Louise jameson partner
- •
Born: 20th April 1951 (as Louise Marion Jameson)
Episodes Broadcast: 1977-1978, 1993
Louise Jameson was born in Wanstead, London and grew up a few miles to the north, at Woodford Green. From a young age, she was encouraged by her mother to become involved in amateur dramatics, and Jameson had already joined the Wanstead Players by the time she entered her teenaged years. After graduation, she took the time to complete a secretarial course, but soon enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The stage remained Jameson's abiding love, and she spent two years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company starting in 1973. By that time, she had already had minor television roles in programmes such as Tom Brown's Schooldays and Z Cars, as well as a more significant four-episode stint on the soap opera Emmerdale Farm. Jameson's movie debut came in a 1972 horror called Disciple Of Death.
Upon leaving the RSC, Jameson was determined to win a starring role on television. After appearing in the children's serial Dominic, she spent some time working in a
- •
Biography
by Carson Maynard
Louise Jameson came from a family that did not have a very largebackground in the acting field, although her mother did "one Scotsporridge oats advert!" As do many teenagers, Louise suffered from acute shyness for a time, but this problem was resolved during her time at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Louise attended RADA from 1969 until 1971,by which time she felt fairly confident of her talents. She landed her firstjob - four lines in Cider With Rosie - quickly, and to this day shetreasures her royalty check for six pence which she was paid when CiderWith Rosie was sold to Iceland.
Louise's first big film part was, as she says, "terrible", but "Iloved it! I played this randy virgin sacrifice who had her heart torn out bythe Devil and spent most of the film walking around like a zombie."
Louise spent two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, duringwhich time she performed in Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of theShrew, King Lear, and Blithe Spirit.
Then along came Doctor Who, in which Louise played one ofthe most divergent com
- •
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
Copyright ©bandtide.pages.dev 2025