Some Recent Observations 1

ITEM 1
Watching Sheridan Smith's debut Jonathan Creek story "The Grinning Man" again recently on the Drama channel, I noticed something interesting that I hadn't spotted on its original broadcast.  This is the episode in which she falls into a large water tank trap beneath a bath in an old tower room in which she is staying to try and debunk a myth that nobody ever survives a night spent there. 

In the bit when she falls down into the water it is debatable whether anything much is really seen in the shroud of air bubbles - and in any case it could be stunt double doing it.  Afterwards when she is being hauled naked out of the tank by Jonathan Creek, it is definitely her, but the sequence is filmed in a very careful way so nothing revealing is seen.  Consequently I never added an entry for this one on the site. 

But now watching again more carefully I noticed an appearance of what certainly appears to be the tip of her right breast, including her nipple, seen for about two frames in a kind of shadowed profile in the gap created between Alan Davies' arm and body.

Incidentally, Drama's showing of Jonathan Creek: The Judas Tree was the unedited version including the very brief topless glimpse of Sofia Hayat which BBC1 edited out of its own broadcast.


ITEM 2
Recently I watched the 2000 Ray Winstone film Sexy Beast on Film Four so I could better describe the scene involving Julianne White which I'd only seen in clip form and screenshots.  I had no reason to doubt the identification made by others for this scene because the woman in it looks like Julianne White and she is definitely in the film.
 
Unexpectedly, however, upon watching the film properly in full it turns out it is not actually Julianne White at all.

The scene in question involves a well-spoken lady sitting topless on a couch in a VIP club in London where an orgy is taking place nearby.  She is talking to two men whom she introduces to one another.  She is not named and does not appear again in the film.

Julianne White is one of the main characters called Jackie, the wife of Ray Winstone's friend in Spain.  The London club scene is a flashback which serves to show how the two men we see there (Ian McShane and James Fox) met.  The similarity between this woman and Julianne White appears to be coincidental and is not part of the story.  The narrative does not make any link between Jackie and these flashback events and clearly if it had been her this would have come out in the story in some way.  Also the speaking voices of the two women are very different.  The club woman speaks in a refined manner whereas Julianne White has a more common sort of accent.

And it becomes fairly clear when comparing screen images from the film of the two actresses that whilst they are remarkably similar looking there are some readily apparent differences and are not the same woman.  (e.g. the parting of their hair is on opposing sides).  It is reasonably understandable however how the mistake could have been made for someone not watching the film fully.

The credits don't make it entirely clear who the woman actually is but the best bet seems to be Ana Maldonado Herreria as "Matronly Woman".  This term could describe her role in the sense of being dignified and stately - and there wasn't really anyone else in the film who could have been thus described. There is not much about her online to confirm this and she is probably a Spanish actress since it was a UK-Spain co-production, possibly her voice was dubbed.

Julianne White's Sexy Beast entry has now been removed from the site.  Happily I can be sure that Julianne White's other known scene, which appears in the ITV series The Knock from 2000 (series 5, episode 1), IS definitely her because that episode was on the True Entertainment channel last week.

Post Round-Up - December 2013

For those that don't always read the comments, here is a round-up of query posts that have been resolved or have moved on a bit.


Not The Nine O'clock News - Baby On The Bus Sketch (13 October 2013)
The possible name I had of Robina Gange was corrected to Robina Gauge.  Along with two uncredited appearances she made in consecutive episodes of Are You Being Served.

Are You Being Served has recently been showing every weekday afternoon on BBC2.  When they came around, I recorded the two episodes in question, "Mrs Slocombe, Senior Person" and "The Hero", to see if I could spot the same woman as seen in the sketch.  However I could not, and nor was there any obvious commonality of the same extra seen in both episodes.  So either she appeared without her face being clearly seen or Robina Gauge is someone else and not the woman in the Not The Nine O'clock News: Baby On The Bus sketch.

It would seem now that the only way to progress this query any further would be to find out if there were any other uncredited roles listed for that particular episode of Not The Nine O'Clock News.


Unidentified Actress in 1983 Drama STUDIO (20 October 2013)
SOLVED: The name of the actress playing Liz has been identified as Paula Kitt.

Actresses to be Identified #1 (3 November 2013)
SOLVED: The actress in the Living TV trailer has been identified as Helen Goldwyn, via her own words in an online interview she did.


Unknown Drama #6 (15 December 2013)
RESOLVED: Information received shows that Julie La Rousse did indeed appear in Scene: Ties.

Unknown Drama #6

Here is another preserved 1980s TV clip query posted on an internet forum site. This time the actress involved has been identified with reasonable confidence and a contender for the programme has also been pinpointed. All that is missing is some additional confirmations.

In the scene a red haired woman is laying naked on a nude beach and is jeered at by some lads on the promenade until she gets up to confront them and they run away. No character names are heard being used.

Responders to this post suggested that he woman looked like the barmaid from early Only Fools and Horses episodes who occasionally had some lines and was credited as Julie La Rousse. She appeared (sometimes uncredited) in several episodes of the sitcom from 1982-1983 during the 2nd and 3rd series. After comparing her image I would agree it seems likely to be her.

Responders also recognised one of the lads as being a young Sean Chapman. This also checks out as almost certainly correct, he is the one seen on the left in the picture below.
　
On Sean Chapman's credits there is one thing that seems like it could be a possible source for the clip.
He was in a 1982 episode of the BBC's SCENE series entitled "Ties".

Cast: Tammi Jacobs (as Karen), Gillian Taylforth (as Sandra), Jacqueline Clarke (as Mother), Gordon Salkilld (as Father), Ray Burdis (as Graham), Julian Jones (as Colin), Sean Chapman (as Steve), Andrew Ashby (as Roy), Billy Fellows (as Eric).
IMDB Summary: "Karen and her older sister Sandra both take a trip to Brighton due to unforeseen circumstances"
BFI Summary: "Drama by Barry Purchese, aimed at teenagers, about two sisters who have different attitudes to boys, marriage and life, until a trip to Brighton causes each to think again."

The "Brighton" setting is the main reason it seems a good possibility. Because clearly the scene has a seaside setting and Brighton is known to have a nude beach. Julie La Rousse is not listed but since she does not actually have any dialogue that might be because she went uncredited (assuming it is this programme at all).

Of course given that the SCENE series was aimed at teenagers and shown during the daytime schools programming slot, it might perhaps seem a bit unlikely that such a scene would be included. It certainly wouldn't today in a drama aimed at teenagers (not even in post-watershed adult dramas most of the time). SCENE was however a thought-provoking series that covered a number of hard-hitting issues and perhaps they were simply more bold and daring back then.

At any rate this is currently the best (and only) possibility found. If it is indeed Julie La Rousse as suspected then the fact that she looks very similar to how she appears in her Only Fools and Horses appearances tends to support the year of 1982.

What is needed to add this one to the site as a fully fledged entry is some confirmation that Julie La Rousse was connected to it. Or an identification of either of the two lads seen with Sean Chapman who will hopefully be amongst the credited names - or, if not, a different identification may help to turn the spotlight towards another programme altogether.

Incidentally it's possible that "Julie La Rousse" is in fact some sort of a pseudonym, since her name pretty much translates to "Julie the Redhead" which seems to fit her too well to be a pure coincidence.
　
Here is my scene description prepared ready for the site when and if I'm satisfied everything ties together:-
Rear nudity and most of the front of her breasts are seen while she is laying on a towel on (Brighton's) nude beach as she looks up when she hears three rowdy lads jeering at her from the promenade - her breasts are against a towel so no nipple nudity is seen - then topless from a medium distance as she stands up holding a towel loosely around her waist and boldly walks over to the lads intending to confront them - this unnerves them and they scarper before she reaches them - then briefly topless as she turns back satisfied she has seen them off with rear nudity seen as she returns to her position on the beach.



　

Julie La Rousse in Only Fools and Horses

The lads from the clip with Sean Chapman on the left

Unknown Drama #5

(Updated May 2014, with full collage included)


Here is another unidentified clip from an 1980s TV drama. For this one I have a possible answer but have no way to confirm it.

This clip features a longish sequence showing a blonde stripper doing a topless routine on the floor of a men's club and doing a lap dance for one of the younger men who is a bit reluctant but is being encouraged by his vociferous older companion.  There is some general chitchat and laddish comments but no character names are mentioned.






Here are images of some men in the sequence who are seen close up



• A) Seems to be the leader of the group. It has been suggested that he might be the actor Tom Adams.
• B) The slightly green younger friend of A.
• C) Looks a bit like another actor called "Adams". Tony Adams who played Adam Chance in Crossroads. But this actor may just be a crowd extra reacting to the stripper. He is not heard speaking in the extract so I can't tell if he would be likely to be credited or not.

　
If "A" is indeed Tom Adams then I've found a seemingly good possibility involving him in a play that also seemingly affirmingly has an actress credited as playing a Stripper and a plot description that seems to be supported by what occurs in the extract.

West Country Tales was an anthology series on BBC2 that ran for 14 episodes over two series from 1982 - 1983. The stories were spooky in nature.

In Series 2 in 1983, there is an episode called "Tell It To The Marines" which stars Tom Adams.

The BFI database's synopsis for that episode is "Martin And his corporal are out for a night to remember. Martin's heart really isn't in it, however. The corporal picks up a lonely widow, but gives her Martin's name"

The listed cast are: Tom Adams (as Corporal), Andy Hart (as Martin), Jenny Barnes (as Widow), Samantha Jay (as Stripper)

If the clip is from this drama then the "night to remember" could be referring to the stripper scene, and Martin, whose "heart really isn't in it", could be Man "B" who seems to be playing it a bit like that. Beyond that however the clip extract reveals nothing else.

If "B" is Andy Hart then I can't double check his likeness via other work because he seems to have been in nothing else. Likewise Samantha Jay shows up in nothing else except for a 1981 episode of "The Innes Book of Records". (Although even if not the right thing then she was clearly playing some sort of stripper in the West Country Tales episode so it would still warrant a look).

As for "C" who looks like Crosssroads' Tony Adams. He is not listed on any credits seen for this episode and it could be someone who just looks a bit like him. According to IMDB Tony Adams was in original Crossroads from 1978 to 1988 and so may not have been free to do other stuff anyway in 1983.
　
With several things fitting together on this one it would seem a big coincidence if it doesn't turn out to be right, although that possibility remains. However, as things stand there seems to be no way to actually confirm anything so it will have to remain unlisted for now until or unless something corroborating is found.

Of course if it isn't Tom Adams in the lead role then the whole thing falls apart anyway.