Virginia Lake is a colonel in S.H.A.D.O., whom Wanda Ventham acted out in nine distinct instalments of the series.
Background[]
Virginia Lake, initially an outside contractor who designed SHADO's UFO utronic tracking equipment, later became a Colonel in SHADO who reported directly to Commander Straker. An expert in programming SHADO's main computer, she was sometimes sent out on special assignments. Self-confident of her abilities, and with good reason, she was a half-serious rival of Colonel Alec E. Freeman, in whose absence she served as SHADO's second in command, and she was also one of several of Moonbase's commanders. She was on good terms with Commander Straker, and also had relationships with at least three of her SHADO colleagues; these were the aforementioned Colonel Alec Freeman, Colonel Craig Collins, and Colonel Paul Foster.
Instalments[]
Colonel Lake appeared in these nine instalments of UFO: The Series:
- "Identified"
- "The Cat With Ten Lives"
- "Destruction"
- "The Man Who Came Back"
- "The Psychobombs"
- "Reflections In The Water"
- "Timelash"
- "Mindbender"
- "The Long Sleep"
Behind the scenes[]
Wanda Ventham was first recruited as Colonel Virginia Lake for "Identified," and when George Sewell ceased to be available for shooting, forcing his character of Colonel Alec E. Freeman to be written out, her character was made a regular.
Ms. Ventham's son, Benedict Cumberbatch, later became an actor in his own right.