Sandy Ratcliff
Encyclopedia
Alexandria "Sandy" Ratcliff (born in London
, 2 October 1950) is an English
former actress. Ratcliff made an impression as a model and film actress in the 1970s, but she is best known for being one of the original cast members in the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
in the 1980s. She received acclaim for her portrayal of the tragic Sue Osman
, but left the role in 1989 after it was revealed that she was a heroin addict. Since leaving EastEnders, things have been professionally quiet for Ratcliff, though her private life brought her into the headlines once again in the early 1990s. In 2010, she revealed she gave up acting to train as a counsellor, but has since retired.
and she later went on to serve time in prison
for selling it. She had numerous jobs before she took up acting, including waitressing, disc-jockeying and performing as a guitarist in the rock groups Tropical Appetite and Escalator.
and was cast as "The face of the '70s" by royal photographer, Lord Snowdon. This later facilitated a move into film. Her first major role was in the Ken Loach
BAFTA
-nominated film Family Life, where she took the title role of a schizophrenic
teenage girl. This was followed by roles in slightly less well-received films including The Final Programme and Hussy with Helen Mirren
. Ratcliff subsequently acted in several television productions including Minder
, Couples, Play for Today
, Target, The Sweeney
, Shoestring
and Shelley
.
In 1985 Ratcliff became a household name as Sue Osman
in new BBC serial EastEnders. Ratcliff played the long suffering wife of highly-strung cafe owner and mini-cab boss Ali Osman
(Nejdet Salih). During her four years in the series, Ratcliff's character contended with cot death, infidelity and finally insanity
. Off-screen Ratcliff was struggling with a publicised heroin addiction and in 1989 she was written out of the show.
Ratcliff's further television appearances since EastEnders were in 1992's Maigret
opposite Michael Gambon
and in the BBC2 productions, A Box Of Swan (1990) and Men Of The Month (1994).
In 2010, Ratcliff revealed in an interview with The Sun
that she retrained as a counsellor
, before retiring. She added that "If you had asked me last year if I wanted to go back to acting I would have said no. I was working too hard then and I felt tired. Now, I would say yes. If anyone needs someone to play a bag lady, I could do that."
In 1991 Ratcliff's then-boyfriend, Michael Shorey, stood trial at the Old Bailey
after he was accused of killing two women. Despite Ratcliff giving him an alibi — she claimed in the witness box that they were making love at the time — he was found guilty and is now serving two life sentences for murder. His court case was to be her last public appearance.
In 2005 it was reported that Ratcliff no longer uses heroin and lives on a £70 a week disability allowance. In a 2010 interview, Ratcliff commented on the press intrusion following her departure from EastEnders, saying, "I had a hard time when I left the show. There were stories about my drug addiction, and I was quite an innocent, even in my thirties. Some of the things written about me hurt me and made me quite ill. But I recovered and moved on to other things."
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...
, 2 October 1950) is an English
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...
former actress. Ratcliff made an impression as a model and film actress in the 1970s, but she is best known for being one of the original cast members 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...
in the 1980s. She received acclaim for her portrayal of the tragic Sue Osman
Sue Osman
Susan "Sue" Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sandy Ratcliff. She was one of the serial's original characters, appearing in its first episode on 19 February 1985 and departing on-screen in May 1989. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, Sue was...
, but left the role in 1989 after it was revealed that she was a heroin addict. Since leaving EastEnders, things have been professionally quiet for Ratcliff, though her private life brought her into the headlines once again in the early 1990s. In 2010, she revealed she gave up acting to train as a counsellor, but has since retired.
Early life
Ratcliff - the daughter of an insurance salesman - had a turbulent youth. She was expelled at 12 from her grammar school. Within two years she was heavily smoking cannabisCannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and she later went on to serve time in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for selling it. She had numerous jobs before she took up acting, including waitressing, disc-jockeying and performing as a guitarist in the rock groups Tropical Appetite and Escalator.
Career
Ratcliff's career changed direction at 23, when she made a big impression as a modelModel (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and was cast as "The face of the '70s" by royal photographer, Lord Snowdon. This later facilitated a move into film. Her first major role was in the Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
-nominated film Family Life, where she took the title role of a schizophrenic
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
teenage girl. This was followed by roles in slightly less well-received films including The Final Programme and Hussy with Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
. Ratcliff subsequently acted in several television productions including Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
, Couples, Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
, Target, The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, Shoestring
Shoestring
Shoestring was a BBC television show set in Bristol. It featured a private detective with his own show on Radio West, the local radio station.The programme ran between 30 September 1979 and 21 December 1980, in two series with 21 one hour-long episodes...
and Shelley
Shelley (TV series)
Shelley is a British sitcom made by Thames Television and originally broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1984 and from 1988 to 1992, with occasional hiatuses. Hywel Bennett starred as James Shelley, a sardonic, 28-year-old, anti-establishment postgraduate and career income tax dodger...
.
In 1985 Ratcliff became a household name as Sue Osman
Sue Osman
Susan "Sue" Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sandy Ratcliff. She was one of the serial's original characters, appearing in its first episode on 19 February 1985 and departing on-screen in May 1989. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, Sue was...
in new BBC serial EastEnders. Ratcliff played the long suffering wife of highly-strung cafe owner and mini-cab boss Ali Osman
Ali Osman
Ali Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nejdet Salih. He was a member of the original EastEnders cast, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985. He remained with the show for nearly five years afterwards, making his final appearance on 10 October...
(Nejdet Salih). During her four years in the series, Ratcliff's character contended with cot death, infidelity and finally insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
. Off-screen Ratcliff was struggling with a publicised heroin addiction and in 1989 she was written out of the show.
Ratcliff's further television appearances since EastEnders were in 1992's Maigret
Maigret
Jules Maigret, Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" , created by writer Georges Simenon.Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and...
opposite Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
and in the BBC2 productions, A Box Of Swan (1990) and Men Of The Month (1994).
In 2010, Ratcliff revealed in an interview with The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
that she retrained as a counsellor
Mental Health Counselor
Mental health counselors practice mental health counseling which is a dynamic, holistic, strengths-based and psychoeducational discipline born in the late 1970s when several mental health professionals realized that the master’s degree level counselors working in community settings lacked a...
, before retiring. She added that "If you had asked me last year if I wanted to go back to acting I would have said no. I was working too hard then and I felt tired. Now, I would say yes. If anyone needs someone to play a bag lady, I could do that."
Personal life
Ratcliff married photographer Peter Wright in the late 1960s. They broke up and by 1973 she had her only son, William, by theatre director Terence Palmer.In 1991 Ratcliff's then-boyfriend, Michael Shorey, stood trial at the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
after he was accused of killing two women. Despite Ratcliff giving him an alibi — she claimed in the witness box that they were making love at the time — he was found guilty and is now serving two life sentences for murder. His court case was to be her last public appearance.
In 2005 it was reported that Ratcliff no longer uses heroin and lives on a £70 a week disability allowance. In a 2010 interview, Ratcliff commented on the press intrusion following her departure from EastEnders, saying, "I had a hard time when I left the show. There were stories about my drug addiction, and I was quite an innocent, even in my thirties. Some of the things written about me hurt me and made me quite ill. But I recovered and moved on to other things."