Raised in Maidstone before moving to Kilburn, she earned a first-class degree in Drama and Theatre Arts from the University of Birmingham and, after brief stints in family-planning work and secretarial training, began a long-running radio role as Debbie Aldridge in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers. Television breakthroughs followed, notably as the quirky shop-owner Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books and th…
