 Louise Jameson was one of a handful of actresses who both benefited from and
contributed to the opening out of roles for women on British television during
the 1970s and 80s, when she became associated with a series of tough,
resourceful and independent characters in genres where women had conventionally
been either victims or vamps.
As the lithe, knife-wielding 'savage', Leela, companion to Tom Baker's Doctor
Who (BBC, 1963-1989) from 1977 to 1978, she introduced a degree of self-reliance and edge where
her female predecessors had mostly been reduced to screaming in the face of
alien adversity. The downside was dialogue too often characterised by a 'me
Jane' demotic, and an exoticised, revealing animal skin outfit that
said much about the failure of 1970s feminism to permeate the BBC's production
or costume departments (though it certainly helped build the show's following
among dads). A year later she returned to sci-fi in the more adult The Omega
Factor (BBC, 1979) as one of a team of paranormal investigators in what has come
to be seen as an ancestor of The X-Files (US, 1993-2002).
She was back in rags for what was perhaps the defining role of her career, in
Tenko (BBC, 1981-84). Jameson's tetchy and defiant Blanche, alongside her ally, Stephanie Beacham's similarly gutsy Rose, was at the
emotional centre of this gruelling drama of women prisoners of war in
Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II. Proud, wilful and sexually
confident, the working-class Blanche was the most provocative character in a
series which made a feature of challenging female stereotypes.
She had a more glamorous, if perhaps less demanding - and certainly less
iconic - role as the girlfriend of the popular Jersey-based detective Bergerac
(BBC, 1981-91), joining the series in 1985. After that, however, strong,
high-profile parts were thin on the ground. In 1985, she had been instrumental
in securing Leslie Grantham his role in EastEnders (BBC, 1985-), and in 1998,
Jameson - herself an East Ender, born in Wanstead in 1951 - found herself in the
cast. But as Rosa, matriarch of the much-derided Di Marco clan, she was unable
to escape from a narrow Italian stereotype and had little chance to win over sceptical fans. She left the series in 2000, since which time she has been more active in theatre,
though she has made a few guest appearances in popular dramas (The Bill, ITV, 1985-; Doctors,
BBC, 2000-).
Mark Duguid
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FILM & TV CREDITS
