Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – September 3 2018) was a British film and television actress. Her roles have included horror and comedy and she is perhaps best known as the villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series Blake’s 7.

https://twitter.com/lizo_mzimba/status/1036659344203505669

https://twitter.com/TomSpilsbury/status/1036654879568285696

RIP the incomparable Jacqueline Pearce, who made Servalan in #Blakes7 such a memorable villain – ruthless, sensual, damaged : a layered, glorious performance. I was lucky enough to work with her on my first ever BF Doctor Who. Too shy to speak to her though. #jacquelinepearcerip

— Toby Hadoke (@TobyHadoke) September 3, 2018

Very sad to have to tell you that the unique and wonderful Jacqueline Pearce died this morning. A unique and very special lady, once met never forgotten. The universe will be a much sadder and emptier place without our beloved Madam President in it. Rest in peace, darling Jacks. pic.twitter.com/9CLhiS0iuG

— Horizon Blakes7 Club (@HorizonBlakes7) September 3, 2018

Some say Darth Vader was the greatest leader of an evil space empire. But Jacqueline Pearce did it arms aloft, in high heels. Who didn't secretly yearn to be subjugated by her? Supreme Commander, we salute you. pic.twitter.com/FnxmPvmSDL

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) September 3, 2018

Jacqueline Pearce was born in Woking, Surrey. She attended the Marist Convent School for Girls at West Byfleet.

She trained at the British stage school RADA and at Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio in Los Angeles.

Despite having appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, she remains best known for her role as Servalan in the British science fiction TV series Blake’s 7 (1978–1981).

Jacqueline Pearce was the subject of the 3rd volume of MJTV’s “The Actor Speaks” interview/drama CDs, with a special piece written for her by Tanith Lee. Jacqueline Pearce starred in two Hammer horror films, The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile, which were filmed simultaneously on the same location and both released in 1966. Other film roles include Sky West and Crooked (1965), the Carry On film Don’t Lose Your Head (1966), Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968), White Mischief (1987), How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), and Princess Caraboo (1994).

As well as appearing in the BBC children’s programmes Dark Season (alongside Kate Winslet) and Moondial, Jacqueline Pearce has appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Two Doctors as Chessene, a bloodthirsty alien. She has more recently been associated with Doctor Who through her appearance in The Fearmonger as Sherilyn Harper, an audio drama by Big Finish Productions, and as Admiral Mettna in the webcast story Death Comes to Time. Pearce returned once again to Doctor Who from 2015, this time opposite John Hurt, as a regular in the Big Finish audio series based on the adventures of the War Doctor. She made a memorable appearance playing the role of Rosa Dartle in the 1974 BBC series of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. She also appeared as an associate of the assassin Carlos in the 1988 television movie, The Bourne Identity.

Pearce has also made frequent guest appearances in TV series such as: Danger Man, The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, Public Eye, Callan, Dead of Night, Special Branch, The Zoo Gang, Spy Trap and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.