Tessa Wyatt
Acting
Born April 23, 1948, Woking, Surrey, England, UK
Tessa Wyatt is an English actress best known for her role as Vicky Tripp (née Nicholls) on the ITV sitcom Robin's Nest. Wyatt was born in Woking, Surrey and attended Elmhurst Ballet School. She was encouraged to act by her maternal grandmother and got her first professional job at the age of 12, appearing in a television programme featuring Richard Hearne's Mr. Pastry character. Soon after, she was represented by an agent. Wyatt's early television appearances include parts in Z-Cars, The Wednesday Play, Tales of Unease, ('Suspicious Ignorance', episode), Public Eye (in which she played a character with the surname Blackburn - she would later marry Tony Blackburn in 1972), Callan, Dixon of Dock Green, Doctor at Large, Play for Today, and UFO. Her film appearances include Wedding Night (1970), the cult horror film The Beast in the Cellar (1970) and Spy Story (1976). Wyatt claimed during a 2013 interview that while filming England Made Me (1973) opposite Peter Finch and Michael York, as a young actress alone abroad the "pervy director" Peter Duffell tried to coerce her into unnecessarily stripping naked for a scene. From 1977 to 1981, Wyatt played Vicky Nicholls, later Tripp, in the ITV sitcom Robin's Nest. Her on-screen boyfriend Robin Tripp was played by Richard O'Sullivan. Following Robin's Nest, Wyatt appeared in Return of the Saint, Boon and 2point4 Children. Wyatt was part of the original cast of the Channel Five soap opera Family Affairs, playing Samantha Cockerill. Since 2000 she has also appeared in Casualty and Doctors. She appeared in the fifth series of Peep Show as Jeremy's mother and was Tom's love interest in an episode of The Old Guys opposite Roger Lloyd-Pack and Clive Swift. In 2013, she joined the cast of EastEnders, playing Betty Spragg. She made a second appearance on the BBC series Doctors on 19 May 2015 alongside George Layton, another sitcom stalwart from the 1970s.
Filmography
- The Old Guys — Joanna
- Peep Show — Jackie Usborne
- Virtual Murder — Andrea Pinkerton
- 2Point4 Children — Carol
- 1984Royal Variety Performance 1984
- Return of the Saint — Anna
- Robin's Nest — Vicky Nicholls
- 1976Spy Story — Sara Shaw
- 1973England Made Me — Liz Davidge
- 1973Russian Roulette — Anna Snitkin
- 1972Cows — Jane
- 1971The Beast in the Cellar — Nurse Sutherland
- 1971The Grass Widows — Daphne
- 1971The Shattered Eye — Gwenn
- Play for Today — Jane
- 1970Superstitious Ignorance — Penny
- Tales of Unease — Penny
- The Black Tulip — Rosa
- UFO — Catherine Frazer
- 1969I Can't... I Can't... — Mady - Bride
- 1969Omri's Burning — Gail
- The Main Chance — Joey Richards
- Callan
- Pride and Prejudice — Georgiana Darcy
- 1966A Catching Complaint — Joan
- Mystery and Imagination — Gertrud
- 1965Alice — Lorina Liddell
- BBC Play of the Month — Miranda, Lisette
- Out of the Unknown — Gwenn
- Public Eye — Judy Blackburn
- 1965The Gong Game — Brenda
- Thirty-Minute Theatre — Felicity
- The Wednesday Play — Lorina Liddell, Julie Jesse
- Theatre 625 — Amelia Blair
- Armchair Theatre — Joan Wetherly, Brenda, The Girl, Sophie