Sue Holderness
Encyclopedia
Sue Holderness is an English
actress. Since 1985 she has played the role of Marlene Boyce in the British
sitcom
Only Fools and Horses
(until 2003) and its spin-off The Green Green Grass
(from 2005 until 2009).
.
Sue Holderness began her career with Manchester’s 69 Theatre Company in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peer Gynt
and as Desdemona in Catch My Soul
(Jack Good’s rock-musical of Othello). She has worked consistently in theatre, radio, film and television.
West End
plays include The Female Odd Couple, Why Not Stay for Breakfast, The Male of the Species and the highly acclaimed one-woman play Our Kid (based on Myra Hindley).
Sue regularly appears in The Vagina Monologues
and she is part of the cast of the touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners
. She has toured the country in numerous plays and worked in several repertory
companies. Much of Sue’s career has been spent doing Alan Ayckbourn
plays, three of which (Relatively Speaking, Time and Time Again, and How The Other Half Loves) she toured with John Challis
, who, of course, plays Boycie
to Sue’s long-suffering wife, Marlene in Only Fools And Horses. The fourth series of their very successful spin-off The Green, Green Grass has just started airing on BBC1.
Sue has played the role of Annie in the 2011 UK Tour of Calendar Girls (April–August 2011)
Television roles include Marianne in The Sandbaggers
(two series), Liz in It Takes a Worried Man
(two series), Jo in The Brief, Cleopatra IV in The Cleopatras
, episodes of Minder, Bless This House, The New Avengers, Thriller, Sob Sisters, Growing Pains, Doctors, Murder in Suburbia. She played Rowan Atkinson’s
love interest, Lorraine, in Canned Laughter
and did numerous impersonations in two series of End of Part One. She played Maggie in Dear John, by John Sullivan
, Joan Forrester in Heartbeat for YTV, as Joan Travis in Revelations, and as Rachel’s mum in Cold Feet, also for Granada.
Films include That’ll Be The Day, It Could Happen To You, and Lime Street with Robert Wagner
. Sue also appeared in the low budget feature Meat Draw and Out of Sight for Granada.
Sue regularly appears in pantomime
. and has appeared in productions across the UK.
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...
actress. Since 1985 she has played the role of Marlene Boyce in the British
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...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
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...
(until 2003) and its spin-off The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass is a British sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, produced by Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a spin-off of the long running sitcom Only Fools and Horses and stars John Challis, Sue Holderness and Jack Doolan...
(from 2005 until 2009).
Career
After A-levels she trained at the Central School of Speech and DramaCentral School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
.
Sue Holderness began her career with Manchester’s 69 Theatre Company in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 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"...
and as Desdemona in Catch My Soul
Catch My Soul
For UK Stage version see Catch My Soul Catch My Soul is a 1974 film produced by Jack Good and Richard M. Rosenbloom, and directed by Patrick McGoohan. It was an adaptation of Good's stage musical of the same title, which itself was loosely adapted from William Shakespeare's Othello...
(Jack Good’s rock-musical of Othello). She has worked consistently in theatre, radio, film and television.
West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
plays include The Female Odd Couple, Why Not Stay for Breakfast, The Male of the Species and the highly acclaimed one-woman play Our Kid (based on Myra Hindley).
Sue regularly appears in The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
and she is part of the cast of the touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners
Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners
Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners is an anthology-style play compiled and written by Carry On... writer Norman Hudis and producer Marc Sinden, who is also the director...
. She has toured the country in numerous plays and worked in several repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
companies. Much of Sue’s career has been spent doing 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...
plays, three of which (Relatively Speaking, Time and Time Again, and How The Other Half Loves) she toured with John Challis
John Challis
John Challis is an English actor.-Career:He is probably best known for his role as Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long running comedy show Only Fools and Horses, and its 2005 spin-off, The Green Green Grass....
, who, of course, plays Boycie
Boycie
Terrance Aubrey Boyce best known as Boycie is a fictional character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses played by John Challis. His story is continued in the spin off series The Green Green Grass, which began filming in June 2005, in which Boycie and family have fled from a gang of...
to Sue’s long-suffering wife, Marlene in Only Fools And Horses. The fourth series of their very successful spin-off The Green, Green Grass has just started airing on BBC1.
Sue has played the role of Annie in the 2011 UK Tour of Calendar Girls (April–August 2011)
Television roles include Marianne in The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and...
(two series), Liz in It Takes a Worried Man
It Takes a Worried Man
It Takes a Worried Man was a British TV sitcom. It was made by Thames Television and ran for three series, broadcast from October 1981 to November 1983. The first two series were broadcast on the ITV network, and the third and final series on Channel 4...
(two series), Jo in The Brief, Cleopatra IV in The Cleopatras
The Cleopatras
The Cleopatras is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1983.The eight-part serial was a historical drama set in ancient Egypt and charted the ruling dynasty of the Cleopatras...
, episodes of Minder, Bless This House, The New Avengers, Thriller, Sob Sisters, Growing Pains, Doctors, Murder in Suburbia. She played Rowan Atkinson’s
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
love interest, Lorraine, in Canned Laughter
Canned Laughter (sitcom)
Rowan Atkinson presents...Canned Laughter was a one-off ITV sitcom featuring Rowan Atkinson broadcast on 8 April 1979. Atkinson plays three roles; the nerdy Robert Box , his sinister boss Mr. Marshall, and would-be stand-up comic Dave Perry...
and did numerous impersonations in two series of End of Part One. She played Maggie in Dear John, by John Sullivan
John Sullivan
John Sullivan was the third son of Irish immigrants, a United States general in the Revolutionary War, a delegate in the Continental Congress and a United States federal judge....
, Joan Forrester in Heartbeat for YTV, as Joan Travis in Revelations, and as Rachel’s mum in Cold Feet, also for Granada.
Films include That’ll Be The Day, It Could Happen To You, and Lime Street with Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
. Sue also appeared in the low budget feature Meat Draw and Out of Sight for Granada.
Sue regularly appears in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
. and has appeared in productions across the UK.