Patricia Brake

Brake was born in Bath on 25 June 1942, the daughter of Victor Brake, a butcher, and Doreen Brake (née Wilkey). She was educated at the City of Bath Girls' School,^[1] and beginning at age 16, she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,^[1] before joining the Salisbury Playhouse for two years, from 1960 to 1961.^[1][2] She moved then to Harrogate for a year, where she was a member of the White Rose Players.^[1]

She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where (among other roles) she played Hermia in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Peter Hall, which also featured Judi Dench, Diana Rigg, Ian Richardson and Ian Holm.^[3] This was followed by a period in the West End.^[2]

She began appearing on television in such series as Lorna Doone (1963),^[4] The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968-1969),^[4] Nicholas Nickleby (1977),^[4] and A Sharp Intake of Breath (1977) with David Jason,^[4] and also had film roles in My Lover, My Son (1970),^[4] The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973).^[4]

Brake played Ingrid Fletcher, the daughter of Norman Stanley Fletcher, in the BBC sitcom Porridge (1974-1977),^[5] and its sequel Going Straight (1978).^[5] In 2015, she guest-starred in the BBC ongoing drama Casualty and in Midsomer Murders for ITV.^[4]

Alongside her extensive body of work in West End theatres, she also appeared in UK soaps Emmerdale (1975),^[4] EastEnders (2004),^[4] Coronation Street (2005-2006),^[4] and starred in 128 episodes of Eldorado (1992-1993).^[4]

Brake married actor Robert McBain in 1966. She adopted his son from a previous marriage and after they had two further children, they divorced in 1978. She married Michael Kennedy in 1997, gaining two stepchildren; he died in 2011.^[1] Brake died from cancer on 28 May 2022, aged 79.^[6]