Virginia Stride

Virginia Stride born Virginia Thomas in Yokohama Japan is a British actress of stage and screen who first came to public attention on television in the 1960s She was the first wife of the actor John Stride 19362018 whom she met when they were studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art RADA and in 1964 she introduced the first programme to be seen on BBC2 Virginia Stride played the recurring role of BD Girl Katy Hoskins in ZCars 196264 the longrunning BBC television series about the police in an area of Liverpool In 1964 she appeared in an episode of The Avengers as Alice Brisket secretary to Quilpie played by Ronald Radd who was the controller of John Steed Patrick Macnee and Cathy Gale Honor Blackman With Gordon Rollings Stride was the first presenter on 21 April 1964 of Play School a daily programme for young children on BBC 2 Because a power failure coincided with the channels scheduled opening the previous evening3 Play School was the first programme to be transmitted on BBC2 In 1966 Stride appeared in the BBC comedy series On the Margin a collection of sketches and songs written by Alan Bennett who together with John Sergeant later the BBCs political correspondent also starred in the show The six episodes of On the Margin were twice repeated in 1967 but were among many programmes wiped by the BBC in the 1970s A compact disc of surviving audio extracts was released by the BBC in 2009 Virginia Strides bestknown role was probably as the seductive Liz Champion in Champion House a weekly drama series created for the BBC by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling5 which concerned a familyrun textile business in Yorkshire Liz Champion was a member of the companys board She was the daughter of Jack Champion whose father Joe played by Edward Chapman had made the company over to him only to see it pass after Jacks early death to Lizs eldest brother Stephen James Kerry who had his own less compliant ideas of the firms direction The first episode of Champion House was shown on 28 May 1967 and there was a second series in 1968 Its initial profile was assisted by live coverage on 28 May of the return of Sir Francis Chichester from his solo circumnavigation of the world Virginia Stride appeared in episodes of a number of other television series including Out of the World 1962 Public Eye 1966 The Baron 1966 as an hotelier who has an implied onenight stand with John Mannering the Baron played by Steve Forrest7 The Mind of Mr JG Reeder as Margaret Bellman in the first series in 1969 a role that Gillian Lewis played in the second series in 1971 Callan 1972 The Expert 1976 Target 1978 and A Touch of Spice 1989 Her films include I Want What I Want 1972 based on Geoff Browns novel of 1966 about transsexualism In the early 21st century Stride performed with the Agatha Christie Theatre Company for example on tour in The Unexpected Guest with among others Simon MacCorkindale and former singer Mark Wynter in 2006 Virginia Stride has three daughters Philippa and Lindsay by her first husband the actor John Stride and another daughter from a subsequent relationship with the producer and football chairman Bill Kenwright She has four grandchildren