Saturday 26 April 2014

Unknown Actress in A Killing on the Exchange (ITV/1987)


From another unidentified collector's clip from 1980s television, here is an actress that still needs to be identified.

The clip features actors Tim Woodward and Gavan O'Herlihy which have enabled the programme to be pinpointed as being A Killing On The Exchange which was a 6-part ITV drama serial from 1987.  There is also a snippet from another scene featured in the clip in which Tim Woodward is seen arguing with his wife whom credits show was played by Charlie Dore and pictures of her match the actress seen in the clip which further helps verify it.

The clip in question features an unknown young woman with very short dark hair topless in bed beside Dan Maitland (played by Gavan O'Herlihy) when his angry colleague John Field (played by Tim Woodward) comes in demanding a report - Dan introduces her incorrectly as "Phyllis Davenport-Rice" and she corrects him and says it is actually "Rice-Davenport" speaking with a cultured English accent.  Then Dan goes off to get the report leaving her in the room with John and she sticks her tongue out at him in a knowingly insolent manner (almost as if she knows him).

Unfortunately none of the credit sources available list anyone called "Phyllis". Although there are some names listed without character names shown. 

The other possibility is that she was knowingly giving a made-up name to Dan and John knew that but for plot-reasons but wasn't letting on - although that is just a speculative guess and such a relationship can't really be determined from what is seen in the clip.



Other actors seen in the clip

The programme's entry in the Kaleidoscope Guide has a per episode cast and the following are the female names who are not well known actresses who can be immediately ruled out (character names shown if listed).

Laura Venn ("Evey Field")  [eps 1, 2, 4, 6]
Not on IMDB and no pictures can be found.
However given that her character has the same surname as John Field (Tim Woodward), it can perhaps be surmised she is a daughter or mother and therefore unlikely to have been her.  His wife is Grace Field played by Charlie Dore.


Lorraine Brunning ("???")  [ep 2]
From a 2005-ish photo of her in Spotlight, it does not appear to be her.

Anne-Marie Marriott ("Lady Bee")  [eps 3, 4, 5]
I couldn't find any pictures of her online.  The only one that comes up is actually a misidentification of her from the Michael Palin film "The Missionary" attributing her to a topless scene that is actually Valerie Whittington.  I'll have to wait for a showing of The Missionary to try and spot her actual appearance in that.  Other things on her credits are very obscure.

Mary Clare Nash ("???")  [ep 3]
She is listed on IMDB (although "A Killing On The Exchange" is missing from her credits) - her only credits are for two very obscure TV things from 1976 and 1985 - neither of which seem particularly likely to ever be available to make a comparison.

Lesa Lockford ("Millicent Thorne")  [eps: all]
She had the same surname as the star John Duttine (Detective Superintendent Thorne) so may have been his wife.



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