Wendy Richard MBE (born Wendy Emerton on 20 July 1943) is an English actress, best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1985, and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders from 1985 to 2006. She was educated at two fee-paying independent schools: first at the Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and then at the Italia Conti Academy stage school in London..