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HITKRANT, 12 October 1978

(Thanks to Anneloes for the translation from the original Dutch!)

Miss Brahms, Are You Free?

WENDY RICHARD Can't Stand to see Another Department Store!

Miss Brahms, are you free?" That is the one question that Miss Brahms, or actress Wendy Richard, doesn't want to hear anymore. Wendy has quite a difficult time. Everyone thinks she is very sexy, and that has significant consequences.

In the popular series Are You Being Served? Miss Brahms plays an eye-catching role. The shop assistant is sexy and not too clever. And that is exactly what Wendy dislikes about her. "I can't stand to see another department store," says Wendy. "As soon as I do my shopping there, people run toward me. They immediately ask if I'm free. It even happens in normal shops. Don't people know I'm only acting?"

Porn movies

So Wendy is apparently not so happy with the role. And being sexy takes its toll, too.

"Don't think I don't get offered any other roles!" she laughs. "I've been offered roles in porn movies and sex movies and asked to open sex clubs. But I refuse to appear naked in front of a camera. They can ask someone else for that."

Emancipation

The seemingly simple role also helped awaken progressive ladies. "I get asked to attend female emancipation groups all the time," says Wendy. "I may be a modern woman, but all that emancipating is unnecessary for me.

"I'm rather prudish really, an old-fashioned girl. I never knew a role on television would change my life so dramatically."

Independent

Wendy has been married before and for the past four years she lived together with her boyfriend. But she recently split up. "I don't think I'll ever marry again. Maybe I just can't care enough [literally: give up enough] for a man, maybe I'm too independent. I now have my house and my friends and that's enough for me." So she also has a troubled private life.

By the way, it is rather strange that people think Wendy plays Miss Brahms day and night. Yet in reality that show is only taped six times a year. The TROS [Dutch television broadcaster] first collected the episodes for a while before broadcasting them all one after another [note: this probably means one a week over a long period of time]. "I do other things during the rest of the year," Wendy says. "This fall, I will be in a TV-panel for a show and I will appear on the Bruce Forsyth show [sic -- actually The Bruce Forsythe Chat Show]. I'm only Miss Brahms six times a year."

Michael O'Rourke