Amanda Barrie

Amanda Barrie
File:Amanda barrie in 1965.png Amanda Barrie in 1965
Born	Shirley Anne Broadbent (1935-09-14) 14 September 1935 Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England
Years active	1953–present
Television	Coronation Street (1981–1982, 1988–2001) Bad Girls (2003–2006)
Spouse(s)	Robin Hunter ​ ​ (m. 1967; died 2004)​ Hilary Bonner ​ (m. 2014)​

Amanda Barrie (born 14 September 1935) is an English actress. She appeared in two of the Carry On films before being cast as Alma Halliwell in ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, which she played on and off for 20 years. Between 2003 and 2006, she played the role of Bev Tull in the ITV prison drama, Bad Girls. She has since enjoyed a varied stage and TV career.

Career

Barrie was born Shirley Anne Broadbent in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire to Hubert Broadbent and his wife Connie (née Pyke). Barrie attended St Anne's College, St Anne's on Sea. She then trained at the Arts Educational School in London and later at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

She appeared in pantomime as a child and was a dancer before working for many years as a chorus girl in the West End until her first break as an actress came along. At sixteen she danced at the Windsor Club with Danny La Rue and Barbara Windsor, changing her name before making her West End debut in 1961's Babes in the Wood. Throughout the 1960s, Barrie worked on many stage productions including Cabaret, Private Lives, Hobson's Choice and Aladdin

Barrie made her screen debut in the comedy film Operation Bullshine in 1959 leading to roles in popular films including What a Whopper and Doctor in Distress. Barrie then starred in two of the Carry On films, a long-running series of British comedy films: she had a supporting turn as a cab driver in Carry On Cabby (1963) and took the title role in Carry On Cleo (1964). In 1965, Barrie starred alongside Billy Fury in his film I've Gotta Horse.

Barrie continued to appear in many television series into the 1970s as well as presenting Hickory House with former Coronation Street star Alan Rothwell between 1973 and 1977. In 1975, Barrie played Mrs. B.J. Spence in the Walt Disney film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing. After roles in a string of one-off television plays and series, she appeared in a guest role as a ballet mistress in the popular BBC comedy series Are You Being Served? in 1979. In 1982, she starred alongside Brian Murphy in L for Lester, a sitcom about a driving instructor.

She is well known as Alma Sedgewick (later Baldwin), in Coronation Street. She was a bit-player in the early to mid-1980s before she was offered a contract in 1988, after which her character became high profile. She continued in the role until her departure in 2001. In the story, Alma was diagnosed with cervical cancer which later caused her death.

Since leaving Coronation Street, Barrie continued to act, firstly as Margo Phillips in the long-running BBC medical soap opera Doctors for nine episodes, and in the popular ITV1 prison series Bad Girls, playing inmate Bev Tull from the fifth series to the last, along with Phyl Oswyn played by Stephanie Beacham. The characters together were known as "The Costa Cons".

She also became one of the celebrities who took part in Hell's Kitchen; a popular ITV1 "reality TV" series which screened in 2004. While on the show, she became so frustrated with Gordon Ramsay, that she tried to attack him. In 2005 she appeared as the Wicked Witch of the West in a pantomime adaptation of The Wizard of Oz at an Oxford theatre. She appeared on a pantomime edition of The Weakest Link dressed as the witch to raise money for charity but she was voted off in the second round.

From November 2006 to January 2007, Barrie took a starring role in the pantomime adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk in Canterbury. From December 2007 to January 2008, she appeared as the Fairy Godmother in the pantomime adaptation of Cinderella at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. From December 2008 to January 2009, she played the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool. She again played the role from December 2009 to January 2010 in Rhyl. In December 2010 and January 2011 she played the role in Bournemouth. She played role again from December 2011 to January 2012 in Worthing. On Tuesday 7 August 2012 she appeared in the BBC drama Holby City as troubled, sassy, failed actress Annabella Casey. She again played the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft from December 2013 to January 2014.

In June 2014, Barrie returned to the set of Coronation Street for a 30-minute documentary entitled, Gail & Me: 40 Years on Coronation Street, and was reunited with former co-stars and friends. From 2015 to 2017, Barrie had a recurring role as a fortune teller nicknamed Psychic Sue in the popular sitcom Benidorm. In 2015, she starred in the film Tea for Two alongside John Challis as a couple who run a tea room, before having a role in the 2018 drama film Together with Sylvia Syms and Peter Bowles. In January 2018, Barrie took part in Celebrity Big Brother.

In the summer of 2019 she appeared in series 2 of Celebrity 5 Go Barging, exploring canals around Staffordshire and Warwickshire by narrowboat.

Personal life

Barrie had a relationship with singer Billy Fury in the mid-1960s after they met while filming I've Gotta Horse. Fury proposed to her, but she did not accept.

In 1967, Barrie married theatre director Robin Hunter. They separated in the mid-1980s, but never divorced; he died in 2004. The couple had no children. She came out as bisexual in her autobiography It's Not a Rehearsal, and for many years was in a relationship with actress Heather Chasen. On 12 September 2014, she married her long-term partner Hilary Bonner. The couple live in homes in the Blackdown Hills, Somerset and London.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Operation Bullshine	A.T.S. Girl
	Set to Music	Dancer	TV film
1961	Don't Bother to Knock	American Girl
	What a Whopper	Chelsea Girl	Uncredited
1962	A Pair of Briefs	Exotic Snake Dancer
1963	Doctor in Distress	Rona
	Carry On Cabby	Anthea
1964	Carry On Cleo	Cleopatra
1965	I've Gotta Horse	Jo
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing	Mrs B.J. Spence
1976	The Venetian Twins	Unnamed	TV film
2002	Dick Whittington	Queen of Tonga
2015	Tea for Two	Alice
2018	Together	Margaret

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Running Wild	Dancer	Episode 1.1
1957	This Is the Henry Hall Show	Dancer	5 episodes
1960	ITV Play of the Week	Flora	Episode: "The Two Bouquets"
1961	The Seven Faces of Jim	Muriel	Episode: "The Face of Dedication"
		Maudie Glover	Episode: "The Face of Enthusiasm"
1962	Playbox	Margaret Palethorpe	2 episodes
	Compact	Marilyn Wayne	Episode: "Musical Evening"
	Bulldog Breed	Sandra Prentiss	All 7 episodes
1963	ITV Television Playhouse	Cigarette Girl	Episode: "Adam's Apple"
	Playbox	Gloria Green	Episode: 8.10
	Jezebel ex UK		Episode: "Sanderson and the Sea"
	More Faces of Jim	Velvet O'Toole	Episode: "A Matter of Upbringing"
1964–1965	It's Tarbuck	Various characters	6 episodes
1966	Pardon the Expression	Judy Best	Episode: "Whose Baby Are You?"
	Comedy Playhouse	Geraldine Woods	Episode: "The Reluctant Romeo"
	The Wednesday Play	Jada	Episode: "A Tale of Two Wives"
1967	Danger Man	Rosemary	Episode: "Koroshi"
	The Reluctant Romeo	Geraldine Woods	All 7 episodes
1968–1973	Ooh La La!	Various characters	7 episodes
1968	ITV Playhouse	Mavis Pritchard	Episode: "Horizontal Hold"
1969	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Janet	4 episodes
1971	The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder	Ethel Gibson	Episode: "Death of an Angel"
	BBC Play of the Month	Hermia	Episode: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
1976	The Many Wives of Patrick	Amy	Episode: "Internal Disputes"
	Play for Today	Joyce	Episode: "Early Struggles"
		Anne	Episode: "Buffet"
1977	BBC Play of the Month	Mrs Squeamish	Episode: "The Country Wife"
	Miss Jones and Son	Wanda	Episode: "Baby Talk"
1978	Strangers	Mrs Parker	Episode: "Paying Guests"
1979	Are You Being Served?	Ballet Mistress	Episode: "Strong Stuff This Insurance"
1980	Time of My Life	Joan Archer	All 6 episodes
	Spooner's Patch	Spooner's Girlfriend	Episode: "Spooner's Patch Thatch"
1981–1982, 1988–2001	Coronation Street	Alma Baldwin	Series regular, 1,133 episodes
1982	L for Lester	Sally Small	All 6 episodes
2003–2004	Doctors	Margo Phillips	9 episodes
2003–2006	Bad Girls	Beverley Tull	Series regular, 41 episodes
2012	Holby City	Annabella Casey	Episode: "Crimes and Misdemeanours"
2013	Doctors	Cath Horton	Episode: "In Good Health"
2015, 2017	Benidorm	Psychic Sue	3 episodes
2017	Holby City	Jenny Cox	Episode: "Project Aurous"
2018	The Bar Mitzvah	Hillary	All 6 episodes

Reality TV

• Loose Women (2003) – one-time panellist
• Hell's Kitchen (2004) – herself (trainee chef)
• The Real Marigold Hotel (2017) – herself
• Celebrity Big Brother 2018 (2018) - 6th-place finisher
• Celebrity 5 Go Barging (2019) – herself

External links

• Amanda Barrie at IMDb