Sarah Lancashire
Encyclopedia
Sarah Lancashire is an English
actress, probably best recognised for her role as Raquel Watts
in Coronation Street
. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in 1986.
in the ITV1
soap opera
Coronation Street
from 1991 to 1996, reappearing for one last episode in 1999. Raquel was a sweet, if somewhat dippy character, who was a firm favourite with viewers of the long running show. She had previously appeared on the programme in November 1987 playing Wendy Farmer.
After leaving Coronation Street, rather than struggle to find work in other shows after playing such a well known character (a fate that has befallen many soap opera actors), Lancashire worked in a number of high profile series. From 1997 to 1999 she played Ruth Goddard in the ITV1 drama series Where The Heart Is
, and in 1999 she appeared in the BBC sitcom Murder Most Horrid
, which also starred comedienne Dawn French.
Lancashire has appeared in the BBC Radio 4
legal sitcom Chambers which later moved onto television. In 2000, she starred in the drama Seeing Red, portraying actress Coral Atkins
, who founded a care home for children. and won two British television industry awards as a result. In 2001 she went on to star in the acclaimed BBC
drama series Clocking Off
, a role that saw her win the Best Actress award at the Television and Radio Industry Club Awards. Lancashire has continued to work regularly since, notably in a BBC drama portraying Angela Cannings
, a British
woman who was convicted of killing her two baby sons but was released when medical evidence given at her trial was deemed dubious. She has recently appeared in two series of the ITV1 drama series Rose and Maloney
.
In 2002, she played the role of Meg Bartlet in the psychological thriller tele-movie The Cry. Her character Meg, a social worker grieving the stillbirth of her daughter, befriends a woman called Christine whose baby daughter Eleanor suffers from breathing problems. Gradually, Meg becomes convinced the child is being abused and eventually abducts her after the claims make headline news. Changing her car and appearance and using the name Annie Lomax, she heads to Cheshire where Christine used to live, determined to prove that Eleanor's mother is guilty of abuse.
In September 2006, she starred in a BBC comedy drama Angel Cake, and in 2007 she played Mary Miles in the E4 teen Comedy/Drama Skins
. In April 2008, she appeared in "Partners in Crime
", the opening episode of the 2008 series of Doctor Who
, as "Miss Foster, an enigmatic and powerful businesswoman". She also narrates the BBC drama series Lark Rise to Candleford
. Filmed in August to December 2008, Lancashire stars in All the Small Things
alongside Neil Pearson
and Richard Fleeshman
. She plays Esther Caddick, a full-time mother and choir member in the short TV series Heart and Soul.
In Spring 2010 Lancashire portrayed the mother of murdered prostitute Anneli Alderton in the BBC Drama Five Daughters
stage to play Miss Adelaide in the Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre
. Her taking over from Jane Krakowski
coincided with Nigel Harman
's taking over of the role of Sky Masterson from Ewan McGregor
. Lancashire suffered a reported chest infection and was forced to leave the production officially on 7 February 2006 having not performed since the matinee performance on 4 January 2006.
Lancashire's last role to date was that of Joyce Chilvers in the new Cameron Macintosh production of Betty Blue Eyes
, which ran in the Novello Theatre in London until September 2011.
In 2006 she presented an edition of the Five documentary social heritage series Disappearing Britain in which she interviewed people with memories of Wakes Week
holidays in Blackpool
by Cotton mill
workers in the early 20th Century. It included an investigation of her own family history and holidays by her great grandfather Tom Lancashire in Llandudno
.
(1933–2004), who wrote several hundred episodes of Coronation Street. She is married to the television producer Peter Salmon, with whom she has a son. She also has two sons from a previous marriage.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actress, probably best recognised for her role as Raquel Watts
Raquel Watts
Raquel Catherine Watts is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sarah Lancashire.-Storylines:...
in Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
in 1986.
Television
Lancashire's first recurring television role is still her best known. She played barmaid Raquel WattsRaquel Watts
Raquel Catherine Watts is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sarah Lancashire.-Storylines:...
in the ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
from 1991 to 1996, reappearing for one last episode in 1999. Raquel was a sweet, if somewhat dippy character, who was a firm favourite with viewers of the long running show. She had previously appeared on the programme in November 1987 playing Wendy Farmer.
After leaving Coronation Street, rather than struggle to find work in other shows after playing such a well known character (a fate that has befallen many soap opera actors), Lancashire worked in a number of high profile series. From 1997 to 1999 she played Ruth Goddard in the ITV1 drama series Where The Heart Is
Where the Heart Is (1997 TV series)
Where the Heart Is is a British television drama series set in the fictional town Skelthwaite.First shown in 1997, it was created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone...
, and in 1999 she appeared in the BBC sitcom Murder Most Horrid
Murder Most Horrid
Murder Most Horrid is a BBC dark comedy anthology series starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999....
, which also starred comedienne Dawn French.
Lancashire has appeared in the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
legal sitcom Chambers which later moved onto television. In 2000, she starred in the drama Seeing Red, portraying actress Coral Atkins
Coral Atkins
Coral Atkins is a British actress.Her television credits include: Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, Softly, Softly, The Avengers, Callan, The Sweeney, Survivors and Emmerdale....
, who founded a care home for children. and won two British television industry awards as a result. In 2001 she went on to star in the acclaimed BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama series Clocking Off
Clocking Off
Clocking Off is a British television drama series which ran on the BBC One network for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott...
, a role that saw her win the Best Actress award at the Television and Radio Industry Club Awards. Lancashire has continued to work regularly since, notably in a BBC drama portraying Angela Cannings
Angela Cannings
Angela Cannings was wrongfully convicted in the UK in 2002 of the murder of her seven-week-old son, Jason, who died in 1991, and of her 18-week-old son Matthew, who died in 1999...
, a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
woman who was convicted of killing her two baby sons but was released when medical evidence given at her trial was deemed dubious. She has recently appeared in two series of the ITV1 drama series Rose and Maloney
Rose and Maloney
Rose and Maloney is a British television crime drama starring Sarah Lancashire and Phil Davis as Rose Linden and Maloney, two investigators working for the fictional Criminal Justice Review Agency. This agency takes on claims of miscarriages of justice, assessing whether there are grounds to...
.
In 2002, she played the role of Meg Bartlet in the psychological thriller tele-movie The Cry. Her character Meg, a social worker grieving the stillbirth of her daughter, befriends a woman called Christine whose baby daughter Eleanor suffers from breathing problems. Gradually, Meg becomes convinced the child is being abused and eventually abducts her after the claims make headline news. Changing her car and appearance and using the name Annie Lomax, she heads to Cheshire where Christine used to live, determined to prove that Eleanor's mother is guilty of abuse.
In September 2006, she starred in a BBC comedy drama Angel Cake, and in 2007 she played Mary Miles in the E4 teen Comedy/Drama Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
. In April 2008, she appeared in "Partners in Crime
Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)
"Partners in Crime" is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in "The Runaway Bride"...
", the opening episode of the 2008 series of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, as "Miss Foster, an enigmatic and powerful businesswoman". She also narrates the BBC drama series Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford (TV series)
Lark Rise to Candleford is a British television costume drama series, adapted by the BBC from Flora Thompson's trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, published between 1939 and 1943. The first episode aired on 13 January 2008 on BBC One and BBC HD in the UK. In the...
. Filmed in August to December 2008, Lancashire stars in All the Small Things
All the Small Things (TV series)
All the Small Things is a British television programme, produced by the BBC and created and developed by Debbie Horsfield. Following the lives and ambitions of a church choir and its members, the programme began airing on 31 March 2009 and ran for six episodes. The programme frequently features...
alongside Neil Pearson
Neil Pearson
Neil Joshua Pearson is a British actor best known for his work on television.-Biography:Pearson grew up in Battersea, London, the son of a panel beater, who left home when he was five, and a legal secretary, and was educated at Woolverstone Hall School, Suffolk, a boarding school, where he first...
and Richard Fleeshman
Richard Fleeshman
Richard Jonathan Fleeshman is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His television career began as a twelve year old, playing Craig Harris for four years in Coronation Street and most recently "All The Small Things"...
. She plays Esther Caddick, a full-time mother and choir member in the short TV series Heart and Soul.
In Spring 2010 Lancashire portrayed the mother of murdered prostitute Anneli Alderton in the BBC Drama Five Daughters
Five Daughters
Five Daughters is a British television drama mini-series starring Ian Hart, Sarah Lancashire, Jaime Winstone and Juliet Aubrey. Set in 2006, it is about the five victims of the Ipswich serial murders and how the crime affected their families...
Stage
On 5 December 2005, she returned to the West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stage to play Miss Adelaide in the Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre
Piccadilly Theatre
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, England.-Early years:Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A...
. Her taking over from Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
coincided with Nigel Harman
Nigel Harman
Nigel Derek Harman is an English actor, most famous for his role as Dennis Rickman in the UK soap opera EastEnders. He has worked extensively in theatre, with the stage being described as his "first love"...
's taking over of the role of Sky Masterson from Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
. Lancashire suffered a reported chest infection and was forced to leave the production officially on 7 February 2006 having not performed since the matinee performance on 4 January 2006.
Lancashire's last role to date was that of Joyce Chilvers in the new Cameron Macintosh production of Betty Blue Eyes
Betty Blue Eyes
Betty Blue Eyes was a musical with music by George Stiles, lyrics by Anthony Drewe, and book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The story was based on the Alan Bennett screenplay, A Private Function, and was set during a celebration of the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip.-...
, which ran in the Novello Theatre in London until September 2011.
Directing and presenting
In 2005, Lancashire made her directorial debut on an episode of the BBC series The Afternoon Play and was nominated for the Best New Director award at the BAFTA television awards.In 2006 she presented an edition of the Five documentary social heritage series Disappearing Britain in which she interviewed people with memories of Wakes Week
Wakes week
The wakes week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland.- History :Wakes were originally religious festivals that commemorated church dedications...
holidays in Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
by Cotton mill
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
workers in the early 20th Century. It included an investigation of her own family history and holidays by her great grandfather Tom Lancashire in Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
.
Personal life
Lancashire is the daughter of the television scriptwriter Geoffrey LancashireGeoffrey Lancashire
Geoffrey Lancashire was a British television scriptwriter. He is best remembered for writing television comedy series such as The Lovers and The Cuckoo Waltz.-Early life:...
(1933–2004), who wrote several hundred episodes of Coronation Street. She is married to the television producer Peter Salmon, with whom she has a son. She also has two sons from a previous marriage.