Zienia Merton is a British actress born in Burma, 11 December 1945. Her mother was Burmese, and her father half English, half French. She was raised in Singapore, Borneo, Portugal, and England.
Merton's first significant science fiction credit was as Ping-Cho in the 1964 Doctor Who story Marco Polo. This instalment of the series is one of the missing stories, although an audio version has been pieced together from various sources and released along with fan reconstructions of the story using visual material available such as photographs and composite pictures.
Her early television appearances included Strange Report (1968), The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Jason King (1971). She was a lead actor as 'Christina' in the Dennis Potter television adaptation of Casanova with Frank Finlay, and appeared on The Benny Hill Show in 1972, playing the wife of Hill's Chow Mein character.
Zienia Merton also featured as Ting Ling in the film The Chairman (1969) with Gregory Peck.
Space:1999
Probably her most memorable role is that of Sandra Benes in Space: 1999, the science fiction series produced by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson in 1973-1976, with Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Barry Morse. In 1999 Merton reprised this role in the Message from Moonbase Alpha short film professionally produced by enthusiasts and written by series writer Johnny Byrne. This short episode surprised everyone on its debut at the closing ceremony of the Breakaway convention in Los Angeles, California on September 13, 1999 - the same fictional date in the pilot episode of "Breakaway" when the moon is blasted out of Earth orbit. Regarded by many of the series' fans as the 49th and final episode, and providing a closure to the series, "Message" has since been released on DVD around the world.
Beyond "Space"
Since Space:1999 Merton has been busy with roles on television including Return of the Saint (1979); Grange Hill, Bergerac (1983), Angels (1983), Tenko (1984), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985), Lovejoy (1986), Crime Traveller (1997), Doctors (2001), Dinotopia (2002), Casualty (1986 to 2002), EastEnders (1998 to 2003), The Bill (1999 to 2005) and Judge John Deed (2006). For 2008 she has filmed roles in ITV's Coronation Street (31st August) and Wire In The Blood (19th September).
Zienia Merton is a popular guest at Space:1999 conventions around the world, and her autobiography Anecdotes and Armadillos (with Robert Wood) was published in 2005.
External links
Zienia Merton at the Internet Movie Database
Zienia Merton website
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zienia_Merton"
Categories: British television actors | British soap opera actors | 1945 births | Living people
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This page was last modified on 16 September 2008, at 08:03.
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