Wendy Richard - Career

Career

Richard first became familiar to TV audiences playing Joyce Harker, a regular in the BBC's 1960s soap opera, The Newcomers. She has also appeared in Dad's Army (first as Edith Parrish, and later as Private Walker's girlfriend Shirley), Up Pompeii! and The Likely Lads. Richard also appeared in two Carry On films, playing a small role in Carry On Matron and a supporting part in Carry On Girls (both these films featured future EastEnders co-star, Barbara Windsor). In 1962, her distinct cockney vocals also helped get her to No. 1 on the UK singles chart on the single, Come Outside by Mike Sarne. She also appears in a scene cut from the released version of The Beatles movie Help! (1965).

Richard's first appearance in a television series was as a teenager in Stranger on the Shore which debuted in 1961. The theme tune of the series was the Acker Bilk clarinet solo of the same name. In 1965 she appeared in an early black and white episode of "The Likely Lads", as a household cleaner saleswoman called Lynn. She also had a bit part the same year, episode ("Don't Nail Him Yet") of Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) with Patrick McGoohan. Richard's first soap role was as teenage supermarket till girl Joyce Harker in The Newcomers which ran on BBC1 from 1965 to 1969. She appeared in the 1970s sitcom Are You Being Served? as Miss Shirley Brahms, a shop assistant with a heavy Cockney accent. (Richard also appeared in the Are You Being Served? sequel Grace & Favour in 1992 and 1993.) Richard had a minor role in the film On The Buses (1971).

Richard subsequently found continued success as heroine and matriarch Pauline Fowler on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from the first episode in 1985 until the character's death at Christmas 2006. She appeared regularly on the BBC Radio programme Just a Minute from 1989 until 1994. On 10 July 2006, the BBC announced that Richard had decided to leave EastEnders, after nearly 22 years in the show. An interview with The Sun revealed that problems with the EastEnders storyline (primarily Pauline's marriage to Joe Macer) was the main cause for her departure. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours.

In late 2006, Richard was seen as a guest presenter on the BBC's City Hospital series and on 31 March 2007, she presented the documentary A Tribute to John Inman, for BBC2. She also gave interviews for the first time in a number of years, making appearances on The Paul O'Grady Show, Big Brother's Little Brother, Loose Women, Parkinson and the Biography Channel special Gloria's Greats with Gloria Hunniford amongst others.

In April 2007, Richard announced that she would be appearing in a new role for the first time since leaving Eastenders, playing a part in a new sitcom penned by David Croft called Here Comes The Queen. The project came about after she personally asked her good friend Croft to write something for her. Richard had commented that "the part is like an older version of Miss Brahms".

In September 2007, it was announced that Richard was to join the second series of ITV1's sitcom Benidorm playing a “loud-mouthed, rude” wheelchair-bound character; the episodes aired in 2008.

In 2007, Richard was awarded a British Soap Award for 'Lifetime Achievement' for her role in EastEnders.

In January 2008, adverts for The Post Office featuring Richard (as a human cannonball) began to be shown. In February, she landed the role of Mrs. Crump in the episode "A Pocket Full of Rye" of the Marple TV series starring Julia McKenzie. This was to be her final role, airing in 2009.