Maureen O'Brien was born on the 29th of June 1943 in Liverpool to Leo and Eileen (nee Connolly), and was the eldest of a large Irish Catholic family with seven younger brothers and sisters, one of whom is actress Eileen O’Brien. She attended Notre Dame School in Everton, Liverpool, before attending the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After studying for a teaching diploma there, Maureen became one of the founding members of the Everyman Theatre in her native Liverpool where she worked as an assistant floor manager and took minor acting roles. About three months into the job she was persuaded to audition for the part of Vicki on 'Doctor Who' by an acting teacher, who had taught her at Central, but was now a producer at the BBC. Maureen says, "I got a telegram from him out of the blue saying 'Chance of TV work. Ring me'. I rang him and said, 'But Harry, I’ve already got a job', and he said 'Darling, don’t be silly. They're looking for a new girl on 'Doctor Who'. Reluctant to accept the role at first, she did so partly to be with her London-based boyfriend Michael Moulds, who had relocated to London; they would marry in 1968. It was a decision she later regretted as, although she liked the people she worked with, she did not enjoy the job and the enormous publicity it brought her as she starred in 38 episodes in 1965. This would lead to new producer John Wiles being annoyed by her complaints about her dialogue and so he let her go at the end of her contract. Her character though was significant, being the template for the young female leads in the show going forward and her strong bond with William Hartnell’s Doctor, who provided a father-figure for her.
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| with William Hartnell in 'Dr Who' |
After leaving 'Doctor Who' she found it difficult to find acting work on television due to her poor agent, and so after a year worked as a supply teacher at a girl's school in Kennington using her Central teaching diploma, before returning to the theatre to appear in an Oxford Playhouse production of 'Volpone' with Leo McKern and Leonard Rossiter. This in turn led to her appearing in a number of television plays and she also made two episodes of 'Z-Cars' (1969) before a serious illness prompted a change of scenery. Moving to Canada, she appeared in 'The Whiteoaks Of Jalna' for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and spent a season at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, followed by a three-year spell in Canada where she also directed a production of Brecht's 'The Caucasian Chalk' at the University of Ottawa.
Returning to the UK in the mid-Seventies, Maureen divided her time between the stage, radio and television, with the latter including 'The Duchess Of Duke Street' (1976), 'The Lost Boys' (1978) and 'The Legend Of King Arthur' (1979) and was winner of the 1979 Best Radio Actress Award for 'By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept'. The 1980s saw her teaching acting workshops in the USA and during the Eighties, she appeared in programmes such as 'Tales Of The Unexpected' (1980), 'Bergerac' (1981) and 15 episodes of 'Casualty' (1987). Rare appearances on the big screen include 'She'll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas' (1985) with Julie Walters and the biopic Zina (1985). In 1986 she received the Time Out Critic's Choice award for her production of Mike English's 'Getting In'.
As the decade came to a close, she embarked on a second career as a novelist, having previously written a stage play and a radio script, and wrote six mystery novels: 'Close Up On Death' (1989); 'Mask of Betrayal' (1999); 'Dead Innocent' (1999); 'Revenge' (2001) and 'Unauthorised Departure' (2003) - all of which feature "Inspector John Bright". She also wrote the novel 'Deadly Reflection' with the last being 'Every Step You Take' (2004). However, even as writing became an increasingly large part of her life, she kept up a steady stream of acting engagements. In the Nineties, her appearances included 3 episodes of 'Cracker' (1994), 'Jonathan Creek' (1997) and 3 episodes of 'The Bill' (1993-97). Her final televised roles were in 2 episodes of 'Heartbeat' (2000-2003) and 'Doctors' (2003). As she eased into retirement, however, she finally overcame the antipathy she had felt for many years towards 'Doctor Who' and in 2006 began recording audio dramas for Big Finish Productions, initially as new characters in both the 'Doctor Who' and 'Dalek Empire' ranges. She then reprised the character of Vicki for the first time in more than forty years, starting with 'Frostfire' (2007), the initial entry in the long-running 'The Companion Chronicles' strand.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians_8.html
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