Francesca Gonshaw

Francesca Gonshaw (born 25 November 1959)[1] is an English former actress who appeared in a number of television, theatre and cinema productions in the 1980s. From 1982 to 1987, she appeared as Maria Recamier in the BBC's 'Allo 'Allo! television situation comedy series set in occupied France during World War II.

Francesca Gonshaw
Francesca Gonshaw in 2014
Born
Francesca Rebecca Gonshaw

(1959-11-25) 25 November 1959
Marylebone, London, England[1]
OccupationFormer actress
Years active1982–1990

Early life

Gonshaw's father came to England as a child with his parents as Russian White emigres fleeing from the Bolshevik Revolution.[2] Francesca Gonshaw was born in Marylebone, London in 1959,[1] and attended St Paul's Girls' School.[3] The family relocated from London to Marbella, Spain in 1976. At the age of 17 she returned to England to study for her A Levels in Cambridge.[4] She also studied acting, but did not complete the course,[3] and was a model in a photo story for My Guy magazine..[5]

Television and film

Gonshaw began her television acting career in the early 1980s. In 1982 she appeared in a BBC television play entitled Shades.[6] The following year, she was in Gesualdo The Prince, based on the true story of Carlo Gesualdo who murdered his wife and her lover after discovering them in bed together.[7]

She played Arsinoe in the 1983 BBC television classical Roman history drama series The Cleopatras.[8][9] That same year, she had a role in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983). From 1984 to 1985, she was the character Lisa Walters in the Central soap-opera Crossroads. In February 1984, Hilary Kingsley of The Daily Mirror criticised Gonshaw's performance in Crossroads, saying that she "[spoke] her lines as though reading them from an optician's chart."[10]

From 1982 to 1987, she appeared as waitress Maria Recamier in the BBC's 'Allo 'Allo! television situation comedy series set in occupied France during World War II.[11] The producers had wanted to cast Mary Stävin, but the Department of Employment refused permission, saying that they believed a British actress could be found for the role, and Gonshaw was given the part.[12] The show satirised dramas such as Secret Army, and like other UK situation comedies of the time, contained double entendres, catchphrases, and running gags.[13] Critics complained that the show was "sexist, racist, homophobic and, like [producer David] Croft's earlier Dad's Army, trivialised war".[13] It ran for 85 episodes from 1982 to 1992, attracting as many as 17 million viewers per episode in the UK, and was sold to overseas markets including France and Germany.[12] Gonshaw was in 21 of the episodes, in the first three series.[14] She complained in a 1986 interview that "I wanted to be a serious actress. Now I seem to be known only as a bawdy waitress wearing stockings and suspenders."[15] Gonshaw left the cast of 'Allo 'Allo after its third series to take up the role of Amanda Parker in the third series of the BBC television drama series Howards' Way in 1987.[3] She also started attending the Byam Shaw School of Art, studying painting.[3]

Gonshaw appeared in the historical/science fiction cinema film Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986),[16] and played the character of Senorita Rodriguez in the television film dramatization of the Barbara Cartland novel A Ghost In Monte Carlo (1990).[17]

Theatre

In 1982 Gonshaw played Kate in You Should See Us Now, by Peter Tinniswood, at the Greenwich Theatre; the cast also included Simon Cadell, Christopher Cazenove and Pauline Yates.[18][19] In the mid-1980s she joined the New Shakespeare Company's tour of thirteen countries in the Middle East, portraying Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream,[20] then in 1988 she starred in a regional tour of The Cat and the Canary.[21][22] Two years later Gonshaw played Ophelia in Hamlet at three venues - the Brixton Assembly Rooms, the Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead, and the Shaw Theatre.[23] The proceeds of this production went towards AIDS charities.[24]

Performances in other media

In 1992, she appeared in the pop music video for the Peter Gabriel single release "Digging in the Dirt".[25][26]
Also, she appeared in the official video of "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield.

Post-acting career

Gonshaw retired from acting in the early 1990s, and took up the post of Senior Vice-President of Creative Affairs with Miramax Books & Films.[27] In 2001 she was a casting agent for the film The Goose Creek Story.[28] From 2009 she has been an artist, and was the curator of the 'She has a Space' gallery in London.[29] She exhibited at the 7–8 October 2009 Art for Youth event at the Mall Galleries.[30][31] Since 2011 she has occasionally appeared at memorabilia collectors conventions with the former cast of Allo Allo.[32]

Credits

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1982 Shades Julie/Sue [28]
1982 The British Are Coming Maria Pilot episode for 'Allo 'Allo! [28]
1982 Gesualdo the Prince cast member [28]
1983 The Cleopatras Part 6 51 BC Arsinoe Mini-series [28]
1983 The Cleopatras Part 6 51 BC Arsinoe Mini-series [28]
1984-85 Crossroads Lisa Walters [17][10]
1984 Cold Warrior Amanda Episode: "Hook, Line and Sinker" [28][33]
1984–1987 'Allo 'Allo! Maria Recamier 21 episodes [28][14]
1986 Farrington of the F.O. Lolita Fernandez [34]
1987 Blankety Blank Herself guest [35]
1987 Howard's Way Amanda Howard TV Series [28]

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1986 Biggles Marie Movie [28]
1988 The Hound of the Baskervilles Young Girl in Mire TV Movie. [lower-alpha 1] [28]
1990 A Ghost In Monte Carlo TV Movie [17]

Theatre

Dates Title Role Venue Ref.
1983 You Should See Us Now Kate Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough; tour [17][36]
1983 Sailors' Dream Prince of Wales, London SW6 [37]
1985 Dear Janet Rosenberg, Dear Mr Kooning King's Head, Islington [38]
1985 A Midsummer Night's Dream Hermia New Shakespeare Company's tour of 13 countries in the Middle East [20]
1988 The Cat and the Canary regional tour [22]
1990 Hamlet Ophelia Brixton Assembly Rooms; Pentameters, Hampstead; Shaw Theatre [23]
1991 The Judgment Director (non-acting) London Ecology Centre [39]

Notes
  1. BFI has date as 1988, some other sources say 1983

References
  1. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  2. "Francesca says 'allo allo,'" Reading Evening Post, 17 November 1986, Page 2. Retrieved 7 July 2019 from https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ Archived 8 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Webber, Richard (2012). "The waitresses". 'Allo 'Allo 30th Anniversary: the Inside Story of the Hit TV Show (Kindle). London: Welbeck Publishing. ISBN 978-1780972077.
  4. "Francesca says 'allo allo,'". Reading Evening Post. 17 November 1986. p. 2.
  5. "Seventies teen mag My Guy gets one-off relaunch". London Evening Standard. London. 23 October 2006. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  6. Shades (1982) Archived 5 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine bfi.org. Retrieved 6 July 2019
  7. Dowling, Ted (2 April 1983). "Echo Television: BBC2". Liverpool Echo. p. 2.
  8. The Cleopatras Part 6 51 BC (1983) Archived 5 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine bfi.org. Retrieved 6 July 2019
  9. The Cleopatras Part 8 35 BC (1983) Archived 27 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine bfi.org. Retrieved 6 July 2019
  10. Kingsley, Hilary (18 February 1984). "Leave it out, Lisa". Daily Mirror. p. 13.
  11. Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; Topping, Keith (1996). The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2 ed.). Guinness World Records Limited. p. 122. ISBN 978-0851126289.
  12. Webber, Richard (2012). "Listen very carefully, I will tell you the history only once". 'Allo 'Allo 30th Anniversary: the Inside Story of the Hit TV Show (Kindle). London: Welbeck Publishing. ISBN 978-1780972077.
  13. Jeffries, Stuart (23 January 2017). "Gorden Kaye obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  14. Webber, Richard (2012). "Number of Appearances". 'Allo 'Allo 30th Anniversary: the Inside Story of the Hit TV Show (Kindle). London: Welbeck Publishing. ISBN 978-1780972077.
  15. Gould, Judy (11 May 1986). "'Allo, 'Allo: I need a leetle loving". Sunday Mirror. p. 27.
  16. British Film Institute catalogue entry for the career of Francesca Gonshaw. http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba213bd81 Archived 21 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  17. Hayward, Anthony (1990). Who's Who on Television (5 ed.). Boxtree. p. 80. ISBN 1852831057.
  18. You Should See Us Now by Peter Tinniswood Archived 5 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine www.chaseside.org.uk Retrieved 5 July 2019
  19. Coveney, Michael (2 February 1983). "You Should See Us Now/Greenwich". Financial Times. Page 11. Retrieved 5 July 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  20. Batrouni, Vanessa (24 October 1985). "An Elizabethan Dream That Travelled Well". The Jerusalem Star. p. 7 – via archive.org. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  21. https://theatricalia.com/play/2vr/the-cat-and-the-canary/production/10xy
  22. Harris, Eric (10 March 1988). "Stevenage: The Cat and the Canary". The Stage. London. p. 25.
  23. Stanley Wells (28 November 2002). Shakespeare Survey. Cambridge University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-521-52384-4.
  24. Gould, Helen (9 August 1990). "Shaw Theatre: Hamlet". The Stage. London. p. 11.
  25. Bowman, Durrell (2 September 2016). Experiencing Peter Gabriel: A Listener's Companion. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4422-5200-4.
  26. "Winners – 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1992)". grammy.com. Recording Academy. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  27. Horn, John (17 July 1994). "Bookstores Nationwide Are Selling Screenplays". The State. Columbia SC). p. 21 – via NewsBank. Retrieved 12 July 2019. "Film has become the major art form, and everyone's more aware of how the process works," says Francesca Gonshaw, vice president of acquisitions for the newly launched Miramax Books, a division of the art film distributor.
  28. "Francesca Gonshaw". bfi.org.uk/. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  29. "Francesca Gonshaw". uk.linkedin.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  30. "Art for Youth and UK Youth". citywealthmag.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  31. "Raphael Pepper – Biography". raphaelpepper.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2019. 'Christmas Wish' curated by Francesca Gonshaw – She has a Space, London
  32. "Latest Guest Announcement – Francesca Gonshaw". showmasters.com. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  33. "31 October: BBC1". Radio Times. 25 October 1984. p. 70.
  34. Myler, Thomas (4 March 1986). "Off screen". Evening Herald. Dublin. p. 42.
  35. "Television listings". Aberdeen Evening Express. 6 March 1987. p. 2.
  36. Peter Tinniswood (1983). You Should See Us Now: A Play. Samuel French. ISBN 978-0-573-11512-7.
  37. "Theatre week". The Stage. 23 June 1983. p. 10.
  38. "Production News". The Stage. 7 February 1985. p. 24.
  39. "Production News". The Stage. 27 June 1991. p. 15.
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