Valerie Lilley

Valerie Lilley: 

Joan Littlewood’s Arts Workshop in London was a groundbreaking theatre in the early sixties, taking talented people from far outside the traditional drama-school system and setting them on careers on the stage. Northern Irish actress Valerie Lilley passed through those doors and worked with a number of budding actors including Stephen Rea.

After a few small roles on TV, she got a big break with Stewart Parker’s 'Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain', starring Frances Tomelty. Also in 1982, Lilley appeared in two other televised plays, 'Potato Head Blues' and the troubles rooted 'Billy Boy' with 'Z-Cars' star James Ellis. Lilley was also a regular in ITV's ill-fated soap opera 'Albion Market'. She went on to appear in a wide variety of television, from 'Minder', the 2009 adaptation of 'Emma' and 'Hetty Wainthrop Investigates', to 'Grange Hill', 'The Famous Five' and 'The Catherine Tate Show'.



In the 1983 Agatha Christie adaptation 'The Man in the Mist' 

In the young women offenders drama  'Scrubbers' (1983)

Film work has included 'Scrubbers' (1982), 'Ascendancy (1983), 'Priest' (1994), and 'The Terence Davies Trilogy' (1983). 

Her biggest recent TV role has been as Patty Croker in the Mancunian drama 'Shameless', but she was also excellent in my very good friend Vic Templar's 2006 radio play 'Good Morning Mr Borg' about the long hot summer of 1976 and a Wimbledon Championship played out in a suburban back garden.


Valerie Lilley - imdb



Maggie Steed

Maggie Steed:

Imperious and imposing actress, often playing working-class matriarchs and strong dynamic women, albeit sometimes with a rather harsh, masculine edge. Her resumé is impressive, particularly in TV comedy and comedy-drama, with her role as Rita opposite Kenneth Cranham in 'Shine On Harvey Moon' being especially memorable, but also in 'Lipstick On Your Collar', 'Jam & Jerusalem', 'Sensitive Skin', 'The History Man', 'Born & Bred', 'Pie In The Sky', and period pieces like 'Lark Rise to Candleford' and the highly regarded 1994 TV adaptation of 'Martin Chuzzlewit'. Lots of one-offs too, in old standbys including 'Red Dwarf', 'Minder', 'Foyles War', 'Van der Valk', 'The Young Ones' and 'Brideshead Revisited'.     

Not too much on the big screen, though, preferring perhaps to appear on the serious stage with the RSC rather than slog around in Hollywood circles, but there was 'Simon Magus' (1999) and 'The Painted Veil' (2006). 

Maggie Steed - imdb profile

Rosalind Knight

Rosalind Knight: 

† Dec 3 1933 – Dec 19 2020

Charmingly chinny and cherubic actress who played a number of light comedy and romantic roles in the '50s, including 'Carry On Teacher' (1959), 'Carry On Nurse'(1959) and 'Blue Murder At St Trinians' (1957), before getting the more prestigious part of Mrs Fitzpatrick in 'Tom Jones' (1963). 

Ding dong! Catching the eye of Leslie Phillips
in 'Carry On Teacher' (1959)  

Other films include 'About A Boy' (2002), 'Eskimo Nell' (1975), 'Prick Up Your Ears' (1987) and 'Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?' (1969). 

In the Poirot mystery 'One Two Buckle My Shoe'

A quality TV stalwart, though in latter years she has done a lot of cosy crime and the odd 'Holby' and 'Heartbeat'. Some extent of her range can be gathered from the fact that in 1985 she portrayed both La Contessa Amelia Faraglione in 'Mapp & Lucia' and Jim Davidson's mum in 'Up The Elephant and Round The Castle'. 

See her in such diverse fare as 'Jeeves & Wooster', 'Coronation Street,'Gimme Gimme Gimme' and even an episode 'The Beverly Hillbillies'. She also holds the distinction of appearing in both 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' with Jeremy Brett, and 'Sherlock' with Benedict Cumberbatch.    

And this bizarre waste of talent; a sort of American 'Carry On'.

Return of the Tom Jones beauty spot in
'Start The Revolution Without Me' (1970)

Rosalind Knight - imdb profile

Petra Markham

Petra Markham: 

Strangely goggly and doll-like actress who played Mikki in 'Ace Of Wands' on ITV in the early '70s, after an early appearance in 'Dr Who'. Her best-known big screen role is as Doreen in 'Get Carter' (1971), but she has continued to show up on TV in the likes of 'Follyfoot', 'Bergerac', 'The Bill' of course, 'Angels', and 'EastEnders'. Interesting footnotes include 'Curry & Chips' and 'Ripping Yarns'. From a theatrical family, her brothers-in-law are/were Roger Lloyd-Pack and the late Corin Redgrave.

With Michael Caine in 'Get Carter' (1971)

As Eric's girlfriend Enid Bag, in the Ripping Yarns
episode 'The Testing of Eric Olthwaite'  

Petra Markham - imdb profile

Sheila Bernette

Sheila Bernette:

† March 30 1931 - January 12 2026

A familiar face from sitcoms and TV advertising in the '60s and '70s as the archetypal neat and fussy housewife, she has appeared in 'Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin', 'The Benny Hill Show', 'Butterflies', and bawdy comedies like 'Eskimo Nell' (1975) and 'What's Up Nurse' (1977). 

She is in 'The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins' (1971), a favourite film of mine, and at time of writing is seemingly still available for work... [Deadlink: http://www.crawfordscommercials.co.uk]

Sheila Bernette in 'Eskimo Nell' (1975)

Sheila Bernette - imdb profile