Clare Buckfield
Encyclopedia
Clare Buckfield is an English
act
ress, best known for playing the role of Jenny Porter in the BBC
sitcom 2point4 children
for most of the nineties and Natasha Stevens in the CBBC
series Grange Hill
.
harboured ambitions to be actresses, leading their mother to hire her daughters an agent. As a result Clare and Julie appeared in local productions and were offered modelling work.
A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
in London
, Buckfield originally auditioned for the part of Natalie Stevens in BBC 1 teenage soap
"Grange Hill
". She lost out to her twin sister Julie
who was auditioning for the part of Chrissy Mainwaring, but Clare eventually won the role of Natasha Stevens in 1992. She appeared in "Grange Hill
" for two years.
Clare and Julie competed again to replace Clare Woodgate
as character Jenny Porter in 2point4children, but this time Clare got the part over Julie. Clare appeared in the series up until the year 1999, when the premature death of actor Gary Olsen
in 2000 ensured this special millennium
episode would be the last.
In 2003, Buckfield played the role of Sandy in Grease opposite Noel Sullivan at The Jersey Opera House
In 2004, Buckfield landed the role of Katy Bell in Steel River Blues
, a programme intended to fill the void left by London's Burning
on ITV1
. The series was not re-commissioned beyond its initial seven episode run.
Buckfield has also appeared in episodes of Dangerfield
, Doctors & Holby City
. She was the voice-over of Samantha in the PG Tips
television commercials and appeared in the Big Finish Doctor Who
audio of The One Doctor
, alongside 6th Doctor Colin Baker
, as Sally Ann-Stubbins in 2001. In 2006 she returned to Doctor Who, starring alongside Paul McGann
and Stephen Gately
in the radio adventure The Horror of Glam Rock and then again in 2007 (released in 2008) in Dead London
. She is most recently noted for playing Audrey in The Little Shop of Horrors
2009 UK Tour.
show Dancing on Ice
. Her partner was the Russian skating star Andrei Lipanov, whom she regarded as a 'gentle giant'. She was the last female celebrity contestant left in the competition, and was in the final along with rugby ace Kyran Bracken
and singer Duncan James
. The final requirement was for the celebrities to fly over the ice using a harness, at which Clare excelled and got the joint highest result of the series at 29.5. Going into the final Clare was the second favourite to win with odds of 4:1. The final took place on Saturday, 17 March 2007 and saw the three remaining stars battle it out for the trophy in the skate off she and Kyran Bracken were both battling out to win but she only came second. A week later champions of champions was on and she once again faced Kyran Bracken in the final skate off but again came second.
After her very first flawless performance in a dazzling red outfit to Dusty Springfield
, Buckfield was classed as a cut above the rest of the line-up, sparking rumours that she has skated before. Buckfield denied those rumours, and said like all the others this was her first time on the ice. During the series, she experienced several injuries, the most serious being a pulled muscle
underneath her ribcage. This restricted her a little in the lifts that she was able to perform. Despite her natural aptitude for the ice Clare was polled in the final two twice during the series but was saved from eviction from the judges.
She appeared in the Dancing On Ice Live Tour which saw past celebrities from the two series battle it out again on the ice.
Clare has also taken part in the Sense City Ice Skate challenge in support of Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association
and she also appeared in Kyran Bracken
's Ice Party on several dates spread over Bournemouth, Blackpool and Jersey.
, of TV duo Ant & Dec
. It is said the split was due to the thriving career of Dec, who frequently spent long spells in Australia
whilst filming the two series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. They still remain good friends, and Clare was quoted to have said that she will 'never say never' about Dec. Dec recently went to see her perform and supported her in ITV's Dancing On Ice.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
act
Act
Act may mean:* Act/Power is a philosophical notion defined by Aristotle and known as entelechy* Act , a British band* Act , a document recording the legality of a transaction or contract...
ress, best known for playing the role of Jenny Porter 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...
sitcom 2point4 children
2point4 children
2point4 Children is a 1990s British sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porter family; an average family that is persistently faced with surreal situations and sheer bad luck....
for most of the nineties and Natasha Stevens 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...
series Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
.
Biography
From an early age both she and her identical twin sister JulieJulie Buckfield
Julie Buckfield is an English actress.A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, Buckfield started her career aged 11 in the Cameron Mackintosh production of Les Misérables. She then auditioned for the part of Chrissy Mainwaring in BBC 1 teenage soap Grange Hill, but eventually won...
harboured ambitions to be actresses, leading their mother to hire her daughters an agent. As a result Clare and Julie appeared in local productions and were offered modelling work.
A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Sylvia Young Theatre School
Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent fee-paying stage school, in Westminster, London, named after its founder and Principal, Sylvia Young.-Outline:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Buckfield originally auditioned for the part of Natalie Stevens in BBC 1 teenage soap
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,...
"Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
". She lost out to her twin sister Julie
Julie Buckfield
Julie Buckfield is an English actress.A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, Buckfield started her career aged 11 in the Cameron Mackintosh production of Les Misérables. She then auditioned for the part of Chrissy Mainwaring in BBC 1 teenage soap Grange Hill, but eventually won...
who was auditioning for the part of Chrissy Mainwaring, but Clare eventually won the role of Natasha Stevens in 1992. She appeared in "Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
" for two years.
Clare and Julie competed again to replace Clare Woodgate
Georgina Cates
Georgina Cates is an English actress of film and television.-Biography:Born Clare Woodgate in Colchester, Essex, she attended Colchester County High School for Girls and broke into television acting when she was only sixteen years old, playing the role of the original Jenny Porter on the BBC's...
as character Jenny Porter in 2point4children, but this time Clare got the part over Julie. Clare appeared in the series up until the year 1999, when the premature death of actor Gary Olsen
Gary Olsen
Gary Olsen was an English actor.Olsen was born in London and lived with an aunt and uncle, after losing both his parents at an early age. He attended the Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School in Kennington...
in 2000 ensured this special millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
episode would be the last.
In 2003, Buckfield played the role of Sandy in Grease opposite Noel Sullivan at The Jersey Opera House
In 2004, Buckfield landed the role of Katy Bell in Steel River Blues
Steel River Blues
Steel River Blues is a British television drama serial first broadcast in September 2004 on ITV. Produced by Ken Horn, it was based on the working and private lives of a group of firefighters in Middlesbrough...
, a programme intended to fill the void left by London's Burning
London's Burning
London's Burning was a British television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network that focused on the lives of members of the London Fire Brigade, principally those of the Blue Watch at a fictional fire station called Blackwall.It was broadcast between 1986 and...
on 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...
. The series was not re-commissioned beyond its initial seven episode run.
Buckfield has also appeared in episodes of Dangerfield
Dangerfield (TV series)
Dangerfield is a British drama series about a small town doctor / police surgeon, which ran for 6 series, between 1995 and 1999. Originally Nigel Le Vaillant played the central role , but this character later left the series, the focus switching to his replacement, played by Nigel Havers.The BBC...
, Doctors & 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...
. She was the voice-over of Samantha in the PG Tips
PG Tips
PG Tips is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom, manufactured by Unilever UK. It is claimed that Britons drink 35 million cups of the tea every day.-Brand name:...
television commercials and appeared in the Big Finish 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...
audio of The One Doctor
The One Doctor
The One Doctor is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.- Plot :The Sixth Doctor and Mel come up against an impostor Doctor and his companion Sally-Anne....
, alongside 6th Doctor Colin Baker
Colin Baker
Colin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
, as Sally Ann-Stubbins in 2001. In 2006 she returned to Doctor Who, starring alongside Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
and Stephen Gately
Stephen Gately
Stephen Patrick David Gately was an Irish pop singer–songwriter, actor, dancer, musician and author, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third being their most successful...
in the radio adventure The Horror of Glam Rock and then again in 2007 (released in 2008) in Dead London
Dead London
Dead London is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions.-Cast:*The Doctor — Paul McGann*Lucie Miller — Sheridan Smith...
. She is most recently noted for playing Audrey in The Little Shop of Horrors
The Little Shop of Horrors
The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate young florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on a 1932...
2009 UK Tour.
Dancing on Ice
Buckfield gained second place in the second series of the hit ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
show Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...
. Her partner was the Russian skating star Andrei Lipanov, whom she regarded as a 'gentle giant'. She was the last female celebrity contestant left in the competition, and was in the final along with rugby ace Kyran Bracken
Kyran Bracken
Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE is a former English rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half for Saracens, Bristol and Waterloo R.F.C....
and singer Duncan James
Duncan James
Duncan Matthew James Inglis is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He is best known as a member of the boyband Blue.-Early life:...
. The final requirement was for the celebrities to fly over the ice using a harness, at which Clare excelled and got the joint highest result of the series at 29.5. Going into the final Clare was the second favourite to win with odds of 4:1. The final took place on Saturday, 17 March 2007 and saw the three remaining stars battle it out for the trophy in the skate off she and Kyran Bracken were both battling out to win but she only came second. A week later champions of champions was on and she once again faced Kyran Bracken in the final skate off but again came second.
After her very first flawless performance in a dazzling red outfit to Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Buckfield was classed as a cut above the rest of the line-up, sparking rumours that she has skated before. Buckfield denied those rumours, and said like all the others this was her first time on the ice. During the series, she experienced several injuries, the most serious being a pulled muscle
Muscle
Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
underneath her ribcage. This restricted her a little in the lifts that she was able to perform. Despite her natural aptitude for the ice Clare was polled in the final two twice during the series but was saved from eviction from the judges.
She appeared in the Dancing On Ice Live Tour which saw past celebrities from the two series battle it out again on the ice.
Clare has also taken part in the Sense City Ice Skate challenge in support of Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association
Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association
Sense is a national charity in the United Kingdom that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind.-History:Sense was founded in 1955 as a self-help and support group for the parents of children whose disabilities were neither recognised nor provided for, children born...
and she also appeared in Kyran Bracken
Kyran Bracken
Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE is a former English rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half for Saracens, Bristol and Waterloo R.F.C....
's Ice Party on several dates spread over Bournemouth, Blackpool and Jersey.
Personal life
In 2003, she broke up with her long term boyfriend Declan DonnellyDeclan Donnelly
Declan Joseph Oliver "Dec" Donnelly is one half of the English acting and TV presenting duo Ant & Dec, with the other being Anthony McPartlin. He came to prominence in the children's drama series Byker Grove and as one half of the pop music duo PJ & Duncan...
, of TV duo Ant & Dec
Ant & Dec
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly , known collectively as Ant & Dec, are an English comedy and TV presenting duo from Newcastle upon Tyne, England...
. It is said the split was due to the thriving career of Dec, who frequently spent long spells in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
whilst filming the two series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. They still remain good friends, and Clare was quoted to have said that she will 'never say never' about Dec. Dec recently went to see her perform and supported her in ITV's Dancing On Ice.