One of Wendy's earliest television roles was on the short-lived Anglia soap, Weavers Green. The soap ran in 1966 and was basically an earlier version of Emmerdale Farm but set in the Anglia region instead of Yorkshire. In the serial Richard played the Barmaid at the local village pub. Also starring in the soap, in one of her earliest roles, was Kate O'Mara. Weavers Green didn't last long because few ITV regions besides Anglia showed the soap and after 49 episodes it ended. After appearing in Weavers Green Richard became more familiar to 1960's TV audiences for playing the character Joyce Harker, a regular on the BBC soap opera The Newcomers which began her long career with the BBC that has spanned well over 40 years. The Newcomers was an early attempt by the BBC to find a successful soap to rival Granada’s Coronation Street but at the time the BBC were rather aloof about such matters and so The Newcomers wouldn’t be referred to as a soap at the time. The soap ran for four years between 1965 and 1969 and was initially produced by Verity Lambert, fresh from Doctor Who.

It was also in 1972 when she was cast as the ditsy Miss Shirley Brahms in the hit comedy Are You Being Served?. Interestingly the actress had appeared in a short-lived ATV series in 1961 that was also set in a West-End department store. Harpers West One ran on ATV from 1961 to 1962 and Wendy played a secretary in the series. In comedy series Are You Being Served Miss Brahms  was second in command to Mrs Slocombe and was the eye candy of the whole show, her brash cockney accent used once again for comedy. The BBC didn’t originally place much faith in the comedy series and it sat on the shelf for sometime before being aired unscheduled but the series proved to be a huge hit for the BBC. Audiences loved the comedy series and like many comedies of the 1970s it even spawned its own movie, of the same name. The series revolved around the staff of Grace Brothers, a department store in London, and mainly featured the staff of menswear and womenswear. The series rarely moved outside its regular set of the department sales floor but the film saw the staff travel aboard for their holiday and an uprising causing mayhem for the holidayers, of course in reality it was all filmed in studio. Are You Being Served ran until 1985 and Richards remained with the show right until the end.

In the 1990’s a reunion comedy series, Grace and Favour, ran for two seasons and saw the former staff of Grace Brothers reunited to run a bed and breakfast. In America the series was renamed Are You Being Served Again? The series reunited the main-stars of the original series, such as Molly Sugden and John Inman, and was launched with the funeral of Young Mr Grace. The department store, Grace Brothers, was being shut down and in his will Mr Grace left the staff a house in the country.

It was in 1985 that the BBC launched their brand new soap set in the modern-day East-End and created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith. The pair had previously worked together on the popular medical drama Angels and when the series drew to a close the BBC put the pair to work on launching a brand new soap for the corporation. Between them Holland and Smith came up with EastEnders and the central families that the early days of the show revolved around, The Fowlers, The Beales and The Watts. Richard was cast in the role of middle-aged mother of two Pauline Fowler who finds out early on in the show that she is once again pregnant. Pauline’s pregnancy was just one of main storylines that would feature the character over the next twenty two years. While dealing with the prospect of pregnancy later in life Pauline also had to contend with the wayward antics of older son Mark and the teen-age pregnancy of daughter Michelle. To make matters worse Michelle refused to name the father of her child further adding to the Beales woes. Also to contend with was the interfering and domineering ways of Pauline’s mother Lou, and the slow downward spiral that saw husband Arthur fall into depression over his unemployed status. Those early days/years of the soap were certainly hard on Pauline and things only got worse for her when Mark disappeared, Lou died, Michelle gave birth and Arthur had a breakdown and was imprisoned.

As the years continued Wendy displayed her diversity as an actress showing us her brilliant comic timing and her serious dramatic style. In the early 90s Pauline had to contend with the return of Mark and the revelation he was HIV positive, the death of brother Pete and Arthur’s affair with the infamous Mrs. Hewitt. Over Pauline’s many years she was mixed up in all manner of unforgettable storylines, some known for their controversy, such storylines included abortion, HIV, teenage pregnancy, Affairs, Manslaughter, adoption and death. The death of Arthur in the mid 90s knocked Pauline hard and although she had a few romances after his death she never really found anyone else she could love in the same way as Arthur. All the romances fizzled out as Pauline felt she was betraying the legacy of Arthur. However, Pauline eventually found a new husband in the form of Joe Macer and the pair married but this spelled the beginning of the end for Pauline. Wendy Richard believed her character would never have remarried and decided to call an end to her time on the Square in 2006.

The nation was gripped as the months followed and we learned she was to die on Christmas Day. Her last few weeks showed her variety once again where she played the comedy Pauline at Ian's fake wedding and her bitter twisted side after she heard her nearest and dearest discussing her in a less than flattering manner. In true Pauline style she left her mark on many, physically and mentally before she finally slowly dropped and died peacefully in the Square next to Arthur's Bench from a brain haemorrhage.

Part of our EastEnders @ 25 celebratory features