Pik-Sen Lim

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lim.

Pik-Sen Lim
Born	Lim Phaik-Seng (1944-09-15) 15 September 1944 Penang, Japanese Malaya
Alma mater	London School of Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)	Actress, voice artist
Years active	1964–present
Spouse	Don Houghton ​ ​ (m. 1968; died 1991)​
Children	1
Chinese name
Chinese	林碧笙
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lín Bìshēng Hakka Romanization Lìm Pit-sên Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lam4 Bik1 Sang1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Lîm Phaik-seng

Pik-Sen Lim (Chinese: 林碧笙; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Phaik-seng, born 15 September 1944) is a Malaysian-British actress. According to the British Film Institute, Lim was "the most familiar Chinese actor on British television screens in the 1970s and 80s."

Her notable roles include Chin Lee in the 1971 Doctor Who serial The Mind of Evil, Chung Su-Lee on the ITV sitcom Mind Your Language (1977–79), Tsai Adams on the military drama Spearhead (1978–81), and the killer cleaner in Johnny English Reborn (2011). She was also the narrator for the Dark Souls video game series.

Early life

Lim was born to Malayan Chinese parents in Penang, Straits Settlements (occupied by Japan at the time), and was the daughter of the palm oil millionaire Lim Cheng-Teik. She attended convent school in Penang, where she was nicknamed "Pixie". Since young, Lim found a love for acting, but her parents and relatives were not supportive of her desire to pursue it as a profession. Against the wishes of her family, she moved to the United Kingdom in 1961 at the age of 16 to study at the London School of Dramatic Art.

Her birth name was romanized Lim Phaik-Seng, but she changed her given name to "Pik-Sen" since her British friends would mispronounce "Phaik" as "fake".

Career

In 1964, she appeared in the hospital drama series Emergency Ward 10, playing a nurse. There she met scriptwriter Don Houghton, whom she married in 1968. The couple's daughter, Sara Houghton, is also an actress; the two women once portrayed characters with the same relationship in Three Thousand Troubled Threads. Sara also appeared in a serial of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures called The Curse of Clyde Langer.

She also appeared in Don Houghton scripted Doctor Who serial The Mind of Evil in 1971 as Chin Lee (a role she later reprised in an audiodrama from Big Finish Productions), and the first three seasons of the sitcom Mind Your Language speaking Penang Hokkien as her Chinese language. Here, she was obliged to speak in an exaggerated, stereotyped Chinese accent. Her later appearances are roles in the short lived soap operas Albion Market (1985) and Night and Day (2003), as well as Arabian Nights (2000), The Bill (2005), and as a character in the comedy series Little Britain (2004).

She is the narrator of the Dark Souls series of video games.

In 1966, she was invited to be Rye Fawkes at the Rye Bonfire celebrations. This involved being seated in a sedan chair, hoisted aloft and being carried down from the Landgate in Rye to the bonfire, where she was presented with a burning torch with which she set the bonfire alight.

Filmography

Film & Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Das Mädchen aus dem Dschungel	Amina	East German mini-series
1964–1967	Emergency Ward 10	Nurse Kwei
1967	Sorry I'm Single	Suzy	Series regular
1969	The Gladiators	C-2
1970	The Flaxton Boys	Su Ling
1971	Doctor Who	Captain Chin Lee	The Mind of Evil (3 episodes)
1972	Madame Sin	Nikko
1972	General Hospital	Prem. Unit Nurse
1974	Within These Walls	Sister Ling
1976	The New Avengers	Sing - The Chinese Attache	"The Midas Touch"
1977–1979	Mind Your Language	Chung Su-Lee	Series regular
1978–1981	Spearhead	Tsai Adams	Series regular
1979	Angels	Dr. Yeo
1980	The Professionals	Chai Ling	"Take Away"
1980	Shoestring	Phone Girl	"Mocking Bird"
1985	Albion Market	Ly Nhu Chan
1996	Cracker	Wei Wei	"White Ghost"
1998	London's Burning	Mrs. Lau
2000	Arabian Nights	Aladdin's Mother	Mini-series
2004	Little Britain	Simone
2005	The Bill	Dora Sim
2006	The Ruby in the Smoke	Madame Sheng
2010	Spirit Warriors	Beggar Woman
2010	Casualty	Reiko Reid	Episode "Clean Slate"
2011	Johnny English Reborn	Killer Cleaner
2012	A Civil Arrangement	Madam Rene	TV movie
2013	Holby City	Amy Cardle	"The Journey Home"
2015	Roald Dahl's Esio Trot	Mrs Wu
2015	The Dumping Ground	PoPo	1 episode: "Coming Round"
2019	This Way Up	Chien
2022	Vampire Academy	The Queen	9 episodes
2023	The Nevers	Madame Tam	1 episode: "It's a Good Day"

Theatre

Theatre Credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	The Bacchae of Euripides	Chorus
2012	The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie	Mrs Gao	Produced by Finborough Theatre.

References

• Ooi, Teresa (16 February 1984), Good times, bad times, The Straits Times

External links

• Pik-Sen Lim at IMDb
• Pik-Sen Lim at the BFI's Screenonline