Alison Newman
Encyclopedia
Alison Newman is a British
actress, best known for her role in the hit ITV1
television series Footballers' Wives
as Hazel Bailey
.
, Hampshire
(now Dorset
). She has one sister called Sarah. Both her parents were school teachers who encouraged her to take up acting as a hobby, but discouraged her from attending stage school when she was younger, a decision she subsequently agreed was probably sensible. Instead she joined the National Youth Theatre
when she was 16. Her father died in October 2002, while she was filming the second series of Footballers' Wives
. The producers allowed her leave of absence from filming some of her last scenes in the series finale so she could be with her family.
Despite studying drama at Manchester University, Alison Newman did not work as an actress for almost ten years after graduating. She says that she hated the experience of being at drama school and lost her confidence. During this time, she worked in a variety of professions, including publishing, catering, barwork and spent a number of years working in the music industry.
She returned to acting when she was almost 30 after being offered a part in a play written by Anthony Neilson
, with whom she had previously worked as an assistant director. This was followed by a role playing a psychotic serial killer in Touching Evil
III (1999) with Robson Green
(whom she would later appear with in RocketMan
), and the film Butterfly Collectors (1999), alongside Pete Postlethwaite
.
). Both programmes were made by Shed Productions
. The part of Hazel Bailey required Newman to have her naturally blonde hair dyed red. Newman left the show at the end of series 4, when her character decided to return to sports representation, after becoming romantically involved with a professional tennis player. During the filming of Footballers Wives, she struck up a friendship with co-star Zöe Lucker
, who played superbitch Tanya Turner.
Other television credits include: The Bill
(2000), Great Expectations (2000), Holby City
(2003), Hex
(2004), Open Wide (2005), Casualty
(2006) and Doctors
(2006). In 2008, she appeared as Lynette Hopkins in Rock Rivals
, another Shed Productions
drama for ITV1
, and later that year she appeared as Detective Inspector Samantha Keeble in several episodes of the BBC
soap EastEnders
. In Autumn 2010 she appeared in the spoof docu-drama Trinny and Susannah
: From Boom to Bust. Her most recent television appearance was in March 2011, when she appeared in the new BBC
legal drama Silk
. Other television roles include: Favouritism: Boy George's Queerest TV Moments, GMTV
, This Morning
, The Paul O'Grady Show
, plus guest appearances on the panel of Loose Women
for ITV, and The Wright Stuff
for Five.
(2000), Ashes and Sand (2002) and Kidulthood
(2006).
for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Electronic Dark Age at the Edinburgh Festival
; The Censor and The Lying Kind, both by Anthony Neilson and performed at the Royal Court Theatre
London; Vagina Monologues (UK Tour and West End); Loveplay by Moira Buffini
; Luminosity by Nick Stafford
; Night of the Soul by David Farr and The Big Lie by Anthony Neilson
, all for the RSC
. In 2008, she appeared in The Long Road
by Shelagh Stephenson
at the Soho Theatre
, London. Between February and March 2010, Alison appeared in Two Women, by Martina Cole
at the Theatre Royal Stratford East
.
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...
actress, best known for her role in the hit 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...
television series Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives is a British television drama surrounding the fictional Premier League Association football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 8 January 2002 to 14 April 2006...
as Hazel Bailey
Hazel Bailey
Hazel Bailey is a fictional character on ITV British drama Footballers' Wives, played by English actress Alison Newman. Hazel is a lesbian, and slept with Tanya Turner during the second season.-Season 1:...
.
Biography
Alison Newman was born in BournemouthBournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
(now Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
). She has one sister called Sarah. Both her parents were school teachers who encouraged her to take up acting as a hobby, but discouraged her from attending stage school when she was younger, a decision she subsequently agreed was probably sensible. Instead she joined the National Youth Theatre
National Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
when she was 16. Her father died in October 2002, while she was filming the second series of Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives is a British television drama surrounding the fictional Premier League Association football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 8 January 2002 to 14 April 2006...
. The producers allowed her leave of absence from filming some of her last scenes in the series finale so she could be with her family.
Despite studying drama at Manchester University, Alison Newman did not work as an actress for almost ten years after graduating. She says that she hated the experience of being at drama school and lost her confidence. During this time, she worked in a variety of professions, including publishing, catering, barwork and spent a number of years working in the music industry.
She returned to acting when she was almost 30 after being offered a part in a play written by Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson is a Scottish playwright and director commonly associated with the "in-yer-face theatre" movement and is known for his collaborative way of writing and workshopping his plays. His work is characterised by the exploration of sex and violence...
, with whom she had previously worked as an assistant director. This was followed by a role playing a psychotic serial killer in Touching Evil
Touching Evil
Touching Evil is a British television drama serial, which began airing in 1997. It was produced by United Productions for Anglia Television, and screened on the ITV network. The first series consisted of six fifty-minute episodes. It was created by Paul Abbott, and written by Abbott with Russell T...
III (1999) with Robson Green
Robson Green
Robson Green is an English actor, singer–songwriter and presenter.-Biography:Robson Golightly Green was born in Hexham, Northumberland, and baptised in Bethel Chapel, , and named in Northeast tradition as first son after family surnames: Robson is his grandmother's maiden surname, while Golightly...
(whom she would later appear with in RocketMan
RocketMan
RocketMan is a 1997 science fiction comedy film that was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Caravan Pictures and released on October 10, 1997. The film was shot on location at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and in Moab, Utah for the scenes on the surface on Mars.The film was a...
), and the film Butterfly Collectors (1999), alongside Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
.
Television
In 2002, Newman was cast in the role of ruthless lesbian football agent, and later club chair, Hazel Bailey in Footballers Wives. Newman was allegedly awarded the role on the strength of a two-episode guest appearance in the series Bad Girls, in which she played Renee Williams who set out to secure revenge on arch nemesis Top Dog Yvonne Atkins (Linda HenryLinda Henry
Linda Henry is an English actress, best known for her roles as Yvonne Atkins in the ITV television drama Bad Girls and Shirley Carter in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders.- Early life :...
). Both programmes were made by Shed Productions
Shed Productions
Shed Productions, part of the Shed Media Group, is an independent UK television production company, specialising in contemporary, original drama programming and content...
. The part of Hazel Bailey required Newman to have her naturally blonde hair dyed red. Newman left the show at the end of series 4, when her character decided to return to sports representation, after becoming romantically involved with a professional tennis player. During the filming of Footballers Wives, she struck up a friendship with co-star Zöe Lucker
Zöe Lucker
Zöe Elizabeth Lucker is an English actress best known for playing the roles of Tanya Turner on ITV's Footballers' Wives and Vanessa Gold in EastEnders.-Career:...
, who played superbitch Tanya Turner.
Other television credits include: 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), Great Expectations (2000), Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
(2003), Hex
Hex (TV series)
Hex is a British television programme developed by Shine Limited and aired on the Sky One satellite channel. The story is about a remote English country school that becomes the battleground between a demonic entity and the witches who oppose it...
(2004), Open Wide (2005), 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...
(2006) and 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...
(2006). In 2008, she appeared as Lynette Hopkins in Rock Rivals
Rock Rivals
Rock Rivals is a British television drama series following the lives of two celebrity judges on an X Factor style show as their marriage falls apart. It was produced by Shed Productions, the company behind Footballers' Wives, Bad Girls and Waterloo Road...
, another Shed Productions
Shed Productions
Shed Productions, part of the Shed Media Group, is an independent UK television production company, specialising in contemporary, original drama programming and content...
drama for 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...
, and later that year she appeared as Detective Inspector Samantha Keeble in several episodes of 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 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...
. In Autumn 2010 she appeared in the spoof docu-drama Trinny and Susannah
Trinny and Susannah
Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine are two British fashion advisors, presenters and authors. They originally joined to write a weekly style column in The Daily Telegraph which lasted for seven years, but they are best-known for presenting the BBC television series What Not to Wear for five...
: From Boom to Bust. Her most recent television appearance was in March 2011, when she appeared in the new 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...
legal drama Silk
Silk (TV series)
Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as 'taking silk'.-Origin:...
. Other television roles include: Favouritism: Boy George's Queerest TV Moments, GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
, This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
, The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show was a BAFTA award-winning British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV before moving to Channel 4...
, plus guest appearances on the panel of Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
for ITV, and 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....
for Five.
Film
Newman has appeared in the films: The Prince and the PauperThe Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper is an English-language novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada before its 1882 publication in the United States. The book represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction...
(2000), Ashes and Sand (2002) and Kidulthood
Kidulthood
Kidulthood is a 2006 British drama film about the life of several teenagers in Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road area of inner west London. It was directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Noel Clarke, who also stars in the film and directed the sequel, Adulthood...
(2006).
Theatre
Her theatre career has included: The TempestThe Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Electronic Dark Age at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
; The Censor and The Lying Kind, both by Anthony Neilson and performed at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
London; Vagina Monologues (UK Tour and West End); Loveplay by Moira Buffini
Moira Buffini
Moira Buffini is an English dramatist, director and actor.-Career:Buffini was born in Cheshire to Irish parents, and trained as an actor at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. For Jordan, co-written with Anna Reynolds in 1992, she won a Time Out Award for her performance and Writers' Guild Award...
; Luminosity by Nick Stafford
Nick Stafford
Nick Stafford is a British playwright and writer. He is best known for writing the stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel War Horse, which garnered him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play in 2008, and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2011.-Career:Stafford trained at Rose...
; Night of the Soul by David Farr and The Big Lie by Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson is a Scottish playwright and director commonly associated with the "in-yer-face theatre" movement and is known for his collaborative way of writing and workshopping his plays. His work is characterised by the exploration of sex and violence...
, all for the RSC
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...
. In 2008, she appeared in The Long Road
The Long Road
The Long Road is the second major album by Canadian rock band Nickelback, released on September 23, 2003.The album was certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA in March 2005 and it had sold 3,591,000 copies as of April 2011. It has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and in 2003 only the album sold 2...
by Shelagh Stephenson
Shelagh Stephenson
Shelagh Stephenson is a playwright, born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. Her stage plays include The Memory of Water , An Experiment with an Air Pump, Ancient Lights, Five Kinds of Silence and Mappa Mundi...
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....
, London. Between February and March 2010, Alison appeared in Two Women, by Martina Cole
Martina Cole
Martina Cole is a British crime writer. She was brought up in Aveley, and has released seventeen novels about crime some of which examine London's gangster underworld. Four of her novels, Dangerous Lady, The Jump, The Take and The Runaway have been adapted into high-rating television dramas...
at the Theatre Royal Stratford East
Theatre Royal Stratford East
The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company.-History:...
.