Tracy-Ann Oberman
Encyclopedia
Tracy-Ann Oberman is an English television, theatre and radio actress, known for her role as Chrissie Watts
in the BBC
soap opera
Eastenders
. She is also a writer, who has contributed to a number of radio sketch shows and in 2008 co-authored with Diane Samuels
the critically acclaimed play Three Sisters on Hope Street and in 2010 the radio play Bette and Joan and Baby Jane. Oberman was a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper during 2007.
Following training at the Central School of Speech and Drama
in London, Oberman spent four years with the Royal Shakespeare Company
, before joining the National Theatre
. Her extensive theatrical background includes appearing with Kenneth Branagh
in David Mamet
's Edmond (2003) and a run in the West End revival of Boeing-Boeing (2007–8). Most recently she appeared in a production of Earthquakes In London (2011) as Sarah Sullivan as the show is currently on tour.
Oberman was praised for her portrayal of Chrissie Watts in EastEnders from 2004-2005. She played the lead antagonist in the two-part finale to the second series of Doctor Who
(2006) opposite David Tennant
, and in 2009 made guest starring roles in Mistresses, Robin Hood, and Doctors. Prior to EastEnders Oberman appeared in a variety of television programmes including Casualty
(1997–1998), Kiss Me Kate (1998), and The Bill
(2000), and carved out a comedic niche with leading roles in Bob Martin
(2000–2001), Lenny Henry In Pieces
(2000–2003) and Big Train
(2002).
Oberman has performed in more than 600 radio plays since the mid-90s.
; however, after a year she moved to Manchester University to pursue drama. After graduating she was accepted into the Central School of Speech and Drama
, where she trained as an actor. In 1991, Oberman went to study at the Moscow Arts Theatre School as part of further training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
. Oberman has spoken of how her drive for professionalism was a result of her parents' initial concern with her career choice. Coming from a strong legal background, her family "weren’t wildly happy" about her desire to become an actor: "My parents were always making me watch Rumpole of the Bailey
, going ‘You see? It’s just like acting, you make things up, you wear a wig and a funny outfit. Why not the law?’ But I just always, always wanted to act, as far back as I remember." Joining the Royal Shakespeare Company
though, finally won her parents over. However, in a 2004 interview Oberman noted that her father's death seven years earlier prevented him seeing the development of her career and her national success as an actor: "I've come a long way in my career since he died and I wish he was here to see it. He was a big EastEnders fan so I know he'd be very, very proud of me."
. In 1993 she took part in the RSC's award-winning production of Christopher Marlowe's
Tamburlaine
as "Olympia". This was followed by roles in The Changeling, as "Diaphanta", A Jovial Crew in the part of "Joan Cope", and The Beggar's Opera where she played Molly Brazen. In 1994 she completed her run at the RSC playing in Macbeth and A Christmas Carol. After performing in a number of West End productions, Oberman played at the Royal National Theatre in Waiting for Leftie during 1999. This was followed by a starring turn in School Play at the Soho Theatre. The play was lauded by Michael Billington
as a "remarkable" production, with The Guardian critic praising Oberman for her successful portrayal of "Miss Fay" as "the teacher torn between her own career and her pupil's potential".
In 2003, Oberman returned to the National Theatre in Edmond, playing opposite Kenneth Branagh in her debut at the National and his first forray into acting after six years of directing. Her role as wife to Branagh's title character was well received by critics, Norman Miller in a BBC News review commending Oberman for making a particular "impression" despite being only one part out of thirty "whirling through scenes" in a play that runs barely over an hour. That year also saw her star in Hello and Goodbye at the Southwark Playhouse in what would be her final stage performance for four years. The play was highly acclaimed. According to Fiona Mountford in The Evening Standard, the production was "given the outing of its life by" Oberman and her co-star, Zubin Varla. The review in The British Theatre Guide was similarly positive, praising Oberman who "rages away" in the role of "Hester", and delivers "one of the best performances in town".
In addition to the stage, Oberman began working in radio after she left the RSC and has appeared in over 600 radio plays.
She has acted extensively in radio drama
and radio comedy
, appearing regularly on BBC Radio 4
as a member of the station's unofficial "repertory" company, including; The Way It Is
(1998–2001), the leading role in The Attractive Young Rabbi
(1999–2002), The Sunday Format
(1999–2004), and Getting Nowhere Fast
.
She has appeared in many TV programmes including; The Way It Is
(2000), Bob Martin
(2000–2001) opposite Michael Barrymore
, Lenny Henry in Pieces
(2000–2001), Big Train
(2002), SuperTex
(2003) and in episodes of Doctors
, The Last Detective
, Where the Heart Is
, The Bill
, Casualty
. She played the previously unseen character
of Marion in a special half-hour episode of the monologue
series Marion and Geoff
in 2001.
She has also written comedy sketches and an award-winning sitcom for BBC Three
, The Harringham Harker.
In 2004, Oberman was runner up on a celebrity edition of Mastermind
(her specialist subject being the "Imperial Roman family"), and scored the highest IQ when she appeared on Test The Nation
.
. In 1998, she joined the cast of Comedy Nation
, a satirical sketch show that featured some of Britain's leading up-and-coming comedians, such as Sacha Baron-Cohen, Julian Barratt
, and Robert Webb
. This was followed by an assortment of parts in various television productions, including a performance in a two-part story for the police serial The Bill
in 2000. That year Oberman was cast as series regular "Beverly Jordan" opposite Michael Barrymore
in Bob Martin
, and became a lead performer in the award-nominated Lenny Henry in Pieces
, starring comedian Lenny Henry
, which ran until 2003. In 2002 Oberman joined the second and final series of the sketch show Big Train
, performing beside comedians Simon Pegg
and Catherine Tate
. The following year saw the Harringham Harker move from radio to television as part of BBC 2's Autumn line-up alongside The Office
and Coupling
, with Oberman continuing in her role as lead and writer.
In 2004 Oberman moved away from comedy to join the BBC's long running soap drama EastEnders
, after she was cast as Chrissie Watts
, the second wife of "one of the best-loved villains in soap history", 'Dirty' Den Watts
. It was a role she played for almost two years, and which brought her "stratospheric fame". At the time, though, television critics pointed to Oberman's extensive theatrical background and questioned "why would an actress with such pedigree agree to be in EastEnders?" Oberman has continuously responded by placing the move in the context of her professional exposure, noting her position as a "jobbing actress" at the time and her desire to return to drama after her recent comedic roles. Making her debut on the 29 April, Oberman was viewed as an "overnight success" in the role of Chrissie, with Amy Raphael of The Telegraph feeling that the actress "easily upstaged the rest of the cast with her three-dimensional portrayal of a classic soap bitch". In 2005, "18 million people" watched her character kill Den in a fit of rage to mark the 20th anniversary of EastEnders, with Oberman "anchoring" the show's success that year and dominating drama as Chrissie, who "packed into a year what most soap characters do in three." Commenting on her role two years after she left the show, Oberman concluded:
Oberman described her time on EastEnders as "hectic", leading her to depart the show during December 2005. However, the role of Chrissie has remained a defining point of her career. In a recent interview, Oberman remarked: "Chrissie was such a wonderful character and the show was watched by so many people, especially the murder of Den, that it opened up doors that I never thought it would. I had some fantastic offers when I left, there was film and theatre... it was wonderful for me; EastEnders is a very good calling card." Oberman has also recently declared her willingness to return to the part of Chrissie and EastEnders, even if only to provide a resolution for the character.
for Channel Four. It was also announced that Oberman would guest star in the upcoming series of Doctor Who
, playing the character of Yvonne Hartman, whom she described as "a sophisticated sort of baddie", with a BBC source declaring Oberman "perfect to play evil Yvonne and will be brilliant at terrorising the next generation of viewers". The two-part series finale entitled "Army of Ghosts
" and "Doomsday
", aired in July 2006, attracting audiences of 8.19 million and 8.22 million respectively. Oberman extols her appearance in Doctor Who as a career highlight, being a "self-confessed Whovian" or fan of the show: "Some people, their life’s ambition is to walk in and see the Queen Vic, mine was to see a Tardis and a sonic screwdriver... and a Dalek!" That year also saw Oberman plan a return to the National Theatre in Mike Leigh's
play, Two Thousand Years. Leigh had already asked Oberman to appear as part of the original cast, but she declined given her hectic schedule on EastEnders at the time. However, after she signed up for the 2006 production and began attending rehearsals she fell ill, a blood test revealing that she was pregnant, forcing her to pull out of the play. Instead, Oberman signed on to the BBC One six-part comedy drama series Sorted
as series regular Amy, alongside Will Mellor
.
The birth of her daughter meant that despite receiving "fantastic offers" in "film and theatre" after leaving EastEnders, Oberman "ended up taking a couple of years out". Although she undertook a one-off performance of The Oak Tree at the Soho Theatre
in 2007, it wasn't until the end of the year that she returned full-time to work in the West End revival of Boeing-Boeing, playing "Gretchen" opposite Jean Marsh
and Jennifer Ellison
. In 2008 she also made a brief return to TV in the CBBC
production Summerhill, the first in a series of roles she would undertake for children’s television in the coming years, commenting "I think as long as the production values are high, it doesn't matter who it's aimed at. Often the writing for kids shows is excellent and you get some great actors in them".
In July 2008 Oberman continued her theatre run by starring in the world premiere of On the Rocks as Frieda Lawrence, wife of novelist D. H. Lawrence
. The play, by Amy Rosenthal
, follows the marriage of the Lawrences during one idyllic summer in 1916, and received generally favourable reviews, with Arts critic Michael Billington
describing Oberman's performance as "capturing Frieda's intense love-hate relationship with her impossible partner". Similarly, the Mail praised "Miss Oberman" as "convincingly saucy and dim", but questioned whether her German accent needed to be "Kvite So Heffy?". The censure was echoed by Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard in his less than enthusiastic review of the play, criticising Oberman for her "often unintelligible German accent". However, most reviews followed the line taken by Benedict Nightingale of The Times in declaring Oberman to have given a "fine performance... as a gloriously sensual, blowsily defiant Frieda".
In 2009, Oberman made a number of guest starring roles in BBC television programmes, beginning with Mistresses
in which she played the owner of a sex-toy company. This was followed by a part in the BBC One drama Robin Hood, as the wife of the Sherriff of York. In September, Oberman returned to the medical series Doctors five years after first appearing in the programme, undertaking the role of 'black widow' Cathy Harley. However, Oberman was most excited about her part in the "web thriller" Girl Number 9, which she playfully described as "the first Twitter
-related drama that there's ever been!" Penned by James Moran
, the adult themed online horror series was headlined as a "big step forward" for British web drama, with Oberman playing the lead detective "Lyndon" beside Gareth David-Lloyd
.
At the end of 2009, Oberman returned to radio to star in "Gregory Evans’ mind-boggling play" Shirleymander for Radio 4, with reviewer Moira Petty describing Oberman's turn as Dame Shirley Porter
as "freakishly real". In 2010 Oberman remained with the radio medium, performing opposite Catherine Tate
.
Oberman kept up her string of TV guest appearances with a role in the drama Tracy Beaker Returns
, playing "Terrie Fender", a travel agent and con artist. She also joined the junior spy series M.I. High, as the "Grand Mistress". Appearing on the chat show, The Wright Stuff
, Oberman revealed that she undertook the part because M. I. High was her nephew's favourite programme, but also added that she was a fan herself, describing it as a "junior version of Spooks
.
She also recently appeared on CBBC's Sadie J, playing Sadie's housekeeper, Tamara.
In 2011 Oberman played Auntie Val in the Channel4 cult hit comedy Friday Night Dinner, written by Robert Popper and starring comedy favourites Tamsin Greig, Simon Bird and Mark Heap. The series was recommissioned after the first few episodes aired.
She is about to play Sarah in the touring production of Earthquakes in London by Mike Bartlett which is an updated, newly staged version of the National Theatre and Headlongs production earlier in the year.
newspaper.
Oberman wrote and performed in her first BBC Radio 4 play which went out to great critical acclaim on April 29th 2010. Catherine Tate played Bette Davis and Oberman herself ( after persuasion by the producer ) played Joan Crawford with Lorelei King as Hedda Hopper. The play was Pick of The Week by Gillian Reynolds and garnered a huge amount of press interest due to the subject matter, and it being Oberman's first radio play.
She subsequently followed this up three weeks later by writing and performing her own BBC R4 short story called "Girl on an Island" as part of a series of three called Actors Voices ( along with Anna Massie and James Dreyfus)
. The play is a reinterpretation of Chekhov's
The Three Sisters
, transferring events to Liverpool after World War II
and re-casting the Pozorov sisters as three Jewish Englishwomen. In an interview on Radio 4, Oberman spoke of the original inspiration and long gestation of the play:
Oberman described her work as "A kind of Three Sisters via Woody Allen", reflecting the humour she saw in Chekhov's story. She expanded upon this personal connection in an article for The Guardian: "Chekhov wrote about a world I recognised from my childhood - where intense pain is covered by bravura and humour, and where intense longing is masked by self-deprecation and wit. There was the same obsession with death, the same fierce familial loyalty, the same tendency toward melodrama - as well as a great passion for food." After returning from Moscow, Oberman continued to work on her reinterpretation for the next 15 years, but lacked the confidence to take her project further. However, after her success in EastEnders she was offered "a lot of work" and was "in a position where I could green-light stuff for myself", determining that "this was the moment when I was going to make this dream happen".
A chance discussion with Diane Samuels in the back of a taxi one night led to collaboration between the two. Oberman had had difficulty deciding where to transpose Chekhov's narrative, with Samuels offering up the idea of Liverpool, her home town, and the two agreeing on the post-war time frame: "Liverpudlians have their own black sense of humour and comic timing, born out of having their city blown to smithereens during the war". This informed the new Jewish sensibility of the play which was anchored to the tone of Chekhov's original, where the melodrama of the Pozorov family masked the pain and social upheaval all about them. Oberman felt this echoed the way the Jewish community in Britain acted in the wake of the Holocaust: "people that close to the Second World War just didn’t talk about it – a bit like the elephant in the room
". The intent of the play was "to take a family who have the Holocaust hanging over them, and still have them laugh and moan and bicker while wondering what's for breakfast".
Three Sisters on Hope Street opened at the Everyman in Liverpool on the 25 January before beginning a second run at Hampstead Theatre in London. The play received "rave reviews", being described as "an inventive reimagining" and "a bold, fresh and fruitful reinterpretation", showcasing "lively and intelligent" writing. Philip Key in the Liverpool Daily Post praised the adaptation as successfully capturing the sensibility of Liverpool, enabling the story to "be familiar to both theatre-goers and many Liverpudlians." Peter Fisher of The British Theatre Guide was even more ecstatic, describing the production as a "superb project" and a "superb evening's entertainment". However, other reviewers were more ambiguous, with Michael Coveney branding the play a "clever re-write" but poorly served by the actors involved. Similarly, The Guardian Arts editor felt the piece to be "a surprisingly faithful transposition", which "ingeniously" solves some of the problems inherent in relocating the original, but objected to what he saw was a "dependence on authorial cleverness in finding post-war parallels to their source".
The play became the source of some controversy following a behind-the-scenes rupture between Oberman and Samuels. The latter initially denied the rumour of an outright schism, contending that "Without some argy bargy, no creative process could happen". In an interview with The Times, Oberman expanded: "This process has been really hard. I’m a natural collaborator, but I’ve never written anything so close to my heart. It’s been really, really difficult for me to let it go. This production might not be my ultimate vision of the play... But I’m determined now to trust, sit back and enjoy it with everybody else."
, as a contestant on a Doctor Who
special of The Weakest Link
. She was the second one voted off. And as a special guest performer in Tim Crouch's two-hander The Oak Tree at the Soho Theatre
. In 2004 she came a close second place on Celebrity Mastermind, specialist subject being The Imperial Roman Family Augustus to Claudius Caesar.
In September 2005 she was a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
In 2006 she was the guest on Nigel Slater
's A Taste of My Life and in 2007 Oberman appeared on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen
. She is has featured in the BBC Radio 4 show Rudy's Rare Records.
Oberman is also known for her narration of advertisements and documentaries such as Five's I'm A Celebrity: Who Really Won!.
She is featured in the video for The Yeah You's debut single "15 Minutes", hosting her own fictional chat show, interviewing the rock band.
She made it through to the quarter-finals of Celebrity MasterChef in 2009. She is a keen Science Fiction buff. She is a regular panelist on The Wright Stuff
.
Oberman hosted the "2009 International Hall of Fame Awards" at the International Women's Forum World Leadership Conference in Miami, 7–9 October.
In 2011 Oberman appeared in Born To Shine
singing folk music and playing the guitar.
struck. In an interview with The People, Oberman described the experience as "one of those crystallized moments in my life. Its made me focus on the people I love. It also showed me the incredible generosity people are capable of. When you have seen something like that, you also stop taking the trivia so seriously".
In 2005, Oberman was cast in Mike Leigh
's play Two Thousand Years at the National Theatre
but had to drop out when she became ill. In August 2006, Oberman gave birth to a girl, Anoushka India, at a Central London hospital with her husband Rob Cowan by her side.
Chrissie Watts
Christine "Chrissie" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman. She first appeared in April 2004 as the second wife of the show's "most enduring character", Den Watts, becoming a prominent regular for the next 18 months...
in the 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...
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,...
Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. She is also a writer, who has contributed to a number of radio sketch shows and in 2008 co-authored with Diane Samuels
Diane Samuels
Diane Samuels is an author and playwright. She was born in Liverpool in 1960. Samuels studied history at Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge and then studied for a PGCE in drama at Goldsmiths, University of London...
the critically acclaimed play Three Sisters on Hope Street and in 2010 the radio play Bette and Joan and Baby Jane. Oberman was a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper during 2007.
Following training at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
in London, Oberman spent four years with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, before joining the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
. Her extensive theatrical background includes appearing with Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
in David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
's Edmond (2003) and a run in the West End revival of Boeing-Boeing (2007–8). Most recently she appeared in a production of Earthquakes In London (2011) as Sarah Sullivan as the show is currently on tour.
Oberman was praised for her portrayal of Chrissie Watts in EastEnders from 2004-2005. She played the lead antagonist in the two-part finale to the second 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...
(2006) opposite David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
, and in 2009 made guest starring roles in Mistresses, Robin Hood, and Doctors. Prior to EastEnders Oberman appeared in a variety of television programmes including Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
(1997–1998), Kiss Me Kate (1998), and The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
(2000), and carved out a comedic niche with leading roles in Bob Martin
Bob Martin (TV series)
Bob Martin is a British situation comedy. Its concept bears significant resemblance to The Larry Sanders Show. Michael Barrymore is its principal actor. It was made by Granada for the ITV network from 2 April 2000 to 4 June 2001....
(2000–2001), Lenny Henry In Pieces
Lenny Henry in Pieces
Lenny Henry in Pieces was a British stand-up and sketch show by comedians Lenny Henry and Gina Yashere. It aired on BBC One between 2000 and 2003....
(2000–2003) and Big Train
Big Train
Big Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...
(2002).
Oberman has performed in more than 600 radio plays since the mid-90s.
Background
Tracy-Ann Oberman was born in Greater London, Middlesex, in 1966 to a Jewish family. She grew up in North London, attending Heathfield School for Girls, before going on to study Classics at the Leeds UniversityUniversity of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
; however, after a year she moved to Manchester University to pursue drama. After graduating she was accepted into the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
, where she trained as an actor. In 1991, Oberman went to study at the Moscow Arts Theatre School as part of further training at 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:...
. Oberman has spoken of how her drive for professionalism was a result of her parents' initial concern with her career choice. Coming from a strong legal background, her family "weren’t wildly happy" about her desire to become an actor: "My parents were always making me watch Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
, going ‘You see? It’s just like acting, you make things up, you wear a wig and a funny outfit. Why not the law?’ But I just always, always wanted to act, as far back as I remember." Joining the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
though, finally won her parents over. However, in a 2004 interview Oberman noted that her father's death seven years earlier prevented him seeing the development of her career and her national success as an actor: "I've come a long way in my career since he died and I wish he was here to see it. He was a big EastEnders fan so I know he'd be very, very proud of me."
Acting
After leaving the Central School of Speech and Drama, Oberman was accepted into the Royal Shakespeare CompanyRoyal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
. In 1993 she took part in the RSC's award-winning production of Christopher Marlowe's
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
Tamburlaine
Tamburlaine (play)
Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur 'the lame'...
as "Olympia". This was followed by roles in The Changeling, as "Diaphanta", A Jovial Crew in the part of "Joan Cope", and The Beggar's Opera where she played Molly Brazen. In 1994 she completed her run at the RSC playing in Macbeth and A Christmas Carol. After performing in a number of West End productions, Oberman played at the Royal National Theatre in Waiting for Leftie during 1999. This was followed by a starring turn in School Play at the Soho Theatre. The play was lauded by Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
as a "remarkable" production, with The Guardian critic praising Oberman for her successful portrayal of "Miss Fay" as "the teacher torn between her own career and her pupil's potential".
In 2003, Oberman returned to the National Theatre in Edmond, playing opposite Kenneth Branagh in her debut at the National and his first forray into acting after six years of directing. Her role as wife to Branagh's title character was well received by critics, Norman Miller in a BBC News review commending Oberman for making a particular "impression" despite being only one part out of thirty "whirling through scenes" in a play that runs barely over an hour. That year also saw her star in Hello and Goodbye at the Southwark Playhouse in what would be her final stage performance for four years. The play was highly acclaimed. According to Fiona Mountford in The Evening Standard, the production was "given the outing of its life by" Oberman and her co-star, Zubin Varla. The review in The British Theatre Guide was similarly positive, praising Oberman who "rages away" in the role of "Hester", and delivers "one of the best performances in town".
In addition to the stage, Oberman began working in radio after she left the RSC and has appeared in over 600 radio plays.
She has acted extensively in radio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
and radio comedy
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
, appearing regularly on 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...
as a member of the station's unofficial "repertory" company, including; The Way It Is
The Way It Is (programme)
The Way It Is is a topical news spoof show which ran for five series, each of eight shows, on BBC Radio 4 between 1998 and 2001. A one-off TV version was broadcast on BBC One in 2000...
(1998–2001), the leading role in The Attractive Young Rabbi
The Attractive Young Rabbi
The Attractive Young Rabbi was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series of three series from 1999 to 2002, written by Barry Grossman. Starring Tracy-Ann Oberman, David de Keyser and Doreen Mantle, the series was about two rabbis...
(1999–2002), The Sunday Format
The Sunday Format
The Sunday Format, "BBC Radio 4's first high-quality weekend broadsheet newspaper", is a British satirical radio comedy. The programme is a parody of British middle class newspapers, in particular the lifestyle supplements and glossy celebrity magazines that fill Sunday papers...
(1999–2004), and Getting Nowhere Fast
Getting Nowhere Fast
Getting Nowhere Fast is a BBC Radio sitcom written by and starring the comedian and musician Mervyn Stutter.Stutter plays "Merv" the co-owner and manager of "The Cyber Pass", a former "vodka'n'veggies" bistro converted into an Internet Cafe. Actress Lill Roughley plays Pamela Baverstock, Merv's...
.
She has appeared in many TV programmes including; The Way It Is
The Way It Is (programme)
The Way It Is is a topical news spoof show which ran for five series, each of eight shows, on BBC Radio 4 between 1998 and 2001. A one-off TV version was broadcast on BBC One in 2000...
(2000), Bob Martin
Bob Martin (TV series)
Bob Martin is a British situation comedy. Its concept bears significant resemblance to The Larry Sanders Show. Michael Barrymore is its principal actor. It was made by Granada for the ITV network from 2 April 2000 to 4 June 2001....
(2000–2001) opposite Michael Barrymore
Michael Barrymore
Michael Kieron Parker , better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is a British comedian who appeared as a presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s and 1990s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music and Kids Say...
, Lenny Henry in Pieces
Lenny Henry in Pieces
Lenny Henry in Pieces was a British stand-up and sketch show by comedians Lenny Henry and Gina Yashere. It aired on BBC One between 2000 and 2003....
(2000–2001), Big Train
Big Train
Big Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...
(2002), SuperTex
SuperTex
SuperTex is a Dutch film that runs approximately 97 minutes. The drama was filmed in English and directed by Jan Schütte....
(2003) and in episodes of Doctors
Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)
Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...
, The Last Detective
The Last Detective
The Last Detective is an ITV drama starring Peter Davison as Dangerous Davies. The first series aired in 2003 with three more seasons succeeding this...
, 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...
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
. She played the previously unseen character
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
of Marion in a special half-hour episode of the monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
series Marion and Geoff
Marion and Geoff
Marion and Geoff is a BBC television mockumentary, produced by Baby Cow Productions and screened on BBC Two in 2000, with a second series following in 2003. The series starred Rob Brydon as Keith Barret, a naïve taxicab driver going through a messy divorce from his wife, Marion, who, though he...
in 2001.
She has also written comedy sketches and an award-winning sitcom for BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
, The Harringham Harker.
In 2004, Oberman was runner up on a celebrity edition of Mastermind
Celebrity Mastermind
Celebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master...
(her specialist subject being the "Imperial Roman family"), and scored the highest IQ when she appeared on Test The Nation
Test the Nation
Test the Nation is a television programme, first broadcast in 2001 by BNN in the Netherlands where the concept is owned by Eyeworks Holding who license it to TV production companies around the world.-Show format:...
.
Television and Eastenders
In 1997 Oberman scored her first major television role when she was cast as Zoe Gerrard, a security officer in the medical drama CasualtyCasualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
. In 1998, she joined the cast of Comedy Nation
Comedy Nation
Comedy Nation is a British sketch comedy television programme that premiered at midnight 9 January 1998 on BBC Two. The first series consists of 13 episodes, each containing 30 sketches. Each episode of the first series cost £29,000 to produce....
, a satirical sketch show that featured some of Britain's leading up-and-coming comedians, such as Sacha Baron-Cohen, Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with comedy partner, Noel Fielding.-The Mighty Boosh:Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon...
, and Robert Webb
Robert Webb (actor)
Robert Webb is an English actor, comedian and writer, and one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell.-Early life:...
. This was followed by an assortment of parts in various television productions, including a performance in a two-part story for the police serial The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
in 2000. That year Oberman was cast as series regular "Beverly Jordan" opposite Michael Barrymore
Michael Barrymore
Michael Kieron Parker , better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is a British comedian who appeared as a presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s and 1990s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music and Kids Say...
in Bob Martin
Bob Martin (TV series)
Bob Martin is a British situation comedy. Its concept bears significant resemblance to The Larry Sanders Show. Michael Barrymore is its principal actor. It was made by Granada for the ITV network from 2 April 2000 to 4 June 2001....
, and became a lead performer in the award-nominated Lenny Henry in Pieces
Lenny Henry in Pieces
Lenny Henry in Pieces was a British stand-up and sketch show by comedians Lenny Henry and Gina Yashere. It aired on BBC One between 2000 and 2003....
, starring comedian Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
, which ran until 2003. In 2002 Oberman joined the second and final series of the sketch show Big Train
Big Train
Big Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...
, performing beside comedians Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
and Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...
. The following year saw the Harringham Harker move from radio to television as part of BBC 2's Autumn line-up alongside The Office
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
and Coupling
Coupling
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. Couplings do not normally allow disconnection of shafts during operation, however there are torque limiting couplings which can slip or disconnect when some torque limit is exceeded.The...
, with Oberman continuing in her role as lead and writer.
In 2004 Oberman moved away from comedy to join the BBC's long running soap drama EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, after she was cast as Chrissie Watts
Chrissie Watts
Christine "Chrissie" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman. She first appeared in April 2004 as the second wife of the show's "most enduring character", Den Watts, becoming a prominent regular for the next 18 months...
, the second wife of "one of the best-loved villains in soap history", 'Dirty' Den Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
. It was a role she played for almost two years, and which brought her "stratospheric fame". At the time, though, television critics pointed to Oberman's extensive theatrical background and questioned "why would an actress with such pedigree agree to be in EastEnders?" Oberman has continuously responded by placing the move in the context of her professional exposure, noting her position as a "jobbing actress" at the time and her desire to return to drama after her recent comedic roles. Making her debut on the 29 April, Oberman was viewed as an "overnight success" in the role of Chrissie, with Amy Raphael of The Telegraph feeling that the actress "easily upstaged the rest of the cast with her three-dimensional portrayal of a classic soap bitch". In 2005, "18 million people" watched her character kill Den in a fit of rage to mark the 20th anniversary of EastEnders, with Oberman "anchoring" the show's success that year and dominating drama as Chrissie, who "packed into a year what most soap characters do in three." Commenting on her role two years after she left the show, Oberman concluded:
Oberman described her time on EastEnders as "hectic", leading her to depart the show during December 2005. However, the role of Chrissie has remained a defining point of her career. In a recent interview, Oberman remarked: "Chrissie was such a wonderful character and the show was watched by so many people, especially the murder of Den, that it opened up doors that I never thought it would. I had some fantastic offers when I left, there was film and theatre... it was wonderful for me; EastEnders is a very good calling card." Oberman has also recently declared her willingness to return to the part of Chrissie and EastEnders, even if only to provide a resolution for the character.
Later work
Before leaving EastEnders, Oberman provided the voice of "Miss Dickson" in the adult-themed cartoon Bromwell HighBromwell High
Bromwell High is an animated series about a British high school in South London. It first aired on Teletoon in Canada and Channel 4 in the UK . It is a co-production between Hat Trick Productions in the UK and DHX Media in Canada. According to the Website , it was originally to be entitled...
for Channel Four. It was also announced that Oberman would guest star in the upcoming 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...
, playing the character of Yvonne Hartman, whom she described as "a sophisticated sort of baddie", with a BBC source declaring Oberman "perfect to play evil Yvonne and will be brilliant at terrorising the next generation of viewers". The two-part series finale entitled "Army of Ghosts
Army of Ghosts
"Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who which was first broadcast on 1 July 2006...
" and "Doomsday
Doomsday (Doctor Who)
"Doomsday" is the thirteenth and final episode in the second series of the revival of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 8 July 2006 and is the conclusion of a two-part story; the first part, "Army of Ghosts", was broadcast on 1 July 2006...
", aired in July 2006, attracting audiences of 8.19 million and 8.22 million respectively. Oberman extols her appearance in Doctor Who as a career highlight, being a "self-confessed Whovian" or fan of the show: "Some people, their life’s ambition is to walk in and see the Queen Vic, mine was to see a Tardis and a sonic screwdriver... and a Dalek!" That year also saw Oberman plan a return to the National Theatre in Mike Leigh's
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
play, Two Thousand Years. Leigh had already asked Oberman to appear as part of the original cast, but she declined given her hectic schedule on EastEnders at the time. However, after she signed up for the 2006 production and began attending rehearsals she fell ill, a blood test revealing that she was pregnant, forcing her to pull out of the play. Instead, Oberman signed on to the BBC One six-part comedy drama series Sorted
Sorted (TV series)
Sorted is a BBC television drama series, first broadcast in 2006, and transmitted on BBC One and BBC HD. It was created by Danny Brocklehurst, who has also written Clocking Off, The Stretford Wives and Shameless...
as series regular Amy, alongside Will Mellor
Will Mellor
William "Will" Mellor is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Jambo Bolton in Hollyoaks, Gaz Wilkinson in comedy, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps...
.
The birth of her daughter meant that despite receiving "fantastic offers" in "film and theatre" after leaving EastEnders, Oberman "ended up taking a couple of years out". Although she undertook a one-off performance of The Oak Tree at the Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
in 2007, it wasn't until the end of the year that she returned full-time to work in the West End revival of Boeing-Boeing, playing "Gretchen" opposite Jean Marsh
Jean Marsh
Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....
and Jennifer Ellison
Jennifer Ellison
Jennifer Lesley Ellison is an English actress, glamour model, television personality, dancer and singer...
. In 2008 she also made a brief return to TV in the CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
production Summerhill, the first in a series of roles she would undertake for children’s television in the coming years, commenting "I think as long as the production values are high, it doesn't matter who it's aimed at. Often the writing for kids shows is excellent and you get some great actors in them".
In July 2008 Oberman continued her theatre run by starring in the world premiere of On the Rocks as Frieda Lawrence, wife of novelist D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
. The play, by Amy Rosenthal
Amy Rosenthal
Amy Rosenthal is a British playwright from Muswell Hill, London. She is the daughter of Jack Rosenthal and Maureen Lipman.- Plays :Rosenthal studied playwriting at the University of Birmingham...
, follows the marriage of the Lawrences during one idyllic summer in 1916, and received generally favourable reviews, with Arts critic Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
describing Oberman's performance as "capturing Frieda's intense love-hate relationship with her impossible partner". Similarly, the Mail praised "Miss Oberman" as "convincingly saucy and dim", but questioned whether her German accent needed to be "Kvite So Heffy?". The censure was echoed by Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard in his less than enthusiastic review of the play, criticising Oberman for her "often unintelligible German accent". However, most reviews followed the line taken by Benedict Nightingale of The Times in declaring Oberman to have given a "fine performance... as a gloriously sensual, blowsily defiant Frieda".
In 2009, Oberman made a number of guest starring roles in BBC television programmes, beginning with Mistresses
Mistresses (TV series)
Mistresses is a British serial drama television programme that follows the lives of four female friends and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships...
in which she played the owner of a sex-toy company. This was followed by a part in the BBC One drama Robin Hood, as the wife of the Sherriff of York. In September, Oberman returned to the medical series Doctors five years after first appearing in the programme, undertaking the role of 'black widow' Cathy Harley. However, Oberman was most excited about her part in the "web thriller" Girl Number 9, which she playfully described as "the first Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
-related drama that there's ever been!" Penned by James Moran
James Moran (writer)
James Moran is a British screenwriter for television and film, who wrote the horror-comedy Severance. He works in the horror, comedy, science-fiction, historical fiction and spy thriller genres.-Breaking in:...
, the adult themed online horror series was headlined as a "big step forward" for British web drama, with Oberman playing the lead detective "Lyndon" beside Gareth David-Lloyd
Gareth David-Lloyd
Gareth David-Lloyd is a Welsh actor best known for his role as Ianto Jones in the British science fiction television programme Torchwood.- Early life :...
.
At the end of 2009, Oberman returned to radio to star in "Gregory Evans’ mind-boggling play" Shirleymander for Radio 4, with reviewer Moira Petty describing Oberman's turn as Dame Shirley Porter
Shirley Porter
Dame Shirley Porter, Lady Porter, DBE, is a former Conservative leader of Westminster City Council in London and a prominent philanthropist in Israel and the UK. She is the daughter and heir of Sir Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco supermarkets...
as "freakishly real". In 2010 Oberman remained with the radio medium, performing opposite Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...
.
Oberman kept up her string of TV guest appearances with a role in the drama Tracy Beaker Returns
Tracy Beaker Returns
Tracy Beaker Returns is a BAFTA winning British children's television series, which premiered on 8 January 2010 on CBBC and BBC HD. Based upon the novels by Jacqueline Wilson, It is the spin-off series to The Story of Tracy Beaker...
, playing "Terrie Fender", a travel agent and con artist. She also joined the junior spy series M.I. High, as the "Grand Mistress". Appearing on the chat show, The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
, Oberman revealed that she undertook the part because M. I. High was her nephew's favourite programme, but also added that she was a fan herself, describing it as a "junior version of Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
.
She also recently appeared on CBBC's Sadie J, playing Sadie's housekeeper, Tamara.
In 2011 Oberman played Auntie Val in the Channel4 cult hit comedy Friday Night Dinner, written by Robert Popper and starring comedy favourites Tamsin Greig, Simon Bird and Mark Heap. The series was recommissioned after the first few episodes aired.
She is about to play Sarah in the touring production of Earthquakes in London by Mike Bartlett which is an updated, newly staged version of the National Theatre and Headlongs production earlier in the year.
Writing
From 2006-2007 Tracy-Ann Oberman was a regular columnist for The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper.
Oberman wrote and performed in her first BBC Radio 4 play which went out to great critical acclaim on April 29th 2010. Catherine Tate played Bette Davis and Oberman herself ( after persuasion by the producer ) played Joan Crawford with Lorelei King as Hedda Hopper. The play was Pick of The Week by Gillian Reynolds and garnered a huge amount of press interest due to the subject matter, and it being Oberman's first radio play.
She subsequently followed this up three weeks later by writing and performing her own BBC R4 short story called "Girl on an Island" as part of a series of three called Actors Voices ( along with Anna Massie and James Dreyfus)
Three Sisters on Hope Street
In 2007 Oberman co-wrote Three Sisters on Hope Street with playwright and neighbour Diane SamuelsDiane Samuels
Diane Samuels is an author and playwright. She was born in Liverpool in 1960. Samuels studied history at Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge and then studied for a PGCE in drama at Goldsmiths, University of London...
. The play is a reinterpretation of Chekhov's
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
The Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
, transferring events to Liverpool after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and re-casting the Pozorov sisters as three Jewish Englishwomen. In an interview on Radio 4, Oberman spoke of the original inspiration and long gestation of the play:
Oberman described her work as "A kind of Three Sisters via Woody Allen", reflecting the humour she saw in Chekhov's story. She expanded upon this personal connection in an article for The Guardian: "Chekhov wrote about a world I recognised from my childhood - where intense pain is covered by bravura and humour, and where intense longing is masked by self-deprecation and wit. There was the same obsession with death, the same fierce familial loyalty, the same tendency toward melodrama - as well as a great passion for food." After returning from Moscow, Oberman continued to work on her reinterpretation for the next 15 years, but lacked the confidence to take her project further. However, after her success in EastEnders she was offered "a lot of work" and was "in a position where I could green-light stuff for myself", determining that "this was the moment when I was going to make this dream happen".
A chance discussion with Diane Samuels in the back of a taxi one night led to collaboration between the two. Oberman had had difficulty deciding where to transpose Chekhov's narrative, with Samuels offering up the idea of Liverpool, her home town, and the two agreeing on the post-war time frame: "Liverpudlians have their own black sense of humour and comic timing, born out of having their city blown to smithereens during the war". This informed the new Jewish sensibility of the play which was anchored to the tone of Chekhov's original, where the melodrama of the Pozorov family masked the pain and social upheaval all about them. Oberman felt this echoed the way the Jewish community in Britain acted in the wake of the Holocaust: "people that close to the Second World War just didn’t talk about it – a bit like the elephant in the room
Elephant in the room
"Elephant in the room" is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss....
". The intent of the play was "to take a family who have the Holocaust hanging over them, and still have them laugh and moan and bicker while wondering what's for breakfast".
Three Sisters on Hope Street opened at the Everyman in Liverpool on the 25 January before beginning a second run at Hampstead Theatre in London. The play received "rave reviews", being described as "an inventive reimagining" and "a bold, fresh and fruitful reinterpretation", showcasing "lively and intelligent" writing. Philip Key in the Liverpool Daily Post praised the adaptation as successfully capturing the sensibility of Liverpool, enabling the story to "be familiar to both theatre-goers and many Liverpudlians." Peter Fisher of The British Theatre Guide was even more ecstatic, describing the production as a "superb project" and a "superb evening's entertainment". However, other reviewers were more ambiguous, with Michael Coveney branding the play a "clever re-write" but poorly served by the actors involved. Similarly, The Guardian Arts editor felt the piece to be "a surprisingly faithful transposition", which "ingeniously" solves some of the problems inherent in relocating the original, but objected to what he saw was a "dependence on authorial cleverness in finding post-war parallels to their source".
The play became the source of some controversy following a behind-the-scenes rupture between Oberman and Samuels. The latter initially denied the rumour of an outright schism, contending that "Without some argy bargy, no creative process could happen". In an interview with The Times, Oberman expanded: "This process has been really hard. I’m a natural collaborator, but I’ve never written anything so close to my heart. It’s been really, really difficult for me to let it go. This production might not be my ultimate vision of the play... But I’m determined now to trust, sit back and enjoy it with everybody else."
Other work
Oberman has appeared as a guest reviewer on an episode of Film 2007 with Jonathan RossJonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...
, as a contestant on a 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...
special of The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
. She was the second one voted off. And as a special guest performer in Tim Crouch's two-hander The Oak Tree at the Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
. In 2004 she came a close second place on Celebrity Mastermind, specialist subject being The Imperial Roman Family Augustus to Claudius Caesar.
In September 2005 she was a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
In 2006 she was the guest on Nigel Slater
Nigel Slater
Nigel Slater is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for over a decade and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was food writer for Marie Claire for five years...
's A Taste of My Life and in 2007 Oberman appeared on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen
Saturday Kitchen
Saturday Kitchen Live is a 90 minute cookery programme, which is broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday mornings. It is currently presented by James Martin; previous presenters have included Antony Worrall Thompson and Gregg Wallace. The programme is currently produced by Cactus TV...
. She is has featured in the BBC Radio 4 show Rudy's Rare Records.
Oberman is also known for her narration of advertisements and documentaries such as Five's I'm A Celebrity: Who Really Won!.
She is featured in the video for The Yeah You's debut single "15 Minutes", hosting her own fictional chat show, interviewing the rock band.
She made it through to the quarter-finals of Celebrity MasterChef in 2009. She is a keen Science Fiction buff. She is a regular panelist on The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
.
Oberman hosted the "2009 International Hall of Fame Awards" at the International Women's Forum World Leadership Conference in Miami, 7–9 October.
In 2011 Oberman appeared in Born To Shine
Born to Shine
Born To Shine was an ITV entertainment programme which featured celebrities who learn a new skill taught to them by talented teenagers, live on ITV. It was presented by Natasha Kaplinsky.-Format:...
singing folk music and playing the guitar.
Personal life
In 2004, Oberman became engaged to music producer Rob Cowan. The two were honeymooning in Thailand when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
struck. In an interview with The People, Oberman described the experience as "one of those crystallized moments in my life. Its made me focus on the people I love. It also showed me the incredible generosity people are capable of. When you have seen something like that, you also stop taking the trivia so seriously".
In 2005, Oberman was cast in Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
's play Two Thousand Years at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
but had to drop out when she became ill. In August 2006, Oberman gave birth to a girl, Anoushka India, at a Central London hospital with her husband Rob Cowan by her side.
Awards
| Year | Group | Award | Won | Film/Television series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | BBC 3 Awards | Comedy writing | Won | Harringham Harker |
| 2004 | National Television Awards National Television Awards The National Television Awards is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public. Because of the way the awards are decided, winners are... |
Most popular newcomer | Nominated | EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... |
| British Soap Awards British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to... |
Best newcomer | Nominated | ||
| 2005 | British Soap Awards British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to... |
Villain of the year | Nominated | EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... |
| British Soap Awards British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to... |
Best storyline (for Den's murder) | Won | ||
| Inside Soap Awards Inside Soap Awards The Inside Soap Awards is a yearly award ceremony run by Inside Soap magazine since 1996. The awards celebrate the British and Australian soap operas and their actors. Until 2007, EastEnders had won the award for "Best Soap" on every occasion... |
Best actress | Nominated | ||
| Inside Soap Awards Inside Soap Awards The Inside Soap Awards is a yearly award ceremony run by Inside Soap magazine since 1996. The awards celebrate the British and Australian soap operas and their actors. Until 2007, EastEnders had won the award for "Best Soap" on every occasion... |
Best bitch | Nominated | ||
| British Soap Awards British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to... |
Best dressed star | Won | ||
| 2006 | British Soap Awards British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to... |
Soap bitch of the year | Nominated | EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... |
Theatre and radio
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Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Loved By You | Jenny | Two episodes: "I'm just so happy for you", "Out of the past" | Carlton |
| 1997 | The Grove | Christine | Carlton | |
| 1997–98 | Casualty Casualty (TV series) Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The... |
Zoe Garrard | Semi-regular | BBC |
| 1998 | Comedy Nation Comedy Nation Comedy Nation is a British sketch comedy television programme that premiered at midnight 9 January 1998 on BBC Two. The first series consists of 13 episodes, each containing 30 sketches. Each episode of the first series cost £29,000 to produce.... |
Various | Performer/writer | BBC |
| 1998 | Kiss Me Kate | Julia | Episode 2: "Mike" | BBC |
| 2000 | Strangerers | Santina | Episode 5: "Zap Type Z" | Sky TV |
| 2000 | The Way It Is The Way It Is (programme) The Way It Is is a topical news spoof show which ran for five series, each of eight shows, on BBC Radio 4 between 1998 and 2001. A one-off TV version was broadcast on BBC One in 2000... |
Lolly Swain | One-off TV special | BBC |
| 2000 | Rhona | Kimbo | Episode 4: "The Happy Jeans" | BBC |
| 2000 | The Bill The Bill The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work... |
Helen Jensen | "First Impressions" part 1 & 2 | Thames Television |
| 2000–01 | Bob Martin Bob Martin (TV series) Bob Martin is a British situation comedy. Its concept bears significant resemblance to The Larry Sanders Show. Michael Barrymore is its principal actor. It was made by Granada for the ITV network from 2 April 2000 to 4 June 2001.... |
Beverely Jordan | Series regular | Granada |
| 2000–03 | Lenny Henry In Pieces Lenny Henry in Pieces Lenny Henry in Pieces was a British stand-up and sketch show by comedians Lenny Henry and Gina Yashere. It aired on BBC One between 2000 and 2003.... |
Female lead | Sketch comedy | BBC |
| 2001 | The Cow | The Narrator | Century Films/Channel 4 | |
| 2001 | Starhunter | Zelda | Episode 16 | Starhunter Productions |
| 2001 | Happiness | Julia Jacob | Episode 2: "I'm doing it for me" | BBC |
| 2001 | Marion and Geoff Marion and Geoff Marion and Geoff is a BBC television mockumentary, produced by Baby Cow Productions and screened on BBC Two in 2000, with a second series following in 2003. The series starred Rob Brydon as Keith Barret, a naïve taxicab driver going through a messy divorce from his wife, Marion, who, though he... : A small summer party |
Marion | One-off special | BBC |
| 2002 | Big Train Big Train Big Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted... |
Various | Female lead and writer | Talkback Productions |
| 2003 | Harrington Harker | Diedra Portland | Female lead | BBC |
| 2003 | 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... |
Sylvia Enwright | Episode 8: "Mister and Missus" | ITV |
| 2004 | The Last Detective | Mandy | Episode 2 | ITV |
| 2004 | Doctors | Lynne Preston | Episode 56: "Two's company" | BBC |
| 2004 | Murder in Suburbia Murder in Suburbia Murder in Suburbia was a British detective drama that ran for two series in 2004 and 2005.-Plot summary:The series focused on various murders in the fictional suburban England town of Middleford; filming took place in North West London, including Northwood.-Regular cast and characters:-Episode... |
Chloe Walters | Episode 6 | ITV |
| 2004–05 | EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... |
Chrissie Watts Chrissie Watts Christine "Chrissie" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman. She first appeared in April 2004 as the second wife of the show's "most enduring character", Den Watts, becoming a prominent regular for the next 18 months... |
Series regular | BBC |
| 2005 | Bromwell High Bromwell High Bromwell High is an animated series about a British high school in South London. It first aired on Teletoon in Canada and Channel 4 in the UK . It is a co-production between Hat Trick Productions in the UK and DHX Media in Canada. According to the Website , it was originally to be entitled... |
Melanie Dickinson | Animation, series regular | Channel 4 |
| 2006 | Sorted Sorted (TV series) Sorted is a BBC television drama series, first broadcast in 2006, and transmitted on BBC One and BBC HD. It was created by Danny Brocklehurst, who has also written Clocking Off, The Stretford Wives and Shameless... |
Amy | Series regular | BBC |
| 2006 | 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... |
Yvonne Hartman | Season finale two-parter: "Army of Ghosts Army of Ghosts "Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who which was first broadcast on 1 July 2006... ", "Doomsday Doomsday (Doctor Who) "Doomsday" is the thirteenth and final episode in the second series of the revival of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 8 July 2006 and is the conclusion of a two-part story; the first part, "Army of Ghosts", was broadcast on 1 July 2006... " |
BBC |
| 2008 | Summerhill | Alice Ford | Telemovie | BBC |
| 2009 | Mistresses | Henrietta | Episode 5 | BBC |
| 2009 | Robin Hood | Gwyneth | Episode: "The Enemy of my Enemy" | BBC |
| 2009 | Doctors | Cathy Harley | Episode 113: "The Black Widow" | BBC |
| 2010 | Tracy Beaker Returns Tracy Beaker Returns Tracy Beaker Returns is a BAFTA winning British children's television series, which premiered on 8 January 2010 on CBBC and BBC HD. Based upon the novels by Jacqueline Wilson, It is the spin-off series to The Story of Tracy Beaker... |
Terrie Fender | Episode 9: "Good Luck Boy" | BBC |
| 2010 | M.I. High | The Grand Mistress | Episode 2 | BBC |
| 2011 | Sadie J Sadie J Sadie J is a BAFTA nominated British children's television programme about a 12 year old girl who is described as "the only girl in a boy's world" because she is surrounded by her Dad , his apprentice Keith, her brother and his best friend Jake... |
Tamara | Episode 5: Tidylicious | BBC |
| 2011 | Friday Night Dinner Friday Night Dinner Friday Night Dinner is a British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap. The first series aired from February 2011 on Channel 4. A second series has been commissioned by Channel 4. The series began airing in the U.S... |
Val | Episode 4: The Dress | Channel 4 |
| 2011 | Waterloo Road Waterloo Road (TV series) Waterloo Road is an award-winning British television drama series, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 March 2006. Set in a troubled comprehensive school in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the series focuses on the lives of the school's teacher and students, and confronts social... |
Alison Drew - School Inspector | Series 7, Episode 10 | BBC |
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | SuperTex | Lea Van Gelder | Jan Schutte | Halebob Films |
| 2003 | The Early Days | Ursula | Chris Stevenson | Channel 4 Films/Shine |
| 2009 | Girl Number 9 | Lyndon | James Moran & Dan Turner | Baker Coogan Production |
| 2010 | The Infidel The Infidel (2010 film) The Infidel is a 2010 British comedy film directed by Josh Appignanesi and written by David Baddiel. The film stars Omid Djalili, Richard Schiff, Yigal Naor and Matt Lucas and revolves around a British Muslim who goes through an identity crisis when he discovers he was adopted as a child and born... |
Julie Cohen | Josh Appignanesi | Solly Film |
Writing
| Year | Title | Format | Notes | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | News Review | Radio series | Writer and performer | BBC |
| 1997 | Comedy Nation | Radio series | Writer and performer | BBC |
| 1998–2000 | Harringham Harker | Radio series | Writer and performer | BBC |
| 2008 | Three sisters on Hope Street | Theatrical play | Writer | The Everyman, Liverpool Hampstead, London |
| 2010 | Bette and Joan and Baby Jane | Radio Play | Writer | BBC |
External links
- Tracy-Ann Oberman on twitter
- http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0643322/Tracy-Ann Oberman at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
] - JUF : Tweens : Celebrities : Tracy-Ann Oberman