Hello everyone.
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley.
I’m saddened Jean Marsh has passed away. For many, Jean Marsh co-created and starred in the ITV series ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’. She also co-created the BBC TV series called ‘The House of Elliot’ with Eileen Atkins (who also co-created ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ with Jean).
Jean Marsh has also been in ‘Doctor Who’. She played three characters in the classic TV series, including Joanna in ‘The Crusade’, Sara Kingdom in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ and Morgaine in ‘Battlefield’. She’s very well-known for playing Sara Kingdom in ‘Doctor Who’.
Sara Kingdom was a short-time companion of William Hartnell as the First Doctor in the classic TV series. Jean Marsh has reprised the role of Sara Kingdom in many Big Finish audios over the years, including ‘The Daleks: The Destroyers’ and ‘The Five Companions’.
I’m saddened I didn’t get to meet Jean Marsh at a convention, but I’m pleased she reprised the role of Sara Kingdom in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’, as I’ve greatly enjoyed her performances. 🙂 Jean also made a cameo in ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’.
Outside of ‘Doctor Who’, I’ve seen her in a 2008 TV production of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ as well as an episode of ‘Grantchester’. I’ve also seen her in the 1989 TV film ‘Danny the Champion of the World’, based on the book by Roald Dahl, which I enjoyed watching as a kid.
Going back to ‘Doctor Who’, I enjoyed Jean Marsh co-read the novelizations of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ with Peter Purves, including ‘Mission to the Unknown’ and ‘The Mutation of Time’. 🙂 Seeing Jean Marsh in ‘Doctor Who’ has given me happy memories. 🙂
Jean Marsh was also married to Jon Pertwee for five years in case you didn’t know. 😀 There’s no doubt Jean Marsh has left behind an incredible legacy in terms of her acting career. As well as ‘Doctor Who’, she’s been in four episodes of ‘The Saint’ with Roger Moore. 🙂
Here are photos of Jean Marsh with cast members like Peter Purves, Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Anneke Wills and William Russell from the recording of ‘The Five Companions’ in 2011.
My prayers and thoughts go to the friends and family of Jean Marsh during this difficult time. Check out the Radio Times tribute to Jean Marsh here.
Thanks for reading, everyone.
Bye for now.
Tim
Bradley's Basement 
I will always remember Jean best for her Doctor Who contributions. Also for a classic Twilight Zone role as a female android named Alicia in The Lonely. R.I.P., Jean. 💓
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi scifimike,
Many thanks for sharing the video clips featuring Jean Marsh in the three ‘Doctor Who’ stories she was in. ‘The Crusade’ clip is my favourite, especially when seeing Jean acting opposite Julian Glover. Also thanks for sharing ‘The Twilight Zone’ clip of the episode Jean Marsh was in. I’ve not seen ‘The Twilight Zone’ much, but it was very interesting to see Jean Marsh in that video clip.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome. I was a big fan of the classic Twilight Zone series fan in my teens after seeing the episode The Little People. I first saw The Lonely when I started buying TZ episodes on VHS. It’s about a convict who gets sentenced to solitary confinement on an asteroid, and then finds long-awaited companionship in the android Alicia.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing what ‘The Twilight Zone’ series and ‘The Lonely’ episode with Jean Marsh is all about. Hopefully, I’ll get to see it someday.
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Damn… I’d heard she hadn’t been well for some time.
On Doctor Who, Jean Marsh played ladies of distinction — the Lady Joanna, Sara Kingdom and Morgaine. I’ll always think of her as Sara, first. The first companion who was fashioned in that Avengers girl mould and allowed to actually live up to it. Intelligent, complex and compelling even when we had nothing more than telesnaps and vocal recordings.
It’s difficult to mention the rest of Marsh’s oeuvre because she was such a definitive presence in film and television. Her first credited role was in 1952 and, from that point, it’s difficult to point to a decade — or even a year — that she wasn’t appearing in one production or another.
There’s something wonderfully fitting that after Sara, Marsh was helping The Saint in a Robert Holmes script that predicted The Deadly Assassin. Not too long later, she was in the same production as Peter Wyngarde of Planet of Fire for Department S. She even played Morgana in the same year she played Morgaine in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
It always felt odd to see Jean Marsh play the ingenue or the innocent, knowing the powerful women that she would often play and be recognised for.
Eventually, we had her return for a wonderful reprisal of Sara Kingdom. She helped turn what could’ve easily been a missed opportunity into one of the most memorable parts of the First Doctor’s era. A set of stories that forged forward, telling their own teeth-cutting tales, rather than languishing in vapid nostalgia.
And now, Jean Marsh is gone.
And I think a goodly part of film and television history has gone with her.
Rest in peace.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Wolfie,
Thanks for sharing about Jean Marsh. It’s very sad she’s gone. Apparently, one of my friends met her at a ‘Collectormania’ in Milton Keynes in 2014. I’m pleased he and his son met Jean Marsh then and I’m glad she managed to do conventions.
I didn’t know about the 1989 TV film ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ featuring Jean Marsh, as I’ve only seen and reviewed the 1949 film with Bing Crosby. Apparently, Rene Auberjonois (Odo from ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’) played Merlin in that TV film too. Thanks for sharing that tidbit of information regarding Jean Marsh in 1989’s ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’. It goes to show how much she did in her career as an actress and that’s an incredible achievement.
I’m very pleased Jean Marsh has reprised her role as Sara Kingdom in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’, as I wouldn’t have liked her character in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ to have been forgotten, especially when she’s considered a First Doctor companion in that 12-part story. I’m pleased Big Finish have been able to do stories featuring the First Doctor, Steven and Sara in that slot set between Episodes 6 and 7 of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ as well as stories where Jean Marsh played an older Sara that somehow managed to survive her death. I’ve not heard all the Big Finish stories featuring Jean Marsh as Sara, but the ones I’ve heard including ‘The Five Companions’ have been great to listen to.
Many thanks and Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person