Pik-Sen Lim (, born 15 September 1944) is a Malaysian-British

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. According to the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, Lim was "the most familiar Chinese actor on British television screens in the 1970s and 80s." Her notable roles include Chin Lee in the 1971 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' serial ''

The Mind of Evil ''The Mind of Evil'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 8), eighth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 January to 6 March 1971. In th ...

'', Chung Su-Lee on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

sitcom ''

Mind Your Language ''Mind Your Language'' is a British sitcom that premiered on ITV in 1977. It was produced by London Weekend Television and directed by Stuart Allen. Three series were made by the London Weekend Television between 1977 and 1979 and briefly reviv ...

'' (1977–79), Tsai Adams on the military drama '' Spearhead'' (1978–81), and the killer cleaner in ''

Johnny English Reborn ''Johnny English Reborn'' is a 2011 spy action comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and written by Hamish McColl from a story by William Davies. A sequel to ''Johnny English'' (2003) and the second instalment in the ''Johnny English'' serie ...

'' (2011). She was also the narrator for the ''

Dark Souls is a series of action role-playing games created by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series began with the release of ''Dark Souls'' (2011) and has seen two sequels, ''Dark Souls II'' (2014) a ...

'' video game series.

Early life

Lim was born to Malayan Chinese parents in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

( occupied by Japan at the time of her birth), and was the daughter of the palm oil millionaire Lim Cheng-Teik. She attended convent school in Penang, where she was nicknamed "Pixie". Against the wishes of her family, she moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

at the age of 16 to study at the

London School of Dramatic Art The London School of Dramatic Art is a drama school based in South Kensington in London that offers training for those intending to pursue a professional career in acting. The School The School was initially set up by actor Jake Taylor and castin ...

. Her birth name was

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

Lim Phaik-Seng, but she changed her given name to "Pik-Sen" since her British friends would mispronounce "Phaik" as "fake".

Career

In 1964, she appeared in the hospital drama series ''

Emergency – Ward 10 ''Emergency Ward 10'' is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like ''The Grove Family'', a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, ''Emergency Ward 10'' is considered to be one of British television's fi ...

'', playing a nurse. There she met scriptwriter

Don Houghton Donald Herbert Houghton (2 February 1930 – 2 July 1991) was a British television screenwriter and producer. Career Born in Paris to Scottish parents, Houghton started writing for radio in 1951 before moving into film and television in 1958. In ...

, whom she married in 1968. The couple's daughter,

Sara Houghton Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * ''Sara'' (2010 film), 2010 Sri Lankan Sinhal ...

, is also an actress; the two women once portrayed characters with the same relationship in ''

Three Thousand Troubled Threads 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 190 ...

''. Sara also appeared in a serial of ''

'' spin-off ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC sc ...

'' called ''

The Curse of Clyde Langer ''The Curse of Clyde Langer'' is a two-part story of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' which was broadcast on CBBC on 10 and 11 October 2011. It is the second story of the fifth and final series. Plot Part 1 At school, Clyde shows Rani ''The S ...

''. She also appeared in Don Houghton scripted ''

'' serial ''

'' in 1971, and the first three seasons of the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' speaking

Penang Hokkien Penang Hokkien (; Tâi-lô: ''Pin-siânn Hok-kiàn-uā''; ; ) is a local variant of Hokkien spoken in Penang, Malaysia. It is spoken as a mother tongue by 63.9% of Penang's Chinese community, and also by some Penangite Indians and Penangit ...

as her Chinese language. Here, she was obliged to speak in an exaggerated, stereotyped Chinese accent. Her later appearances are roles in the short lived soap operas ''

Albion Market ''Albion Market'' was a British soap opera, set in a covered market in Salford, in the northwest of England. It was intended as a companion to fellow ITV soap ''Coronation Street'', starting at 7:00 pm on Fridays and 7.15 pm on Sundays. Howeve ...

'' (1985) and '' Night and Day'' (2003), as well as ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'' (2000), ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'' (2005), and as a character in the comedy series ''

Little Britain Little Britain may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little Britain'' (sketch show), a British radio and then TV show ** ''Little Britain USA'', an American spin-off * "Little Britain", a song by Dreadzone from the 1995 album '' Second Light'' ...

'' (2004). She is the narrator of the ''

'' series of video games.

Filmography

Theatre

References

External links

* * 1944 births Living people People from Penang British actresses British actresses of Chinese descent English people of Chinese descent {{UK-actor-stub