggie Weston — Episode: "Mr. Moon" • 1971 — Thirty-Minute Theatre — Jasmine — Episode: "Walt, King of the Dumper" • The Fenn Street Gang — Elinor — Episode: "Change Partners" • 1972–1973 — The Lotus Eaters — Ann Shepherd — Miniseries • 1975 — The Sweeney — Brenda — Episode: "Abduction" • Softly, Softly: Task Force — Julie Brent — Episode: "The Talking Doll" • Rutland Weekend Television — Various characters — 2 episodes • 1976 — Emmerdale Farm — Heather Bannerman — 6 episodes • 1977 — Crown Court — Sybil Halstead — 2 serials • 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 — Episode: "A Foot in the Door" • The Brack Report — Kate Randall — Chapter 7 • 1982 — Only When I Laugh — Fiona — Episode: "Conduct Unbecoming" • 1984 — Killer Contract — Dorothy Routledge — TV film • 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 — 6 episodes • Boon — Marion Kershaw — Episode: "Of Meissen Men" • 1989–1992 — Only Fools and Horses — Pamela Parry (Cassandra's Mum) — 4 episodes • 1993 — Just a Gigolo — Marge Payne — 3 episodes • 1995–1996 — Next of Kin — Rosie — 6 episodes • 1996–1997 — Heartbeat — Fiona Weston — 4 episodes • 1997 — Alas Smith and Jones — Episode: "Cookery" • Men Behaving Badly — Penny (Deborah's Mum) — Episode: "Ten" • 1998 — The Vanishing Man — Mrs. Braithwaite — Episode: "Nothing Up My Sleeve" • 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) — Episodes: "The Empty Hearse", "His Last Vow" and "The Final Problem" • 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

• Year — Title — Role — Venue • 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

Her recorded language was English. She was the child of Frederick Howard Ventham and Gladys Frances Holtham. She married Timothy Carlton. One child is recorded: Benedict Cumberbatch.