ATV Icon: Gabrielle Drake

Celebrating 70 years of ITV another name arrives in ATV Icons ‘hall of fame’ as Gabrielle Drake is the latest star inducted…

Gabrielle Mary Drake was born on 30 March 1944 in Lahore, then part of British India (now Pakistan. Her father, Rodney Drake, was an engineer for the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, and her mother, Molly Drake, was an amateur songwriter.

The family spent Gabrielle’s early childhood in Asia but moved from Burma to England when she was about eight years old, adjusting from a comfortable colonial life to post-war Britain with rationing. She attended Edgbaston College for Girls in Birmingham and the prestigious Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire before pursuing formal drama training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Gabrielle Drake / ABC Midlands

Gabrielle Drake / Yorkshire Television

Even as a child on the ship home to Britain, she showed a flair for performance by joining children’s theatrical productions, later remarking, “I was a dreadful exhibitionist”. After RADA, Drake began building her acting career in the mid-1960s, initially on stage. She made her theatrical debut in 1964 at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, playing Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Over the next few years, she honed her craft in repertory companies – including the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Bristol Old Vic – taking on roles in classics including by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Noël Coward.

Gabrielle’s television career also launched in the same decade with a series of guest roles on popular shows. In 1967 she appeared in an episode of The Avengers (ABC/Thames), the cult action ITV series, and even had a brief role in the Salford set soap Coronation Street (Granada Television) that same year as a character named Inga Olsen. Further single-episode parts followed, such as on The Saint (ATV/ITC) and Journey to the Unknown (Hammer Films) both in 1968.

Gabrille Drake / ITC

Gabrielle Drake / BBC

Around this time, Drake nearly landed a major TV break – in 1970 she auditioned for the role of the Doctor’s companion Jo Grant in BBC One sci-fi telly adventure Doctor Who, making it to the final shortlist of three actresses – alongside Katy Manning, who ultimately won the part.

Her first major television breakthrough came with ITV and a different science fiction series UFO (ATV/ITC) in 1970. In this Gerry Anderson-produced cult series, she portrayed Lieutenant Gay Ellis, the commander of the Moonbase of SHADO; an organization defending Earth against alien invaders. Gabrielle’s character was instantly memorable – she donned a shiny silver spacesuit and a distinctive purple wig as part of the futuristic costume.

Although Drake appeared in roughly half of the 26 episodes of UFO her performance made a strong impression. The sight of the purple-haired Moonbase commander became an enduring image of 1970s British sci-fi television. In fact, UFO later achieved cult classic status – despite only running for one series. For Drake, Gay Ellis remains one of her most recognised roles and a key part of her legacy; as one retrospective noted, “for better or worse…it’s probably the one she’s still best remembered for”.

Gabrielle Drake / BBC

Gabrielle Drake / Central

Across the 1970s it wasn’t just telly and theatre – Gabrielle also explored film roles – notably in several British “sexploitation” movies. She appeared – often nude or topless – in films such as Connecting Rooms (1970) as an artist’s model, There’s a Girl in My Soup (1970) as one of Peter Sellers’ conquests and had leading roles in the erotic comedies Au Pair Girls (1972), Suburban Wives (1971) and Commuter Husbands (1972). These risqué parts capitalized on her glamorous image, even as her television work was making her a familiar face to mainstream audiences.

Gabrielle Drake became more widely known to British TV viewers through the BBC family drama The Brothers. She joined the show in 1972 and was a regular cast member for the first four series, portraying Jill Hammond (later Jill Hammond Williams after her character’s marriage). Jill was the girlfriend – and eventually the wife – of David Hammond, one of the central characters in this saga about a family-run trucking company. It wouldn’t be the last show with a trucking theme she featured in.

After departing haulage dramas, she did a turn in an episode of the crime anthology Thriller (ATV) in 1976 and popped up in The New Avengers  (Thames) in 1977 and The Professionals (LWT) the following year. During 1979–80, she showcased her comedic side by starring as the wife of American comedian Kelly Monteith in The Kelly Monteith Show, a BBC comedy series. Throughout the late 1970s, however, she also devoted considerable energy to the theatre, which often took precedence as television offers ebbed and flowed.

Gabrielle Drake / Central

Gabrielle Drake in Crossroads, with in the right photograph Martin Smith as her brother Micky Doyle / Central

In 1985, Gabrielle Drake returned to the forefront of British TV drama with a prominent role in the long-running ITV soap opera Crossroads (Central). She joined the Kings Oak based saga as Nicola Freeman, a sophisticated businesswoman who oversaw the takeover of the central focus point, the Crossroads Motel.

This casting came during a period of major changes for the 20-year-old soap: the production introduced new characters and set changes to rejuvenate the show, and Nicola Freeman became the central figure around whom many storylines revolved. Drake’s character, initially portrayed as a steely, no-nonsense manager, gradually won viewers over and brought a touch of glamour to the motel. Her performance as Nicola Freeman effectively made her the “new leading lady” of Crossroads in its last few years, stepping into a role that carried significant legacy on British television, following the footsteps of Noele Gordon who had presided over the motel for nearly 18 years.

Gabrielle’s high profile on Crossroads led to a special acknowledgement of her career: on 8 April 1987, she was featured as the subject of This Is Your Life (Thames Television) the popular TV biography/tribute programme. This honour underscored her status as a familiar television star to the British public.

Gabrielle Drake with Clare Kelly who played her on-screen mother and Denis Holmes her on-screen step-father / Central

Gabrielle Drake / Central

After Crossroads ended Central Television launched a new saga, Family Pride, which saw Gabrielle feature in, this series followed the lives of a family who ran a haulage firm a slight does of DeJa’Vu for her possibly. In the early 2000s she had a recurring role in the BBC drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, playing the mother of the protagonist Inspector Lynley (2003–2005).

She even briefly returned to Coronation Street (ITV Studios) in 2009, over four decades after her first appearance there. This time playing a character named Vanessa in a guest stint. One of her later telly appearances was in the BBC One daytime medical drama Doctors in 2011. By this time, Gabrielle had spent nearly half a century gracing British screens, and she gradually stepped back from acting on television thereafter.

Parallel to her television success, Gabrielle Drake maintained an extensive stage career, demonstrating her versatility as an actress. From Shakespearean tragedies to modern comedies, she took on an array of roles over the decades. Some highlights include playing Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (1967), the ingénue Madeline Bassett in the original West End cast of the musical By Jeeves (1975) and later more mature roles such as Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals and the formidable Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Crossroads connections, left, Gabrielle with Norman Bowler who played lover and newspaper journalist Sam Benson and, right, on-screen step-daughter Joanna played by Mary Lincoln

Gabrielle Drake / Central

In fact, in 2004 she portrayed Lady Bracknell at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre – a performance noted as “spirited [and] attractive” by reviewers. She often returned to the Royal Exchange, taking on parts like Mrs. Erlynne in Lady Windermere’s Fan (1996) and Hester Bellboys in A Penny for a Song (1999).

Outside of acting, Gabrielle Drake has also played a significant role in curating her family’s creative legacy. She is the elder sister of the late singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who only gained widespread fame after his untimely death in 1974. Gabrielle has been a devoted steward of Nick’s memory and music, often referred to as the “guardian of the flame” of his legacy. She helped release recordings of their mother Molly Drake’s songs and can even be heard singing alongside Nick on some home recordings released in the compilation Family Tree.

In 2014, she co-edited the book Nick Drake: Remembered for a While, a comprehensive retrospective of her brother’s life and art. This project, alongside a 2018 ceremony where she accepted a Folk Award Hall of Fame honour on Nick’s behalf, shows her dedication to keeping his memory and work alive.

Gabrielle Drake’s career, spanning from the 1960s into the 2010s, left a distinct mark on British television. ATV Icons celebrates her for the diversity of her roles – from sci-fi heroine to soap opera matriarch – and remains particularly remembered for three iconic TV roles: Lieutenant Gay Ellis in UFO, Jill Hammond in The Brothers and Nicola Freeman in Crossroads.

Each of these roles represents a different facet of British TV history: UFO became a cult sci-fi classic with Drake’s purple-wigged Moonbase commander at the centre; The Brothers was a beloved drama that brought her into viewers’ homes every week and Crossroads, despite its humble production values, was an enduring soap that she helped revitalize in its final years.