Trivia

She is the mother of Benedict Cumberbatch.

She and husband Timothy Carlton portray the mother and father of Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock (2010). Sherlock is portrayed by their son, Benedict Cumberbatch.

She has a daughter named Tracie Bennett from her first marriage.

She lost out on the part of Jill Masterson, the character who is painted gold in Goldfinger (1964), to Shirley Eaton. Ventham was later painted gold for her role as Thea Ransome in the television serial Image of the Fendahl: Part One (1977).

She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

She was considered for the major guest role of Preston in Warriors of the Deep: Part One (1984), which went to Tara Ward.

Despite a long and impressive list of film and television credits going back over 60 years she is still frequently recognized by the UK public for a role she only played four times in the late 1980s, that of Pamela Parry (Del Boy's mother-in-law) in legendary British comedy/drama 'Only Fools & Horses' (1981).

Classy leading lady of 60s and 70s British TV, best remembered as Colonel Virginia Lake, second-in-command to Commander Ed Straker (Ed Bishop), in the cult series UFO. She also appeared thrice in Doctor Who: as Jean Rock in The Faceless Ones (1967), as Thea Ransome in Image of the Fendahl (1977) and as Faroon in Time and the Rani (1987).

First professional stage appearance at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in The Happy Prisoner.

At first wanted to become an artist and attended art school for a year whilst working as a scenic painter for the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, West Sussex, during school holidays.

In April 2014, People magazine featured her in its "Most Beautiful People in the World" edition.

Has gone on record as ridiculing the idea of Michael Caine being as highly regarded an actor as Ian Hendry.

The daughter of Frederick Howard Ventham and Gladys Frances Holtham.