Julie Peasgood
Encyclopedia
Julie May Peasgood is an English
actress, television presenter, author and voice over artist known for her distinctive voice. She attended Grimsby
's Wintringham School
as a student. She is best known for her role as Fran Pearson in the television
soap Brookside
(1991–93). She later played Jo Steadman in Emmerdale
in 1997, and Jacqui Hudson in Hollyoaks
from 2001-2002.
. Her mother, had started work as a tightrope walker and juggler in Bertram Mills Circus. There she had met her father, who was a welfare officer for the Grimsby Dock Labour Board
. After leaving school she worked in a fish and chip shop in Cleethorpes
before training at the Arts Educational School in Golden Lane, London. She left the school shortly before her course finished to take the title role in 'Cherryripe and the Lugworm Digger', which was the first in the series 'Seven Faces of Woman' for ITV.
She is the mother of the actress Kate McEnery
by her first marriage to Peter McEnery
whom she acted opposite in Ron Daniel's Royal Shakespeare Company
production of Pericles
in 1979. Her marriage to McEnery made her the sister-in-law of John McEnery and Stephanie Beacham
.
. She was also in the production of Inadmissible Evidence
, directed by John Osborne
at the Royal Court, and has performed at The Old Vic, the Manchester Royal Exchange, The Orange Tree and the West End.
On television she is probably most recognised for the roles of Fran Pearson in Brookside
and Jo Steadman in Emmerdale
. However, she has appeared in numerous other television series. Among her other credits include appearances in Hollyoaks
where she played Jacqui Hudson, First Born
,September Song, Taggart
, A Woman's Guide to Adultery, Cherryripe and the Lugworm Digger, Carla Lane's Luv, Doctors, The Bill
, Holby City
, Chains of Love
, Spender
, Ruth Rendell's Simisola, Dancers, This Year, Next Year, the original 1970s series of Survivors, Boon
and Small World
.
She appeared in the 1983 horror film House of the Long Shadows
, which starred Peter Cushing
, Vincent Price
and Christopher Lee
.
She started to do voice overs in the 1980s, and has voiced several hundred television and radio commercials. She is perhaps most well known in this role for a 1990s advert for Bird's Eye Frozen Peas. In 2003, Peasgood was known as the "queen of the ad voice overs".
On radio she has appeared in Galton and Simpson
's Impasse on BBC Radio 2
, in which she played Mrs Spooner, opposite Mitchell and Webb
. She also played the leading role of Shirley in Venus to Go on BBC Radio 4
.
, This Morning
, Wish You Were Here...?
, The Alan Titchmarsh Show
, Turf Wars on UKTV Style
, and A Buyer's Guide to Spain on Real Estate TV which she wrote, directed and presented with her husband actor Patrick Pearson.
which was released in 2000. She later spoke out against violent video games, emphasising their negative effects, and attracted some criticism due to her contribution to Martian Gothic.
Her first book, The Greatest Sex Tips in the World, was launched at the London Book Fair
on 16 April 2007 and went on to earn her Best Sex Writer Award from Scarlet Magazine. She currently has two regular magazine columns and writes for a variety of newspapers, magazines and websites.
Peasgood is also a public speaker and events host.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actress, television presenter, author and voice over artist known for her distinctive voice. She attended Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
's Wintringham School
Wintringham School
Oasis Academy Wintringham is a secondary school on Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. It is just the A16 Peaks Parkway just south-west of the A46 crossroads next to the Lisle Marsden CE in Wellow and on the Grimsby/Cleethorpes boundary...
as a student. She is best known for her role as Fran Pearson in the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
soap Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
(1991–93). She later played Jo Steadman in Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
in 1997, and Jacqui Hudson in Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
from 2001-2002.
Biography
Peasgood was born to working class parents from Northern EnglandNorthern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
. Her mother, had started work as a tightrope walker and juggler in Bertram Mills Circus. There she had met her father, who was a welfare officer for the Grimsby Dock Labour Board
National Dock Labour Board
The National Dock Labour Board , which administered the National Dock Labour Scheme, was an administrative board for the operation of British docks.-Creation of National Dock Labour Board:...
. After leaving school she worked in a fish and chip shop in Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes is a town and unparished area in North East Lincolnshire, England, situated on the estuary of the Humber. It has a population of 31,853 and is a seaside resort.- History :...
before training at the Arts Educational School in Golden Lane, London. She left the school shortly before her course finished to take the title role in 'Cherryripe and the Lugworm Digger', which was the first in the series 'Seven Faces of Woman' for ITV.
She is the mother of the actress Kate McEnery
Kate McEnery
Kate McEnery is an English actress, best known for her roles as Colin Farrell's love interest in the BBC Northern Ireland series, Ballykissangel and as Jodie Nash in the Channel 4 teen soap opera Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2003. She attended Tiffin Girls' School in Surrey. She is the daughter of the...
by her first marriage to Peter McEnery
Peter McEnery
Peter McEnery is an English stage and film actor. His daughter Kate, by his first marriage to British actress Julie Peasgood, is an actress....
whom she acted opposite in Ron Daniel's 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...
production of Pericles
Pericles
Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...
in 1979. Her marriage to McEnery made her the sister-in-law of John McEnery and Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
.
Acting career
Peasgood was with the RSC for five years, starring in the original production of Nicholas Nickleby directed by Trevor NunnTrevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
. She was also in the production of Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence is a play written by John Osborne in November 1964. It was also filmed in 1968.The protagonist of the play is William Maitland, a middle-aged English solicitor who has come to hate his entire life. Much of the play consists of lengthy monologues in which Maitland tells the...
, directed by John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
at the Royal Court, and has performed at The Old Vic, the Manchester Royal Exchange, The Orange Tree and the West End.
On television she is probably most recognised for the roles of Fran Pearson in Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
and Jo Steadman in Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
. However, she has appeared in numerous other television series. Among her other credits include appearances in Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
where she played Jacqui Hudson, First Born
First Born
First Born is a British television serial produced by the BBC in 1988.Charles Dance starred as genetic researcher Edward Forester, whose work leads him to create a man-gorilla hybrid, using his own sperm and cells taken from a female gorilla...
,September Song, Taggart
Taggart
Taggart is a Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by STV Productions for the ITV network...
, A Woman's Guide to Adultery, Cherryripe and the Lugworm Digger, Carla Lane's Luv, Doctors, 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...
, 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...
, Chains of Love
Chains of Love
"Chains of Love" was a single released from singer Terry Ronald's 1991 album Roma. The single was released in February 1991.-Track listing:This is the track listing from the released single.European CD single# "Chains of Love"...
, Spender
Spender
Spender is a BBC television drama set in Newcastle upon Tyne, written by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, who also starred. The series was produced by Martin McKeand . The series was broadcast on BBC between 1991 and 1993...
, Ruth Rendell's Simisola, Dancers, This Year, Next Year, the original 1970s series of Survivors, Boon
Boon (TV series)
Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV...
and Small World
Small world (TV miniseries)
Small world is a 1988 TV miniseries based on David Lodge's novel of the same name.- Cast :* Stephen Moore - Philip Swallow* John Ratzenberger - Morris Zapp* Sarah Badel - Hilary Swallow* Rachel Kempson - Miss Maiden* Finbar Lynch - Persse McGarrigle...
.
She appeared in the 1983 horror film House of the Long Shadows
House of the Long Shadows
House of the Long Shadows is a horror-parody film directed by Pete Walker. The screenplay by Michael Armstrong is based on the novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers. The original music score is composed by Richard Harvey....
, which starred Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
, Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
and Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
.
She started to do voice overs in the 1980s, and has voiced several hundred television and radio commercials. She is perhaps most well known in this role for a 1990s advert for Bird's Eye Frozen Peas. In 2003, Peasgood was known as the "queen of the ad voice overs".
On radio she has appeared in Galton and Simpson
Galton and Simpson
Ray Galton OBE , and Alan Simpson OBE , are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium, the Surrey county sanatorium near Godalming, on which the sitcom Get Well Soon was based...
's Impasse on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, in which she played Mrs Spooner, opposite Mitchell and Webb
Mitchell and Webb
Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, comprising David Mitchell and Robert Webb . They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show....
. She also played the leading role of Shirley in Venus to Go 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...
.
Presenting career
Peasgood is also a TV presenter, and won the Royal Television Society's TV Personality of the Year Award in 2004, for her series Great Little Breaks. Other credits include Bootsale Challenge, Loose WomenLoose 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...
, 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...
, Wish You Were Here...?
Wish You Were Here...?
Wish You Were Here...? is a British television show that was first broadcast on 7th January 1974 on ITV. It was a series of 30 minute shows about travel and holidays. The show was broadcast during peak viewing hours and had gained a significant viewing audience in the UK...
, The Alan Titchmarsh Show
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime TV chat show broadcast between 3 and 4pm weekdays on the ITV Network.-Format:The programme made its debut on ITV in 2007. It focused on the theme of "The Best of British" focusing on food, entertainment and celebrities in a mid-afternoon slot...
, Turf Wars on UKTV Style
UKTV Style
Home is an interior home and garden-oriented lifestyle television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 1 November 1997 and relaunched in it's current format on 30 April 2009...
, and A Buyer's Guide to Spain on Real Estate TV which she wrote, directed and presented with her husband actor Patrick Pearson.
Other work
She contributed a vocal performance to Creative Reality's survival horror videogame Martian Gothic: UnificationMartian Gothic: Unification
Martian Gothic: Unification is a survival horror game for the PlayStation and PC. It was developed by Creative Reality and published by Take-Two Interactive. Programmers Neil Dodwell and Martin Wong, designer Stephen Marley, animator David Dew, modelers Julian Holtom and Paul Oglesby, and music &...
which was released in 2000. She later spoke out against violent video games, emphasising their negative effects, and attracted some criticism due to her contribution to Martian Gothic.
Her first book, The Greatest Sex Tips in the World, was launched at the London Book Fair
London Book Fair
The London Book Fair is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. The London Book Fair has grown in size and importance in recent years, and 23,000 publishers, booksellers, literary agents, librarians, media and industry suppliers from over 100...
on 16 April 2007 and went on to earn her Best Sex Writer Award from Scarlet Magazine. She currently has two regular magazine columns and writes for a variety of newspapers, magazines and websites.
Peasgood is also a public speaker and events host.
Filmography
| 2007- | The Alan Titchmarsh Show The Alan Titchmarsh Show The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime TV chat show broadcast between 3 and 4pm weekdays on the ITV Network.-Format:The programme made its debut on ITV in 2007. It focused on the theme of "The Best of British" focusing on food, entertainment and celebrities in a mid-afternoon slot... |
Sexpert/Discussion Contributor |
| 2008 | Cash in the Celebrity Attic | Herself |
| 2008 | Doctors | Eleanor Warden |
| 2007 | 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... |
Dawn Collins |
| 2006 | Doctors | Ruth Farrell |
| 2004 | Can't Buy Me Love | Janice |
| 2004 | 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... |
Julie Sweeny |
| 2003 | Good Food Live | Herself: Guest host |
| 2001 | An Audience with Des O'Connor | Herself (uncredited) |
| 2001 | Doctors | Mel |
| 2001 | Esther | Herself |
| 2001 | Hollyoaks: Indecent Behaviour | Jacqui Hudson (uncredited) |
| 2001 | Live Talk 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... |
Panellist |
| 2001 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds... |
Herself |
| 2000 | Holby City | Maddy Moorcroft |
| 2000–2001 | Hollyoaks Hollyoaks Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill... |
Jacqui Hudson |
| 2000 | Martian Gothic: Unification Martian Gothic: Unification Martian Gothic: Unification is a survival horror game for the PlayStation and PC. It was developed by Creative Reality and published by Take-Two Interactive. Programmers Neil Dodwell and Martin Wong, designer Stephen Marley, animator David Dew, modelers Julian Holtom and Paul Oglesby, and music &... |
Harroway |
| 1999 | Come Home For Christmas (Meridian TV) | Herself |
| 1998 | My Favourite Hymns | Herself |
| 1997 | Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972... |
Jo Steadman |
| 1997 | Give Us a Clue Give Us A Clue Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1983, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una... |
Herself (team captain) |
| 1996 | Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Cookie Dix |
| 1995 | Men of the World | Mandy |
| 1995 | Bugs Bugs (TV series) Bugs was a British television drama series which ran for four series from April 1995 to August 1999. The programme, a mixture of action/adventure and science-fiction, involved a team of specialist independent crime-fighting technology experts, who faced a variety of threats based around computers... |
Lena |
| 1995 | The Bill | Mrs Parsons |
| 1994 | The Good Sex Guide | Herself |
| 1994 | The Late Show | Herself |
| 1994 | Murder Most Horrid Murder Most Horrid Murder Most Horrid is a BBC dark comedy anthology series starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999.... |
Waitress |
| 1994 | Chandler & Co Chandler & Co Chandler and Co was a UK television programme, made 1993–96, about two female private detectives. It starred Catherine Russell as Elly Chandler. Her partner was played by Barbara Flynn in the first series by Susan Fleetwood in the second.... |
Carmen Talbot |
| 1993–1994 | Carla Lane's Luv | Eden |
| 1993 | Newshound | Herself |
| 1993 | A Woman's Guide to Adultery | Sandra |
| 1993 | Taggart Taggart Taggart is a Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by STV Productions for the ITV network... |
Michelle Duncan |
| 1993 | September Song | Roxy |
| 1993 | The 10 Percenters The 10 Percenters The Ten Percenters was a British television comedy series, broadcast on ITV, which began as a pilot in 1993 , and was followed by two series which were shown in 1994 and 1996... |
Trudy |
| 1991–1993 | Brookside Brookside Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003... |
Fran Pearson |
| 1991 | 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.... |
Pauline |
| 1991 | Perfect Scoundrels | Nelly |
| 1991 | Spender Spender Spender is a BBC television drama set in Newcastle upon Tyne, written by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, who also starred. The series was produced by Martin McKeand . The series was broadcast on BBC between 1991 and 1993... |
Booney ( |
| 1991 | Van der Valk | Christina Molders |
| 1990 | Boon Boon (TV series) Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV... |
Sue Harper |
| 1989 | Alas Smith & Jones | |
| 1989 | 4 Play: Chains of Love | Hazel |
| 1988 | Brush Strokes | Jane |
| 1988 | First Born | Anne Forester |
| 1988 | Small World | Cheryl Summerbee |
| 1986 | A Dangerous Kind of Love | |
| 1985 | The Optimist | Mimi |
| 1983 | House of the Long Shadows House of the Long Shadows House of the Long Shadows is a horror-parody film directed by Pete Walker. The screenplay by Michael Armstrong is based on the novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers. The original music score is composed by Richard Harvey.... |
Mary Norton |
| 1982 | Play for Today: Whistling Wally | Kath |
| 1979 | Everyday Maths | |
| 1978 | The Law Centre | |
| 1978 | BBC Play of the Month: The Beaux Stratagem | Cherry |
| 1978 | The Lake | Barbara |
| 1977 | This Year Next Year | Kath Shaw |
| 1976 | Clayhanger | Ada |
| 1975 | Survivors | Judy |
| 1975 | Five Red Herrings | Fenella Strachan |
| 1975 | The Romantic Englishwoman | New Nanny |
| 1975 | Sadie, It's Cold Outside | Cashier |
| 1975 | A Journey to London | Miss Betty Headpiece |
| 1974 | Seven Faces of Woman | Gaye Kingdom |