Helen Christine Blatch (''née'' Wilson; 24 January 1934 – 31 December 2015) was a British actress on stage and screen, best remembered on screen for her roles in '' Doctor Who'' (in the serials ''

The Deadly Assassin ''The Deadly Assassin'' is the third serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 October to 20 November 1976. It is the first seri ...

'' and '' The Twin Dilemma'') and ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy in ...

'', and on stage for her casting as "Cerimon, a lord of Ephesus", in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1989–1990 performance of ''

Pericles Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...

''.

Career

Born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, Blatch trained at The Questors Student Group Course, finishing in 1958, and performed with the Questors for some years afterwards. She spent some years in repertory, working with directors such as Sam Walters,

David Scase David Scase (21 September 1919 – 27 February 2003) was a British theatre director and actor. Born at Fulham, London, as the son of a bricklayer, his first job was in a bicycle factory in the mid-1930s. He joined the Merchant Navy on the outbr ...

David Thacker David Thacker (born 21 December 1950) is an English theatre director. He is married to the actress Margot Leicester. Education Thacker studied at the University of York. Theatre Thacker was the artistic director at the Octagon Theatre Bolton unti ...

and

Phyllida Lloyd Phyllida Christian Lloyd, (born 17 June 1957) is an English film director and producer, best known for ''Mamma Mia!'' (2008) and '' The Iron Lady'' (2011). Her theatre work includes directing productions at the Royal Court Theatre and Royal Na ...

. Her performances attracted positive reviews ("Miss Blatch .. is capable of an extraordinary tranquillity of both voice and manner, against which slight nuances of intonation or expression register with great effect"; "Helen Blatch captures perfectly the fragility and neuroses of the regressing morphine addict living in a dream of the past"; "Helen Blatch is strong and striking ... Her wit is waspish, her frailty acute, her quest for affection chilling.") She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1989, and, in her first season there, was described by one reviewer as "a find". Her casting as Cerimon, "a lord of Ephesus", in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

'' was considered by one contemporary reviewer as "a brilliant stroke, for Cerimon (Helen Blatch) becomes a healer whose urgent goodness and brightly pitched grief has us eating magic from her hand." Another reviewer said "this presentation of power within gentleness, strength within femininity, was profoundly impressive." A 2004 survey of performances of ''Pericles'' said "Helen Blatch brought to the part a combination of compassionate humanity and priestly authority", and commented, "In a virtuoso piece of doubling, Helen Blatch went on to play the Bawd in brothel scenes that were positively Hogarthian in their fetid realism; by having one actress play parts so different, Thacker emphasized the way in which Pericles ... brings together contrasting extremes: here, .. juxtaposed in a single performer." Since Blatch's performance, Cerimon has often been cast as female. Blatch appeared in many other classic and modern plays. For her role in Sir

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

's ''The Gift of the Gorgon'', she learned Greek from a 'How to Speak Greek' tape and tourist guidebook. Her performance in Sir David Hare's '' Racing Demon'' as "Espy's understandably unhappy wife" was particularly noted as "affecting ... their final scene of clenched and frigid misery sends a shiver down the spine." She appeared in films also (including different roles in two versions of ''A Doll's House'') and in many TV series. Her longest-enduring television role was as Nora Madkay in the ITV series ''

'', but she is perhaps best known for her two roles in '' Doctor Who'': the voice of the Matrix in the 1976 serial ''

'', and Fabian in the 1984 serial '' The Twin Dilemma''.

Selected stage performances

Selected filmography

Personal life

Blatch commented in a 2002 interview that she had entered the theatre against her father's wishes. It was announced in January 2018 that Blatch died on 31 December 2015, aged 82.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blatch, Helen 1934 births 2015 deaths Actresses from Southampton British stage actresses British television actresses