Born in St. Helens, Merseyside, Pauline Yates knew she wanted to be an actress from an early age. After leaving school, she went straight into Oldham Rep., making her stage debut aged 17 as Grace Poole in Jane Eyre In the late 1960s she landed her first TV role and was starting to become a familiar face on programmes such as Crown Court and Armchair Theatre. She was married to actor/writer Donald Churchill and they have two daughters, Jemma and Polly.