Gwyneth Powell

Gwyneth Powell (born 5 July 1946) is an English actress who is best known for her portrayal of headmistress Bridget McCluskey in the BBC television series Grange Hill for eleven series between 1981 and 1991.

Gwyneth Powell
Born	5 July 1946 Levenshulme, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Alan Leith

Career

Powell was born in Levenshulme, Manchester, and attended Cheadle County Grammar School for Girls, during which time she appeared to some acclaim as Fat Urs in the National Youth Theatre's production of Ben Jonson's Bartholemew Fair. She originally trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths, University of London, but instead chose to act in repertory theatre.[1] Her first major television role was in the 1971 LWT dystopian drama series, The Guardians. She was a regular, if minor, player in many television dramas until being cast in Grange Hill, in which she played the "firm but fair"[1] headmistress Bridget ("The Midget") McClusky for eleven years. Of her role, she said in 2008,

"At first Mrs McClusky was written as a 'twin set and pearls' role but I was quite young at the time and didn't want to play it like that. We started with the clothes and she was quite fashion conscious and chic. I was told by lots of people she was a great fillip to young women teachers who started applying for headships. The show had repercussions in all kinds of ways and the character did too. My period did coincide with the Thatcher years. I think Mrs McClusky became memorable because we had a prime minister like that.[2]

Eventually, however, Powell wanted to pursue other interests and gave the Grange Hill producers and writers a year to write McClusky out of the series.[1] She bought the rights to E. M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady and adapted it as a self-financed one-woman show in Edinburgh, also touring the production.[1]

Since then, Powell has appeared in other television programmes such as Heartbeat, A Touch of Frost, Holby City, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Father Brown, and in 2008, Echo Beach. She played the role of a school teacher in a Victorian School Day in an episode of the BBC Schools TV series Watch.

In 2009, using archive footage, coupled with some newly recorded lines, Powell reprised her Grange Hill role as Mrs McClusky for a cameo appearance in an episode of Ashes to Ashes, set in 1982.[3] She also appeared in Arsenic and Old Lace at the Salisbury Playhouse.[4]

In 2010, Powell starred as Nana in the Gemma Factor. Most recently, Powell became a support character in the teen programme, House of Anubis, playing the role of Nina Martin's gran who ends up in hospital but is later released. Powell starred in seven episodes.

Personal life

She is married to actor Alan Leith[4] currently resides in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex and is a patron of local drama group, the Hurstpierpoint Players.[5]

Filmography

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1969	Rogues' Gallery	Second Lady	1 episode
1971	The Guardians	Clare Weston	11 episodes
1972	Villains	Belinda	2 episodes
1972	Z Cars	Jean Knight	1 episode
1972	Rest assured: Lift Off	Mrs Johnson	TV film
1973	Putting on the Agony	Gill	TV film
1973	ITV Sunday Knight Theatre	Willy
1974	A Raging Calm	Agnes Sutton	TV mini series, 4 episodes
1974	Father Brown	Helen Smaill	1 episode
1975	Play for Today	Elvira Lewis	1 episode
1975	Public Eye	Clare	1 episode
1975	Beryl's Lot	Anita	2 episodes
1976	Couples	Lynn Baker	TV series, 6 episodes
1972–1976	Dixon of Dock Green	Val Colebrook (1972), Mrs Regan (1972), Anne Hastings (1973), Diane Barnet (1979), Jane Mason (1976)	TV series, 5 episodes
1976	Face of Darkness	Eileen
1976	Coronation Street	Diana Kenton	3 episodes
1976	Emmerdale	Julie Croft	TV series
1978	ITV Playhouse	Doreen	1 episode
1978	People Like Us	Frances Hopkins	5 episodes
1978	Accident	Betty Richards	3 episodes
1978–1980	Armchair Thriller	Woman PC (1978),Doris (1980)	6 episodes
1980	The Enigma Files	Anne Gerrard	1 episode
1980	Can We Get on Now, Please?		1 episode
1978	Loophole	Doreen
1982	Squadron	Sqd. Ldr. Margaret Gran	4 episodes
1982–1984	The Gentle Touch	DI Mary Woods	2 episodes
1986	Chance in a Million	Maureen	1 episode
1980–1991	Grange Hill	Mrs McClusky	169 episodes
1994	Open Fire	Gloria Martin	TV film
1996	Hetty Wainthropp Investigates	Marian Horner	1 episode
1997	A Touch of Frost	Kitty Rayford	3 episodes
1998	Magic with Everything	Aunt Matilda	TV Series
1999	A Kind of Hush	Mrs P.
2001	Back to the Secret Garden	Toby the Maid	Film
1998–2002	Peak Practice	Annie Gibson (1998), Rose Meredith (2002)	2 episodes
2003	Family Affairs	Judge Yardley	1 episode
2004	Down to Earth	Mrs Dean	1 episode
2004	The Royal	Bunty Weatherill	1 episode
2001–2006	Holby City	Jean (2001), Margaret Tanner (2006)	2 episodes
2003–2006	Doctors	Janet Armstrong (2003), Janice Wilson (2006)	1 episode
2007	Piccadilly Cowboy	Alice
2008	Echo Beach	Ivy Trehearne	11 episodes
2004–2009	Heartbeat	Shirley Baxter (2004, Margaret Millwood (2009)	2 episodes
2009	Ashes to Ashes	Mrs McClusky	1 episode, archive footage with newly recorded audio from Powell.
2010	The Gemma Factor	Nana	6 episodes
2011	Little Crackers	Headmistress	1 episode
2012	House of Anubis	Nina's Grandmother	7 episodes
2013	The Matt Lucas Awards	Herself	1 episode
2013	A Touch of Cloth	Mrs McClusky	1 episode
2013–2017	Man Down	Polly Davies[6]	19 episodes
2014	Casualty	Gloria Pots	1 episode

References

1. "BBC Beds Herts and Bucks – Entertainment – School's out for Gwyneth!". BBC. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
2. "Mrs McClusky remembers her school". BBC News. 6 February 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
3. "Ashes Resurrects Grange Hill – Sky TV". Sky UK. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
4. "Why comedy is simply the best form of theatre (From Salisbury Journal)". salisburyjournal.co.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
5. "Hurstpierpoint Players". hurstplayers.org.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
6. "Man Down – Production Details". British Comedy Guide. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.

External links

• Gwyneth Powell at IMDb