Malandra Burrows
Encyclopedia
Malandra Elizabeth Burrows (born 4 November 1965, Woolton
, Liverpool) is an English
actress and singer.
's mother Jean. She appeared on Yorkshire Television
’s Junior Showtime at the age of six. In 1974 Malandra Newman became the youngest-ever winner of New Faces
, appearing on the same "all-winners" show with Tor Smith and Victoria Wood
. Her interest in music continued throughout her early adolescence, and at age 13 she won the 1978 BBC
Merseyside Songwriter of the Year award. She attended King David High School in Childwall
.
After deciding that she wanted to be a performer, she joined the Everyman Youth Theatre in Liverpool, did classes at Liverpool Theatre School and also did productions with a local amateur dramatics company at St Peter's, in Woolton
, whilst continuing to perform musically. After leaving school with eleven O-levels, she enrolled in a Liverpool drama school, where she remained for two years learning her future trade of acting — changing her surname to Burrows for registration with Equity
, the British actors' union.
soap opera Brookside
- firstly Lucy Coflins' schoolfriend, Sue, and then Lisa Morrissey, the girlfriend of Pat Hancock, in 1982.
soap opera Emmerdale
(then known as Emmerdale Farm) and got the part. The role has been her most prominent to date. She became one of the programme's longest-running characters, remaining in the show from 1985 to 2001 and returning briefly in 2005. Kathy is remembered for being one of the most-often married characters in the soap and had a reputation for having "the kiss of death" on her men. First husband Jackie Merrick accidentally shot himself in 1989; her second marriage to Chris Tate
, who uses a wheelchair, ended in 1995 when he admitted to an affair; in 1996 Kathy’s third husband Dave Glover
died saving a baby he thought to be his own from a house fire as he was about to elope with his mistress Kim Tate
. Poor Kathy was even dumped at the altar by her fourth fiancé Biff in 1999. During her 16-year stint, Kathy was kidnapped by a diamond-thieving lord, knocked down by a horse-stealing conman, targeted by a double wife murderer who tried to drive her over a cliff, trapped in the wreckage of a bus hit by a lorry, and imprisoned for protesting against the local haulage company. Reportedly one of the soap's highest-paid stars of the time on a reputed £80,000pa, she paid the price of celebrity when a fanatical mental patient escaped from custody threatening to kill her; she had police protection for two months. She appeared in soap opera for seventeen years, turning down many parts including one written for her in Willy Russell's film version of Shirley Valentine
, but was axed from the soap as part of ITV's revamp of the programme in the rush for ratings. Burrows returned for three episodes for Seth Armstrong
's funeral in 2005. In 2009 Malandra was asked to return to Emmerdale for Jack Sugden's funeral episodes in February but was unable due to working in pantomime during Christmas 2008 and January 2009 which prevented her from making a return for those episodes. Malandra has attended Clive Hornby's funeral in July 2008 in Leeds.
, reaching number 11 with the song "Just This Side Of Love" in 1990.
She released a self-penned single "Summernight Love" (1996) on AATW/DKAM Records (#185 UK). This resulted in a recording contract with Warner Bros.
, and two more singles ("Carnival in Heaven" and "Don't Leave Me") also hit the UK charts (albeit the lower reaches: #49 and #54, respectively).
and in 2004 she took part in the ITV game show Simply the Best, where she represented Leeds in a head-to-head tournament with other British cities. She then spent a year presenting a show called Soap Addicts on satellite, and then a year in the stage comedy Just Desserts touring the UK
.
In 2006 she appeared on Channel 5's The All Star Talent Show
, coming fifth as a Fire Eater. She is due to star as the Fairy during Christmas 2007, in "Sleeping Beauty" at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth
.
Burrows entered late into the 2006 series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! on day seven. She was found hanging from a tight rope and had to be rescued as part of the trial by Matt Willis
and Lauren Booth
. On her first night she had to sleep in a hammock
, and fell out of it. She took part in several "Bushtrucker trials" most notably one dubbed "Skyscrape". Burrows and fellow contestant Myleene Klass
were required to clamber onto a seesaw platform 200 ft above the jungle floor and take turns to collect corresponding flags hanging off the edges of the platform. Each pair of flags, collected in numerical order, equalled a much-needed meal for camp. She was the sixth celebrity to be evicted in a head-to-head with Dean Gaffney
.
Woolton
Woolton is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located at the south of the city, bordered by Gateacre, Hunts Cross, Allerton and Halewood. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 14,836.-History:...
, Liverpool) is an English
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 and singer.
Early life
Burrows' first name, Malandra, is a portmanteau of her parents' names, Malcolm and Sandra. Her mother encouraged her at an early age to begin dancing; she initially trained under Billy PearceBilly Pearce
Billy Pearce is an award winning English performer, comedian, actor and entertainer. A regular on UK television in the 1980s and 1990s, Pearce has been described as a "supreme entertainer". His summer shows and pantomimes regularly break box office records.-Early life:Pearce was born in Leeds in...
's mother Jean. She appeared on Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
’s Junior Showtime at the age of six. In 1974 Malandra Newman became the youngest-ever winner of New Faces
New Faces
New Faces was a British television talent show popular in the 1970s and 1980s, presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV Network Limited for the ITV Network. The first run of the show was from 29 September 1973 to 2 April 1978 and was recorded at the ATV Centre, Birmingham...
, appearing on the same "all-winners" show with Tor Smith and Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
. Her interest in music continued throughout her early adolescence, and at age 13 she won the 1978 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...
Merseyside Songwriter of the Year award. She attended King David High School in Childwall
Childwall
Childwall is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located to the south of the city, bordered by Gateacre, Wavertree, Belle Vale, Broadgreen, Bowring Park and Mossley Hill...
.
After deciding that she wanted to be a performer, she joined the Everyman Youth Theatre in Liverpool, did classes at Liverpool Theatre School and also did productions with a local amateur dramatics company at St Peter's, in Woolton
Woolton
Woolton is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located at the south of the city, bordered by Gateacre, Hunts Cross, Allerton and Halewood. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 14,836.-History:...
, whilst continuing to perform musically. After leaving school with eleven O-levels, she enrolled in a Liverpool drama school, where she remained for two years learning her future trade of acting — changing her surname to Burrows for registration with Equity
British Actors' Equity Association
Equity is the trade union for actors, stage managers and models in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1930 by a group of West End performers....
, the British actors' union.
Career
Even before leaving drama school, Burrows played several roles on television, appearing in The Practice and Fell Tiger, as well as taking two parts in the Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
soap opera 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...
- firstly Lucy Coflins' schoolfriend, Sue, and then Lisa Morrissey, the girlfriend of Pat Hancock, in 1982.
Emmerdale
Three months after leaving drama school, she auditioned for the role of Kathy Bates in the popular 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...
soap opera 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...
(then known as Emmerdale Farm) and got the part. The role has been her most prominent to date. She became one of the programme's longest-running characters, remaining in the show from 1985 to 2001 and returning briefly in 2005. Kathy is remembered for being one of the most-often married characters in the soap and had a reputation for having "the kiss of death" on her men. First husband Jackie Merrick accidentally shot himself in 1989; her second marriage to Chris Tate
Chris Tate
Christopher Francis "Chris" Tate is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He was played by Peter Amory.-Early storylines:...
, who uses a wheelchair, ended in 1995 when he admitted to an affair; in 1996 Kathy’s third husband Dave Glover
Dave Glover
David Edward "Dave" Glover is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale played by Ian Kelsey.-Storylines:Dave arrived in the village with his parents Ned and Jan and younger siblings Linda and Roy in August 1994. He got a job working as a farmhand at Home Farm.Until 1995, Dave...
died saving a baby he thought to be his own from a house fire as he was about to elope with his mistress Kim Tate
Kim Tate
Kimberly Jane 'Kim' Tate is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. who appeared between 1989 and 1999, She was played by actress Claire King. Kim Tate is seen as one of the most iconic characters in the history of British soap opera, having been dubbed The Soap Superbitch...
. Poor Kathy was even dumped at the altar by her fourth fiancé Biff in 1999. During her 16-year stint, Kathy was kidnapped by a diamond-thieving lord, knocked down by a horse-stealing conman, targeted by a double wife murderer who tried to drive her over a cliff, trapped in the wreckage of a bus hit by a lorry, and imprisoned for protesting against the local haulage company. Reportedly one of the soap's highest-paid stars of the time on a reputed £80,000pa, she paid the price of celebrity when a fanatical mental patient escaped from custody threatening to kill her; she had police protection for two months. She appeared in soap opera for seventeen years, turning down many parts including one written for her in Willy Russell's film version of Shirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.-Plot:...
, but was axed from the soap as part of ITV's revamp of the programme in the rush for ratings. Burrows returned for three episodes for Seth Armstrong
Seth Armstrong
Archibald Seth Armstrong is a fictional character in the ITV soap Emmerdale, played by Stan Richards from 1978 until 2003, when the actor's ill health forced him to leave the show for more than a year...
's funeral in 2005. In 2009 Malandra was asked to return to Emmerdale for Jack Sugden's funeral episodes in February but was unable due to working in pantomime during Christmas 2008 and January 2009 which prevented her from making a return for those episodes. Malandra has attended Clive Hornby's funeral in July 2008 in Leeds.
Pop career
Burrows has had minor musical success in the UK Singles ChartUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, reaching number 11 with the song "Just This Side Of Love" in 1990.
She released a self-penned single "Summernight Love" (1996) on AATW/DKAM Records (#185 UK). This resulted in a recording contract with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, and two more singles ("Carnival in Heaven" and "Don't Leave Me") also hit the UK charts (albeit the lower reaches: #49 and #54, respectively).
Other work
In 2002 Burrows was a contestant on Celebrity Weakest LinkWeakest Link
The Weakest Link is a British television quiz show, currently broadcast on BBC Two. It was devised by Mr Wilton and Euan Green and Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment Department. It has since been replicated around the world. The UK version is hosted by Anne...
and in 2004 she took part in the ITV game show Simply the Best, where she represented Leeds in a head-to-head tournament with other British cities. She then spent a year presenting a show called Soap Addicts on satellite, and then a year in the stage comedy Just Desserts touring the UK
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...
.
In 2006 she appeared on Channel 5's The All Star Talent Show
The All Star Talent Show
The All Star Talent Show is a 2006, television programme which aires on Five. It is presented by Andi Peters and Myleene Klass, with Julian Clary making up the judging panel alongside 2 guest judges. Each 6 celebrities perform with the winner at the end of each episode going into the final at the...
, coming fifth as a Fire Eater. She is due to star as the Fairy during Christmas 2007, in "Sleeping Beauty" at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
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...
.
Burrows entered late into the 2006 series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! on day seven. She was found hanging from a tight rope and had to be rescued as part of the trial by Matt Willis
Matt Willis
Matthew James Willis is an English singer-songwriter. He found fame as a founding member of the band Busted.- Early years :...
and Lauren Booth
Lauren Booth
Lauren Booth is an English broadcaster, journalist and pro-Palestinian activist. She works for Iran's English language news channel, Press TV.-Family:...
. On her first night she had to sleep in a hammock
Hammock
A hammock is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a woven network of twine or thin rope stretched with ropes between two firm anchor points such as trees or posts....
, and fell out of it. She took part in several "Bushtrucker trials" most notably one dubbed "Skyscrape". Burrows and fellow contestant Myleene Klass
Myleene Klass
Myleene Angela Quinn is an English singer, pianist, media personality and occasional model. She was formerly a member of the defunct British pop band Hear'Say.-Early life:...
were required to clamber onto a seesaw platform 200 ft above the jungle floor and take turns to collect corresponding flags hanging off the edges of the platform. Each pair of flags, collected in numerical order, equalled a much-needed meal for camp. She was the sixth celebrity to be evicted in a head-to-head with Dean Gaffney
Dean Gaffney
Dean Martin Gaffney is an English actor most notable for his role as Robbie Jackson on the BBC1 soap opera Eastenders from 1993 to 2003, when his character was axed. He has since made guest appearances in the soap in 2004 and 2010. Gaffney went on to appear in various reality television shows,...
.
External links
- Malandra Burrows 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...
- Interview post leaving Emmerdale