Sandra Michaels

Sandra Michaels
Born 1944 (age 73–74)
England
Occupation Actress

English actress Sandra Michaels was born in 1944.[1][2] Her first television role was in March 1957, playing Phyllis in the second BBC adaptation of The Railway Children.[2][3] Later that year she appeared as Pamela Gwendolyn Stuart in The Adventures of Clint and Mac, a British-made serial commissioned by Walt Disney Studios for The Mickey Mouse Club.[2] Also in 1957 she played Caroline, a modern teenager who got up to mischief in the ITV sitcom The Thompsons.[2][4]

She appeared in a variety of programmes, ranging from the 1959 adaptation of Great Expectations and Dixon of Dock Green (also 1959), to The Ronnie Barker Playhouse (1968) and Gaslight Theatre (1968).[5]

Stage work varied from plays to pantomimes and light musicals; she appeared in Little Old King Cole with Charlie Drake at the London Palladium in 1961,[6] Puss In Boots at the Coventry Theatre with Sid James and Frankie Howerd in 1962-63,[7] and Mandrake at the Criterion Theatre with Roy Kinnear in 1970.[8]

In the 1980s Michaels appeared in a number of documentaries and short films,[5] including the 1987 BAFTA nominated Mohammed's Daughter, directed by Suri Krishnamma.[9]

Blue Peter

In April 1964 she presented two editions of Blue Peter, as a stand-in for Valerie Singleton who was away on vacation, which technically makes Sandra Michaels the shortest-serving presenter in the programme's history. Her appearance on Monday 20 April 1964[10] was evidently planned: her name appears below that of fellow-presenter Christopher Trace, in the Radio Times listing for that day.[11] The Merseybeats were guests on that particular programme, which is available to view as part of the TV Heaven collection at the National Media Museum in Bradford.[5][12] Michaels impressed producer Edward Barnes enough that he briefly considered bringing her into the show full-time and replacing Singleton, but Michaels had no interest in the job. Barnes later admitted that with hindsight and the success Singleton made of her Blue Peter career that he was relieved at this decision.[13]

References

  1. ↑ BFI - Sandra Michaels
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show - The Adventures of Clint and Mac
  3. ↑ Whirligig - 1950's British Television Nostalgia: The Railway Children
  4. ↑ Whirligig - 1950s British Television Nostalgia: Meet The Thompsons (Reproduced from TV Mirror - 23 November 1957)
  5. 1 2 3 BFI - Sandra Michaels: Filmography
  6. ↑ The Palladium Pantomomes
  7. ↑ Vaudeville Postcards
  8. ↑ The Criterion Theatre - Show Archive Archived 20 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ IMDb - Mohammed's Daughter
  10. ↑ BFI - Blue Peter (Credits: 20 April 1964)
  11. ↑ BBC Cult - Radio Times for Monday 20 April (The opening night of BBC2)
  12. ↑ National Media Museum - TV Heaven: Blue Peter
  13. ↑ Marson, Richard (21 September 2008). "Blue Peter" 50th Anniversary Book: The Story of Television's Longest-running Children's Programme. Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-61793-8.
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