Alethea charlton 1932/ 6th may 1976

[midnight sheep]

I first noticed her in the Thriller episode "Someone At The Top Of The Stairs" in which she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Oxhey.



She was also great in the Out Of The Unknown episode "This Body Is Mine".



Just recently I enjoyed her in The Lotus Eaters.



Also the Upstairs Downstairs "Board Wages" episode.



Anyone out there a fan or have any more information on her?.

[scenesixty]

I first noticed her in the Thriller episode "Someone At The Top Of The Stairs" in which she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Oxhey.



She was also great in the Out Of The Unknown episode "This Body Is Mine".



Just recently I enjoyed her in The Lotus Eaters.



Also the Upstairs Downstairs "Board Wages" episode.



Anyone out there a fan or have any more information on her?.

Good posting-Alathea was good in this-very creepy performance!

[Geoffers]

I first noticed her in the Thriller episode "Someone At The Top Of The Stairs" in which she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Oxhey.



She was also great in the Out Of The Unknown episode "This Body Is Mine".



Just recently I enjoyed her in The Lotus Eaters.



Also the Upstairs Downstairs "Board Wages" episode.



Anyone out there a fan or have any more information on her?.

Not much but I first remember seeing her in a curious BBC drama/documentary called The Hardy Heating Company, which I was forced to watch as part of my accountancy studies. It was around 1969/70 and also in the cast was Harvey Hall whom I'd previously seen playing a Nazi in an earlier BBC children's series called The Long Way Home. He was much nicer in this, playing an accountant or similar!

[George Bailey]

She played an auntie in Sam. She was absolutely wonderful in that series. She was a really good actress. She died either during or just after making the series.

[wellendcanons]

I first noticed her in the Thriller episode "Someone At The Top Of The Stairs" in which she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Oxhey.



She was also great in the Out Of The Unknown episode "This Body Is Mine".



Just recently I enjoyed her in The Lotus Eaters.



Also the Upstairs Downstairs "Board Wages" episode.



Anyone out there a fan or have any more information on her?.

I haven't seen Alethea Charlton in much but she has left an impression on me, mainly for her appearance as the sinister Mrs Oxhey in Someone At The Top Of The Stairs.



I have also seen her in two Dr Who adventures. The first was An Unearthly Child, which features the very first episode. Alethea didn't appear in that one, but she did appear in the remaining three. She also appeared in my favourite Dr Who story of all-time called The Time Meddler. It was set during the time when William The Conquerer invaded Northumberland in 1066. Peter Butterworth had a brilliant part as a time travelling Monk.

[midnight sheep]

She was also in the Menace episode Man With A Mission but I found it so boring I had to turn it off!.

[wellendcanons]

I saw Alethea in an episode of Manhunt recently. She played a French resistence fighter sheltering Peter Barkworth and Alfred Lynch from the Nazis. It was nice to see Alethea in something I had never seen her in before. She was a damned good actress.



wec

[Gerald Lovell]

She also popped up in one of the Douglas Wilmer SHERLOCK HOLMES episodes called "The Copper Beeches", playing Patrick Wymark's wife.

[midnight sheep]

What a shame she had such a short life.She had great comic skills as in the Board Wages episode of Upstairs Downstairs.

Fans of old tv will be quite familiar with her especially since the advent of dvd and all these boxsets ect..

[chuffnobbler]

Other than those two Doctor Whos (both very good performances), I'e only ever seen her in an episode of The Lotus Eaters. She died very young, but I've never found anymore information about her. A very memorable actress from thsoe three performances.

[Gerald Lovell]

Other than those two Doctor Whos (both very good performances), I'e only ever seen her in an episode of The Lotus Eaters. She died very young, but I've never found anymore information about her. A very memorable actress from thsoe three performances.

Amazingly for DOCTOR WHO, especially 1965 vintage, the implication in "The Time Meddler" is that Alethea's character is raped by the vikings.

[midnight sheep]

Alethea can soon be seen in the Shadows Of Fear episode Repent At Leisure.
The creepy 1970 anthology series is released by Network next Monday the 11th of March.

Apart from one episode this series has not been retransmitted since originally shown.It looks very exciting similar to Thriller, Journey To The Unknown etc..

[wellendcanons]

Alethea can soon be seen in the Shadows Of Fear episode Repent At Leisure.
The creepy 1970 anthology series is released by Network next Monday the 11th of March.

Apart from one episode this series has not been retransmitted since originally shown.It looks very exciting similar to Thriller, Journey To The Unknown etc..

Thanks for the information Midnight Sheep. This sounds like a series for my collection.

wec

[midnight sheep]

Your welcome Wec!..
Hope you enjoy them.

[cornershop15]

TVTimes interview for 12-18 July 1975 issue

I didn't know I had this. What a discovery! Odd that such a great actress believed "a woman's place is in the home":



The episode of Sam shown that week was called Gains and Losses. Less than a year later, Heaven's gain would be our loss.

Fans of old tv will be quite familiar with her especially since the advent of dvd and all these boxsets

Indeed. Alethea has become one of my favourite actresses in the last few years, almost entirely due to Network. So far, I have seen her in the Sherlock Holmes episode Gerald mentioned (the earliest in my collection), The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder, Out of the Unknown, Public Eye, Upstairs Downstairs, Follyfoot and of course Thriller, which first brought her to my attention.

I'm hoping to add a few more Network titles when they have their next (half price!) sale - The Gold Robbers, Shadows of Fear, Six Days of Justice - and my Amazon 'shopping basket' still contains Sam and Manhunt. Plenty more to come then but still no sign of The Cedar Tree being released. This appears to have been her last screen role.

[wellendcanons]

Thanks Cornershop for that excellent post. I very much enjoyed reading it. Looking at the dates, I must have had a copy of that TV Times edition myself at that time.

Alethea is very much a favourite of mine too. Such a shame she never married and that she died only a year after this article was printed. I'm glad this thread at least has come alive again. I had forgotten about Midnight Sheep's recommendation of the Network release of Shadows Of Fear.

wec

[wellendcanons]

According to Wikipedia we now have a date of birth for Alethea. She is a Leo, so it is likely to be correct. The birth year is different though.
Alethea Charlton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
wec

[wellendcanons]

It seems likely Alethea was actually born in 1931. This would mean she was born and died in the same years as Mike Pratt.
Obituaries - Alethea Charlton
Aveleyman - Alethea Charlton
Alethea Charlton - TARDIS Index File, the Doctor Who Wiki
wec

[midnight sheep]

Hi Cornershop,

Until now we fans knew next to nothing about Alethea.So thanks so much for uploaded that rare feature on her.
All very interesting.She must have been doing well to have 3 homes!..
The last thing I viewed her in was the Shadows Of Fear episode Repent At Leisure.It's actually one of the best of the 11 episodes..Her role is not large but she looks very well and gives a first rate performance as always.
Must get Crown Court at some point also.
Thanks again.

[DaveWright72]

A check of British records show she was born 9 August 1931 in Middlesbrough, Cleveland, Yorkshire, to John Clive Charlton and Phillis Blow Charlton. Her father was a "master decorator and painter," living at 384 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough. She died at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Chelsea of malignant melanoma on 6 May 1976. Her address on the death certificate is 3 Embankment Gardens, London SW3. She was cremated, and was unmarried. Her obituary in The Stage, 13 May 1976 (page 13) states she was a teacher before attending Bradford Theatre School, and further states:

"As an actress she worked a good deal in television and BBC radio. She was in the cast of Granada's Sam from 1972 until 1975, and also appeared in an episode of that company's Crown Court. Included among the many productions she appeared in were: ATV's Thriller series, London Weekend's Upstairs Downstairs and The Gold Robbers, Thames' Public Eye, BBC's The Lotus Eaters and Doomwatch, and several BBC plays and a drama documentary on Marie Stopes. She will also be seen in ATV's The Cedar Tree which will be shown in the autumn."

An earlier notice in The Stage, 23 June 1960 (page 16) gives some more detail on her career:

"Alethea Charlton, who was one of the original members of the new White Rose Players at Harrogate Opera house when it reopened nearly two years ago, after being closed for three years, returns to the company this week in 'A Clean Kill.'
She studied for the stage under Esme Church and Rudolph Laban and toured for a while with The Children's Theatre, but having studied elocution and been trained as a teacher, she had two strings to her bow. She was for a short time a lecturer in elocution at a Yorkshire school, but an opportunity came for her to return to the stage and she found it to be her real career. She continued stage work, along with television, including appearances with Charlie Chester.
She was for a while at York, and before going to Harrogate was at Morecambe. She has now relinquished her York post to return to Harrogate, where she made many friends. She has a gift for character parts, but is equally at home in sophisticated roles."

A final newspaper announcement of her death gives a few more details: that she was educated at Ripon, taught at Bingley, and owned a cottage in the village of Rosedale, near Pickering, where her parents ran the local post office.

I hope these might add a bit more to what we know of Miss Charlton. Nice to see her remembered still, so long after she has passed.

Best regards,

Dave Wright