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Gillian Bailey

British actress

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ5562194
Source-derived summary

Gillian Bailey (born 14 June 1955 in Wimbledon, London), also known as Gilli Bush-Bailey, is a British actress and professor.

She was a child actress and appeared as Billie in Here Come the Double Deckers! (1970–71). Other roles included Phyllis in a television version of The Railway Children (1968), Laurine in Bel Ami (1971), Janey in The Witch's Daughter (1971), Lavinia in Thursday's Child (1972–73) and Callie in Follyfoot (1971–73).

As an adult actress she played Jinny Carter in series 1 of Poldark (1975), Ravella in the first episode of Blake's 7 "The Way Back" (1978), Julie Dunn in the series ‘Together’ (1980), Maureen Galbraith in the BBC TV series County Hall (1982) and Olive Calvert in Strangers and Brothers (1984). In the 1990s she found that work dried up and began working as a script reader.

In 1992, she returned to complete her education at Kingston University.

After a period at the Drama and Theatre department at the Royal Holloway, University of London she is now Professor of Women's Performance Histories at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Family

Bailey married Richard Everett in 1974, and the couple have a daughter.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Gillian Bailey” as british actress. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Gillian, Bailey and British.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1955, 1970, 1968, 1971—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1955-06-14. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Gillian, Bailey and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Gillian Bailey”, the useful work is to connect “british actress” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5562194. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 1970, 1968 and 1971.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gillian Bailey”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gillian Bailey primary sources, Gillian Bailey archive and Gillian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gillian Bailey”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Gillian Bailey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.