Stephanie Turner (born 25 May 1944) is an English actress. She is best known for the lead role of Inspector Jean Darblay in the first three series of the 1980s

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

BBC police drama ''

Juliet Bravo ''Juliet Bravo'' is a British television police procedural drama series, first broadcast on 30 August 1980, that ran for six series and a total of 88 episodes on BBC1. The theme of the series concerned a female police inspector who took over con ...

'' (1980–82). Turner was born in Bradford,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. An early screen appearance was in ''

Morning Story ''Morning Story'' is a British film made by BBC Television in 1969 and first broadcast in January 1970, directed by Gareth Davies and starring Lee Montague. Outline A door-to-door salesman finds a young girl playing in the street, which leads h ...

'' (1970), and she also played

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

's screen wife, Alison Carter. In 1974 she appeared in an episode of '' Special Branch'' - also guest starring Dennis Waterman's on-screen sister. Turner also appeared in an early episode of '' The Sweeney'' (1975), and WPC Howarth in ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debut ...

'' (1972–75), which stood her in good stead for her role as Inspector Darblay. She appeared in a 1975 episode of ''

Public Eye Public Eye or The Public Eye may refer to: * ''Public Eye'' (TV series), a British television series that ran from 1965 to 1975 * ''The Public Eye'' (TV series), a Canadian television public affairs television series which aired on CBC Televisio ...

'' as Julia Sissons, a 'missing' common-law wife-turned-barmaid. She also made an appearance in ''

Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' is a British sitcom which was broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit ''The Likely Lads''. It was created and written, as was its predec ...

'' and played a recurring role as Jessie Naylor, '' née'' Maugham, in Series 2 of '' Sam'' (1974). In the 1990s, she was in each episode of ''

The Hello Girls ''The Hello Girls'' is a British comedy-drama that originally aired on BBC One for two series from 5 September 1996 to 13 August 1998. It was inspired by the novel ''Switchboard Operators'' written by Carol Lake. The series is set in and around ...

'' as Miss Armitage, a supervisor of a 1950s GPO switchboard; and played Mrs Hope Q.C. in two episodes of ''

At Home with the Braithwaites ''At Home with the Braithwaites'' is a British comedy-drama television series, created and written by Sally Wainwright (except for the final four episodes). The storyline follows a suburban family in Leeds, whose life is turned upside down whe ...

''. Having worked in various roles between the 1960s and 2000s on stage, on radio, on television and as a director, Turner retired from acting in 2010. In more recent years she has helped to direct drama students, had a share in an antiques business, and volunteered with InterAct Stroke Support (a charity that allows actors to read to patients following a stroke).

References

External links

* 1944 births Living people British television actresses Actresses from Yorkshire {{UK-tv-actor-1940s-stub