Alison Pargeter
Encyclopedia
Alison Pargeter is an English actress who played the roles of stalker Sarah Cairns in the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, also Mary Slessor in a 11-part television series of Mary Slessor
, and the Nag's Head barmaid called Val in the BBC Only Fools and Horses
prequel Rock & Chips.
Company in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where she was directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn
in a trilogy of plays known collectively as Damsels in Distress
, which subsequently transferred to the West End. For this, she won Best Newcomer in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and was nominated for an Evening Standard award, Manchester Evening News Award and a Whatsonstage Award.
Later parts include Sugar Daddies
, again written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
; She Stoops to Conquer
at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, for which she was nominated for a second Manchester Evening News award; and the title role in The Countess playing opposite Nick Moran
at the Criterion theatre, Piccadilly. She also spent a year touring in the musical Grease
playing one of the Pink Ladies.
In 2008 she recorded the voice of 'Wendy Darling' in a musical adaptation of Peter Pan with music and lyrics by Dallison/Wherry and narrated by Joe Parquale as 'Smee'.
Pargeter has starred in several Christmas Pantomimes for children over the years, She played Alice in Alice In Wonderland at the Birmingham Rep theatre in November 2006 until December 2006, And she also played Princess Melody in Jack and the Beanstalk at Barbican Giles Haveral Theatre in December 2007 until January 2008, and as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Salisbury Playhouse in December 2009 until January 2010.
In July 2011 Pargeter played the role of Gertrude at the Manchester International Festival
in a Victoria Wood
's play called That Day We Sang.
, Angel
, Reuniting the Rubins, and Mad George.
. She was a barmaid who worked in Angie's Den club, and tried to split Martin Fowler
up from his wife Sonia following a drunken night together. She exited the series following a fight where she accidentally stabbed Martin and got committed to a mental institution.
Pargeter has made several other guest appearances over the years on screen in such as Urban Gothic
, Strange, Dalziel and Pascoe
, Holby City
, The Courtroom
, Love Soup
, Casualty
, The Bill
, Doctors, Green Wing
, Pete Versus Life
and The Crimson Petal and the White
.
In 2008 Pargeter played the role of Mary Slessor in the Mary Slessor
an 11-part television series.
Between January 2010 and April 2011, Pargeter appeared in the Only Fools and Horses
prequel Rock & Chips as Val, the Nag's Head barmaid.
In 2004 she appeared in the television advertisement for John Smith's
bitter "Annie, I'm not your Daddy" which starred Peter Kay
.
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...
, also Mary Slessor in a 11-part television series of Mary Slessor
Mary Slessor
Mary Mitchell Slessor was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria.Her determined work and strong personality allowed her to be trusted and accepted by the locals, spreading Christianity and promoting women's rights.-Early life:...
, and the Nag's Head barmaid called Val in the BBC Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
prequel Rock & Chips.
Theatre
Pargeter was a member of the Stephen Joseph TheatreStephen Joseph Theatre
The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain....
Company in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where she was directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
in a trilogy of plays known collectively as Damsels in Distress
Damsels in Distress (plays)
Damsels in Distress is a trilogy of plays written in 2001 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The three plays, GamePlan, FlatSpin and RolePlay, were originally performed as a set by the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company . The plays were written to be performed by the same seven actors using the same...
, which subsequently transferred to the West End. For this, she won Best Newcomer in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and was nominated for an Evening Standard award, Manchester Evening News Award and a Whatsonstage Award.
Later parts include Sugar Daddies
Sugar Daddies (play)
Sugar Daddies is a 2003 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about a student who forms a friendship with a rich man over three times her age, who has a sinister past, and maybe a sinister present too.-Background:...
, again written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
; She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...
at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, for which she was nominated for a second Manchester Evening News award; and the title role in The Countess playing opposite Nick Moran
Nick Moran
Nicholas James "Nick" Moran is an English actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Eddy the card shark in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels...
at the Criterion theatre, Piccadilly. She also spent a year touring in the musical Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
playing one of the Pink Ladies.
In 2008 she recorded the voice of 'Wendy Darling' in a musical adaptation of Peter Pan with music and lyrics by Dallison/Wherry and narrated by Joe Parquale as 'Smee'.
Pargeter has starred in several Christmas Pantomimes for children over the years, She played Alice in Alice In Wonderland at the Birmingham Rep theatre in November 2006 until December 2006, And she also played Princess Melody in Jack and the Beanstalk at Barbican Giles Haveral Theatre in December 2007 until January 2008, and as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Salisbury Playhouse in December 2009 until January 2010.
In July 2011 Pargeter played the role of Gertrude at the Manchester International Festival
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
in a 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...
's play called That Day We Sang.
Films
Pargeter has appeared in four films such as Calendar GirlsCalendar Girls
Calendar Girls is a 2003 comedy film directed by Nigel Cole. Produced by Buena Vista International and Touchstone Pictures, it features a screenplay by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi based on a true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia...
, Angel
Angel (2007 film)
Angel, also known as the Real Life of Angel Deverell, is a 2007 British film based on novel of the same name by Elizabeth Taylor, about the life of a fiery and passionate young writer. The protagonist was portrayed by Romola Garai, director François Ozon's first and only choice for the role...
, Reuniting the Rubins, and Mad George.
Television appearances
Between September and October 2004, she played a stalker named Sarah Cairns in EastendersEastEnders
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...
. She was a barmaid who worked in Angie's Den club, and tried to split Martin Fowler
Martin Fowler (EastEnders)
Martin Albert Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by James Alexandrou from 1996 to 2007.The role was previously played by Jon Peyton Price from early life as a baby in 1985 to 1996, just before Martin's teenage years began.-Storylines:Martin is the younger son...
up from his wife Sonia following a drunken night together. She exited the series following a fight where she accidentally stabbed Martin and got committed to a mental institution.
Pargeter has made several other guest appearances over the years on screen in such as Urban Gothic
Urban Gothic
Urban Gothic was a horror based series of short stories shown on Five running for two series between May 2000 and December 2001. Filmed on a comparatively low budget, it nonetheless acquired a cult following despite its late air time and the patchy coverage of Five...
, Strange, Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)
Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
, 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...
, The Courtroom
The Courtroom
The Courtroom is a British legal drama created by Phil Redmond, which aired between June and December 2004.The programme was notable for starring many former British soap stars, particularly those who starred in Redmond's other productions Brookside and Hollyoaks....
, Love Soup
Love Soup
Love Soup is a British television comedy-drama produced by the BBC and first screened on BBC One in the autumn of 2005. It stars Tamsin Greig as Alice Chenery and Michael Landes as Gil Raymond . The series is written by David Renwick of One Foot in the Grave fame, and was produced by Verity Lambert...
, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, 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...
, Doctors, Green Wing
Green Wing
Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
, Pete Versus Life
Pete versus Life
Pete versus Life is a Channel 4 sitcom created by George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore. It stars Rafe Spall and the first episode was aired on 6 August 2010...
and The Crimson Petal and the White
The Crimson Petal and the White (TV miniseries)
The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2011 four part television miniseries, adapted from Michel Faber's 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White. Starring Romola Garai as Sugar and Chris O'Dowd as William Rackham, the miniseries aired in the UK during April 2011 on BBC Two. The supporting cast...
.
In 2008 Pargeter played the role of Mary Slessor in the Mary Slessor
Mary Slessor
Mary Mitchell Slessor was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria.Her determined work and strong personality allowed her to be trusted and accepted by the locals, spreading Christianity and promoting women's rights.-Early life:...
an 11-part television series.
Between January 2010 and April 2011, Pargeter appeared in the Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
prequel Rock & Chips as Val, the Nag's Head barmaid.
In 2004 she appeared in the television advertisement for John Smith's
John Smith's Brewery
John Smith's is a brewery founded in 1758 by Backhouse & Hartley at Tadcaster in North Yorkshire, England. John Smith bought the brewery in 1847. John Smith's is the sixth highest selling beer brand in the United Kingdom, and the highest selling ale brand. The brewery is currently owned by...
bitter "Annie, I'm not your Daddy" which starred Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...
.
Films
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Reuniting the Rubins | Nurse | |
| 2007 | Angel Angel (2007 film) Angel, also known as the Real Life of Angel Deverell, is a 2007 British film based on novel of the same name by Elizabeth Taylor, about the life of a fiery and passionate young writer. The protagonist was portrayed by Romola Garai, director François Ozon's first and only choice for the role... |
Edwina | |
| 2004 | Mad George | Sandra | Short Film |
| 2003 | Calendar Girls Calendar Girls Calendar Girls is a 2003 comedy film directed by Nigel Cole. Produced by Buena Vista International and Touchstone Pictures, it features a screenplay by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi based on a true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia... |
Chemist's Assistant | |
TV
| Year | TV Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2011 | Rock & Chips | Val | 3 episodes Pilot Special Five Gold Rings The Frog And The Pussycat |
| 2011 | The Crimson Petal and the White The Crimson Petal and the White (TV miniseries) The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2011 four part television miniseries, adapted from Michel Faber's 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White. Starring Romola Garai as Sugar and Chris O'Dowd as William Rackham, the miniseries aired in the UK during April 2011 on BBC Two. The supporting cast... |
Amelia | TV mini-series, 1 episode : Episode 4 |
| 2010 | Pete Versus Life Pete versus Life Pete versus Life is a Channel 4 sitcom created by George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore. It stars Rafe Spall and the first episode was aired on 6 August 2010... |
Valerie | 1 episode : Episode Ollie's Girlfriend |
| 2006, 2009 | Casualty Casualty (TV series) Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The... |
Donna Carlyle Rosie Pullen |
2 episodes Episode In Good Faith Episode Could We Be Heroes? |
| 2008 | Doctors | Nina Jarvis | 1 episode : Episode I Know What You Did Last Semester |
| Mary Slessor Mary Slessor Mary Mitchell Slessor was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria.Her determined work and strong personality allowed her to be trusted and accepted by the locals, spreading Christianity and promoting women's rights.-Early life:... |
Mary Slessor | 11 episodes | |
| 2001, 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... |
Katie Shelley Cooper |
3 episodes Episode Billy The Kid Episode Line of Fire: Part 1 Episode Line of Fire: Part 2 |
| 2007 | EastEnders Vixens: The Rise and Fall of Stella | Herself | One-off documentary |
| 2006 | Green Wing Green Wing Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt.... |
Nurse | 1 episode : Episode #2.1 |
| 2005 | Love Soup Love Soup Love Soup is a British television comedy-drama produced by the BBC and first screened on BBC One in the autumn of 2005. It stars Tamsin Greig as Alice Chenery and Michael Landes as Gil Raymond . The series is written by David Renwick of One Foot in the Grave fame, and was produced by Verity Lambert... |
Siobhan | 1 episode : Episode There Must Be Some Way Out of Here |
| 2004 | The Courtroom The Courtroom The Courtroom is a British legal drama created by Phil Redmond, which aired between June and December 2004.The programme was notable for starring many former British soap stars, particularly those who starred in Redmond's other productions Brookside and Hollyoaks.... |
Deborah Harker | 2 episodes Episode Five Below Zero Episode Zero |
| 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... |
Sarah Cairns | 21 episodes | |
| GMTV GMTV GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end... |
Herself | 1 episode | |
| Richard & Judy Richard & Judy Richard & Judy was a British magazine/chat show which was presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. It originally aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008 but later moved to digital channel Watch in October 2008. It featured the world's most famous stars, along with their Book Club... |
Herself | 1 episode | |
| 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... |
Sylvia Dyson | 1 episode : Episode The Kindness of Strangers | |
| Dalziel and Pascoe Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series) Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives... |
Barmaid | 1 episolde : Episode A Game of Soldiers | |
| 2003 | Strange | Natalie | 1 episode : Episode Incubus |
| 2000 | Urban Gothic Urban Gothic Urban Gothic was a horror based series of short stories shown on Five running for two series between May 2000 and December 2001. Filmed on a comparatively low budget, it nonetheless acquired a cult following despite its late air time and the patchy coverage of Five... |
Leila Haze | 1 episode : Episode Sum of the Parts |
| Unknown | Crimewatch Crimewatch Crimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One... |
Unknown Role | unknown episodes |
| Anything's Possible and Whodunnit | Unknown Role | unknown episodes | |
| 1996 | Self-Medication-A Prescription For Change | Cast Member | unknown episodes |
Theatre credits
| Year | Stage | Role | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | That Day We Sang | Gertrude | Manchester International Festival |
| 2009–2010 | Cinderella | Fairy Godmother | Salisbury Playhouse |
| 2008 | Peter Pan The Musical | Wendy Darling (Voice) | Unknown Theatre |
| 2007–2008 | Jack and the Beanstalk | Princess Melody | Barbican Giles Haveral |
| 2007 | Tender Dearly | Phoebe | West Yorkshire Playhouse |
| Magple Park | Poppy | West Yorkshire Playhouse | |
| 2006 | Alice In Wonderland | Alice | Birmingham Rep |
| She Stoops to Conquer | Kate Hardcastle | Manchester Royal Exchange | |
| 2005 | The Countess | Effie | West End |
| 2004 | Season's Greetings Season's Greetings (play) Season's Greetings is a 1980 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is a black, though often farcical, comedy about a dysfunctional family Christmas, set over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day in an average English suburban house.... |
Pattie | SJT / Touring |
| 2003 | Sugar Daddies Sugar Daddies (play) Sugar Daddies is a 2003 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about a student who forms a friendship with a rich man over three times her age, who has a sinister past, and maybe a sinister present too.-Background:... |
Sasha | SJT / Touring |
| 2001–2002 | FlatSpin FlatSpin (play) FlatSpin is a 2001 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the second in a trilogy of plays called Damsels In Distress It is about an actress called Rosie Seymour who accepts a date with a mysterious Sam Berryman, who seems to have mistaken her for a Joanna Rupelford.-Background:See also:... |
Rosie Seymour | SJT / Touring / West End |
| GamePlan GamePlan (play) GamePlan is a 2001 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the first in a trilogy of plays called Damsels In Distress The darkest of the three plays, it is about a teenage girl who tries to support herself and her mother through prostitution.-Background:See also: Background on Damsels in Distress... |
Kelly Butcher | SJT / Touring / West End | |
| RolePlay RolePlay (play) RolePlay is a 2001 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the third in a trilogy of plays called Damsels In Distress... |
Paige Petite | SJT / Touring / West End | |
| 2000 | Whenever Whenever (play) Whenever is a 2000 children's musical play with words Alan Ayckbourn and music by Denis King, that was shown as the Stephen Joseph Theatre's Christmas production. It is loosely derived from The Wizard of Oz, and it is about a young Victorian girl named Emily to travels back and forth in time to... |
Emily | Stephen Joseph Theatre |
| 1999 | Grease Grease (musical) Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,... |
Jan | National Tour |
| Unknown | Out In The Cold | Daughter | BAC |
| Dinosaur Rock | Gina Poole | Polka Theatre | |
| A Happy End | Sister Mary | Bridewell Theatre | |
| Berfore The Party | Susie | Prince Theatre | |
| Children In Uniform | Ilse Von Treiscke | / BCA |