Carol Drinkwater

Carol Drinkwater (born 22 April 1948) is a British actress, writer and filmmaker residing in France. She portrayed Helen Herriot (née Alderson) in the television adaptation of the James Herriot books All Creatures Great and Small, which led to her receiving the Variety Club Television Personality of the Year award in 1985.

Career Drinkwater was a member of the National Theatre Company under the leadership of Laurence Olivier

"Carol will always remain my favourite actress," All Creatures make-up artist Maggie Thomas recalled; She was a breath of fresh air; never moody or difficult, a warm, merry and very natural girl. I can remember our first day on location. We were only working with Chris and a cow, which had fallen and become stuck in a small burn, so Carol had decided to come out to watch and meet everyone. She hadn't got any scenes that first day, so she was dressed for the summer in her own clothes. The shorts she wore were kind of Boy Scout-cum-M*A*S*H ex-army drill, but on her figure they looked anything but. There was always an impishness about her and an air of complete unawareness of her own effect on men. The male members of the crew went into meltdown. She was oblivious, smiling and chatting to everyone, just enjoying the beautiful weather and getting to know who was who on the crew. They all remained in love with her for as long as she was the leading lady.

Later career In the 1981 episode of the Granada Television series Lady Killers she played Margaret Seddon, wife of the Edwardian poisoner Frederick Seddon, in an episode entitled "Root of All Evil."

While working in Australia, Drinkwater wrote her first successful children's book, The Haunted School. She has since written further children's books.

In 2015, Penguin Books UK announced a deal signed with Drinkwater to write two epic novels. The first, The Forgotten Summer, was published in March 2016. The second, The Lost Girl, was published in June 2017. Drinkwater alleged to The Guardian, in October 2017, that the experience of the starlet Marguerite in The Lost Girl was based on her own experience of being sexually assaulted by Elia Kazan while auditioning for the leading film role in his film The Last Tycoon (1976).

In 2018, Penguin signed a second deal with Drinkwater for two further novels. The first, published in May 2019, was The House on The Edge of The Cliff. The second, An Act of Love, was published on 29 April 2021.

During the summer of 2021, Drinkwater spent four months filming a six-part documentary film series for UK's Channel 5 called Carol Drinkwater’s Secret Provence. The filming took place across Provence from the Italian border to the Camargue in the west of southern France.

Personal life Drinkwater is the daughter of the bandleader and agent Peter Regan (born Peter Albert Drinkwater) and Irish nurse Phyllis McCormack; her sister is actress and author Linda Regan. She was unrelated to the late actress Ros Drinkwater, although the contrary has sometimes been suggested to be the case.

Drinkwater was born in London, and acquired her Irish passport (later in life) because she felt vulnerable when travelling on a British passport in certain countries, including those in North Africa.

She is married to French television producer Michel Noll, and has two stepdaughters from Noll's first marriage.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1971 A Clockwork Orange Nurse Feeley 1976 Queen Kong Ima Goodbody 1978 The Shout Cobbler’s Wife 1990 Father Anne Winton 1995 An Awfully Big Adventure Dawn Allenby

Selected television Sam (1975) as Liz Chadwick Bouquet of Barbed Wire (1976) as Barbara Bill Brand (1976) as Pat Softly, Softly: Task Force (1976) as Bonnie Danley Another Bouquet (1977) as Barbara The Sweeney (1978) as Roz All Creatures Great and Small (1978-1985) as Helen Herriot Lady Killers (1981) as Margaret Seddon Tales of the Unexpected (1982) as Linda Larch The Agatha Christie Hour (1982) as Violet Eversleigh Chocky (1984) as Mary Gore Golden Pennies (1985) as Rebecca Greenwood The Haunted School (1987) as Fanny Crowe Captain James Cook (1987-1988) as Elizabeth A Mind to Kill (1997) as Melanie Caulfield Coming Home (1998) as Aunt Biddy Peak Practice (2000) as Helen Barton Casualty (2000) as Frances Lawson