Mona Hammond
Encyclopedia
Mona Hammond OBE is a Chinese Jamaican
actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company
. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom
in 1959, where she has remained ever since. Hammond has had a long and distinguished stage career. She is best known for her work on British television, which has included various roles in sitcoms and playing Blossom Jackson
in the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
. She was made an OBE in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.
father from Guangdong
, and a black
Jamaican mother in Tweeside, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
, West Indies. She moved to England
in 1959 on a Jamaican Scholarship and worked for Norman and Dawbarn Architects. She attended evening classes at the City Literary Institute for two years and was awarded a Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
.
(1968) and The Trouble Shooters (1969). Her first leading role was Lady Macbeth
at the Roundhouse
in 1970 in Peter Coe
's African version of the play. She went on to star in many plays by an array of up and coming black writers including Sweet Talk by Michael Abbensetts
, 11 Josephine House by Alfred Fagon and several plays written by Mustapha Matura
including As Time Goes By, Play Mas and Playboy of the West Indies. She also spent two years at the Royal National Theatre
in productions including Fuente Ovejuna
and Peer Gynt
directed by Declan Donnellan
, and The Crucible
.
In 1985 Hammond along with Yvonne Brewster
, Inigo Espejel and Carmen Munroe
founded the Talawa Theatre company, which became one of the UK's most prominent black theatre companies. It has produced award-winning plays from and about the African diaspora and has championed reinterpretations of classical British pieces. Hammond performed in several of its productions including The Black Jacobins
, The Importance of Being Earnest
and King Lear
.
Television work followed, which included roles in The Sweeney
(1976); Wolcott (1980–1981), a three-part ATV mini-series about a black detective based in East London; Black Silk (1985); Juliet Bravo
(1985); Playboy of the West Indies
(1985), Casualty
(1986) and When Love Dies (1990).
Hammond has appeared in ITV
's Coronation Street
, twice, first playing the role of Jan Sargent and second time playing Mrs Armitage, the mother of Shirley Armitage. In 1994 she was cast as Blossom Jackson
in BBC's EastEnders. She remained in the role until 1997. This was Hammond's second role in the soap, having previously played the minor part of Michelle Fowler
's midwife in 1986.
She is also an occasional actor in The Archers
, where she plays Mabel Thompson, the mother of Alan Franks' deceased wife.
Hammond has played many roles in television sitcoms, including: Susu in Desmond's
(1990–1994) and its spin-off Porkpie
(1995–1996); Us Girls
(1992–1993), where she played Grandma Pinnock; Chef!
(1996), and Grandma Sylvie Headly in The Crouches
(2003–2005).
In 1999 she played the role of Nan in the children's TV series Pig-Heart Boy, based on a novel by Malorie Blackman
and other television credits include Making Out
(1989); Trial & Retribution
(1998) as Bibi Harrow: Sunburn
(1999); Storm Damage (2000); The Bill
(2001); Babyfather
(2001); White Teeth
(2002); A Touch of Frost
(2003); Holby City
(2001; 2005; 2011) and Doctors (2006). She also appeared in the Doctor Who
episode "Rise of the Cybermen
" in 2006. Film credits include Fords on Water (1983), Manderlay
(2005) and Kinky Boots
(2006). Hammond appeared in the movie 10,000 BC
, directed by Roland Emmerich
.
In October 2010 she reprised her role for a brief stint as Blossom Jackson
in the TV soap Eastenders
. Appearing in connection to screen great grandson Billie Jackson's funeral, she returned with her onscreen grandson Alan Jackson
.
(O.B.E.) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours
List, for her services to drama in the UK. In 2006 Hammond was presented with the Edric Connor Inspiration Award - the Screen Nation Television and Film Awards' highest UK honour.
Chinese Jamaican
Chinese Jamaicans are the descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica. Early migrants came in the 19th century; there was another wave of migration in the 1980s and 1990s...
actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company
Talawa Theatre Company
The Talawa Theatre Company was founded in London in 1985 by Jamaican born Yvonne Brewster, Mona Hammond, Carmen Munroe and Inigo Espejel, becoming the UK's most prominent black theatre company...
. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom
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 1959, where she has remained ever since. Hammond has had a long and distinguished stage career. She is best known for her work on British television, which has included various roles in sitcoms and playing Blossom Jackson
Blossom Jackson
Blossom Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mona Hammond. The character originally appeared from 1994 to 1997. Hammond was installed as a matriarchal figure of the Jackson clan but quit the role in 1997, reportedly because she was suffering from nervous...
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...
. She was made an OBE in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.
Early life
Hammond was born Mavis Chin to a ChineseChinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
father from Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, and a black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
Jamaican mother in Tweeside, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
Clarendon is a parish in Jamaica. It is located on the south of the island, roughly half-way between the island's eastern and western ends...
, West Indies. She moved to England
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...
in 1959 on a Jamaican Scholarship and worked for Norman and Dawbarn Architects. She attended evening classes at the City Literary Institute for two years and was awarded a Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
.
Career
Hammond began her career on stage and made early appearances on television shows such as Softly, SoftlySoftly, Softly (TV series)
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...
(1968) and The Trouble Shooters (1969). Her first leading role was Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth may refer to:*Lady Macbeth, from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth**Queen Gruoch of Scotland, the real-life Queen on whom Shakespeare based the character...
at the Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
in 1970 in Peter Coe
Peter Coe
Percy Newbold "Peter" Coe was the father and athletics coach to Sebastian Coe.-Early life:Coe was born Percy Newbold Coe in Kingston, Surrey, the eldest child of Violet and Percy Coe Sr...
's African version of the play. She went on to star in many plays by an array of up and coming black writers including Sweet Talk by Michael Abbensetts
Michael Abbensetts
Michael Abbensetts is a writer who was born in British Guiana on 8 June 1938. He attended Queen's College from 1952 to 1956, then Stanstead College, Quebec, Canada, and Sir George Williams University, in Montreal ....
, 11 Josephine House by Alfred Fagon and several plays written by Mustapha Matura
Mustapha Matura
Mustapha Matura is a Trinidadian playwright living in London.In 1971 his play As Time Goes By was first performed at the Traverse Theatre Club in Edinburgh and the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, with a cast of noted Caribbean actors including Stefan Kalipha, Alfred Fagon, Mona...
including As Time Goes By, Play Mas and Playboy of the West Indies. She also spent two years at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in productions including Fuente Ovejuna
Fuente Ovejuna
Fuenteovejuna is a play by the Spanish playwright, Lope de Vega. First published in Madrid in 1619 as part of Docena Parte de las Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpio , the play is believed to have been written between 1612 and 1614...
and Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
directed by Declan Donnellan
Declan Donnellan
Declan Donnellan is a British theatre director and writer. He is co-founder of Cheek by Jowl theatre company. In 1992 he received an honoris causa degree from the University of Warwick and in 2004 he was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his work in France...
, and The Crucible
The Crucible
The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists...
.
In 1985 Hammond along with Yvonne Brewster
Yvonne Brewster
Yvonne Brewster, O.B.E. is a stage director, teacher and writer.Born in Jamaica, Yvonne Brewster went to the UK to study drama in the mid-fifties at the Rose Bruford College and the Royal Academy of Music...
, Inigo Espejel and Carmen Munroe
Carmen Munroe
Carmen Munroe OBE is a British actress, born in Berbice, Guyana. Since the early 1950s she has been a resident of the UK. She made her West End stage debut in 1962 and has since played an instrumental role in the development of black British theatre and representation on small screen...
founded the Talawa Theatre company, which became one of the UK's most prominent black theatre companies. It has produced award-winning plays from and about the African diaspora and has championed reinterpretations of classical British pieces. Hammond performed in several of its productions including The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution , by Afro-Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James , is a history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution...
, The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
and King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
.
Television work followed, which included roles in 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...
(1976); Wolcott (1980–1981), a three-part ATV mini-series about a black detective based in East London; Black Silk (1985); Juliet Bravo
Juliet Bravo
Juliet Bravo is a British television series, which ran on BBC1 between 1980 and 1985. The theme of the series concerned a female police inspector who took over control of a police station in the fictional town of Hartley in Lancashire.-Programme name:...
(1985); Playboy of the West Indies
Playboy of the West Indies
Playboy of the West Indies is a play by Trinidadian playwright Mustapha Matura, a Caribbean version of Synge's The Playboy of the Western World....
(1985), 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...
(1986) and When Love Dies (1990).
Hammond has appeared in ITV
ITV
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...
's Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, twice, first playing the role of Jan Sargent and second time playing Mrs Armitage, the mother of Shirley Armitage. In 1994 she was cast as Blossom Jackson
Blossom Jackson
Blossom Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mona Hammond. The character originally appeared from 1994 to 1997. Hammond was installed as a matriarchal figure of the Jackson clan but quit the role in 1997, reportedly because she was suffering from nervous...
in BBC's EastEnders. She remained in the role until 1997. This was Hammond's second role in the soap, having previously played the minor part of Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actress Susan Tully.Although she was one of the brighter people in Walford, that didn't stop Michelle making some huge mistakes during her time in Albert Square...
's midwife in 1986.
She is also an occasional actor in The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
, where she plays Mabel Thompson, the mother of Alan Franks' deceased wife.
Hammond has played many roles in television sitcoms, including: Susu in Desmond's
Desmond's
Desmond's is a British television situation comedy broadcast by Channel 4 from 1989 to 1994. The first series was shot in 1988, with the first episode broadcast in January 1989...
(1990–1994) and its spin-off Porkpie
Porkpie (TV series)
Porkpie was a British sitcom on Channel 4 television starring Ram John Holder as Augustus 'Porkpie' Grant. It was a spinoff from Desmond's...
(1995–1996); Us Girls
Us Girls
Us Girls is a BBC television sitcom about the culture gap among three generations of West Indian women.Freelance journalist Bev Pinnock was trying to live an independent life, which was being interrupted by her teenage daughter Aisha and her mother -- Grandma . They all shared a house in the...
(1992–1993), where she played Grandma Pinnock; Chef!
Chef!
Chef! is a British situation comedy starring Lenny Henry that aired as twenty episodes over three series from 1993 to 1996 on the BBC. The show was created and primarily written by Peter Tilbury based on an idea from Lenny Henry and produced for the BBC by Henry's production company, Crucial...
(1996), and Grandma Sylvie Headly in The Crouches
The Crouches
The Crouches is a sitcom which aired on BBC One between 2003 and 2005. The show stars Rudolph Walker, who played Robbie Gee's father, and Mona Hammond, who played Jo's mother. Also other main casts were Robbie Gee and Jo Martin. The show was not well received by critics and only two series were...
(2003–2005).
In 1999 she played the role of Nan in the children's TV series Pig-Heart Boy, based on a novel by Malorie Blackman
Malorie Blackman
Malorie Blackman OBE is an author of literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethical issues. Her critically and popularly acclaimed Noughts & Crosses series uses the setting of a fictional dystopia to explore racism...
and other television credits include Making Out
Making Out
Making Out is a British television series, shown by the BBC between 1989 and 1991.The series, written by Debbie Horsfield, mixed comedy and drama in its portrayal of the women who worked on the factory floor at New Lyne Electronics in Manchester, tackling the personal lives of the characters as...
(1989); Trial & Retribution
Trial & Retribution
Trial & Retribution is a feature-length ITV police proceduraltelevision drama series that began in 1997. It was devised and written by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series Prime Suspect. Each episode of the Trial & Retribution series is broadcast over two nights. The...
(1998) as Bibi Harrow: Sunburn
Sunburn (TV series)
Sunburn is a British television series that followed the lives of a group of British holiday reps. It was broadcast on BBC One between 16 January 1999 and 1 May 2000, running for two series of six and eight episodes respectively. The first was set and filmed in Cyprus and the second in Algarve...
(1999); Storm Damage (2000); 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...
(2001); Babyfather
Babyfather
Babyfather is a BBC Two television programme which aired in the UK in 2001 and 2002. The show has been described as a "black, male, UK version of Sex and the City". It ran for two series, and was based on a novel written by Patrick Augustus. The writers of the screenplay include Avril E...
(2001); White Teeth
White Teeth
White Teeth is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones, and their families in London...
(2002); A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....
(2003); 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...
(2001; 2005; 2011) and Doctors (2006). She also appeared in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode "Rise of the Cybermen
Rise of the Cybermen
"Rise of the Cybermen" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode features the return of Cybermen, where they are created on Earth itself. It is the first part of a two-part story, the concluding part being "The Age of Steel"...
" in 2006. Film credits include Fords on Water (1983), Manderlay
Manderlay
Manderlay is the 2005 sequel to the film Dogville. It is the second part of Lars von Trier's projected USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy. Bryce Dallas Howard replaces Nicole Kidman in the role of Grace Mulligan. The film co-stars Willem Dafoe, replacing James Caan...
(2005) and Kinky Boots
Kinky Boots (film)
Kinky Boots is a 2005 comedy film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, about a traditional Northampton shoemaker, based in Earls Barton, who turns to producing fetishism footwear in order to save the failing family business and the jobs of his workers...
(2006). Hammond appeared in the movie 10,000 BC
10,000 BC (film)
10,000 BC is a 2008 American fantasy film from Warner Bros. Pictures set in the prehistoric era. It was directed by Roland Emmerich and stars Steven Strait and Camilla Belle. The world premiere was held on February 10, 2008 at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin...
, directed by Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.His films, most of which are Hollywood productions filmed in English, have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, more than those of any other European director...
.
In October 2010 she reprised her role for a brief stint as Blossom Jackson
Blossom Jackson
Blossom Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mona Hammond. The character originally appeared from 1994 to 1997. Hammond was installed as a matriarchal figure of the Jackson clan but quit the role in 1997, reportedly because she was suffering from nervous...
in the TV soap 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...
. Appearing in connection to screen great grandson Billie Jackson's funeral, she returned with her onscreen grandson Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson (EastEnders)
Alan Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Howard Antony. He originally appeared between 1993 and 1997, and returned on 12 October 2010 for three episodes....
.
Awards
Hammond was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(O.B.E.) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
List, for her services to drama in the UK. In 2006 Hammond was presented with the Edric Connor Inspiration Award - the Screen Nation Television and Film Awards' highest UK honour.