Anne Reid, MBE, is a BAFTA Award-nominated English stage, film and
television actress from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, known for her
roles as Valerie Barlow in the television soap opera Coronation Street;
Jean in Dinnerladies; and Celia Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax.
Reid was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010
Birthday Honours. Early life
Reid was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, the daughter of Colin Norman Reid and
Annie Eliza Weetman/Reid. She lived with her parents and three older brothers in
Redcar where she attended John Emmerson Batty primary school and the White House
School. From the age of 11 she attended Penrhos College, a boarding school in
North Wales, when her father was posted abroad as a foreign correspondent for
the Daily Telegraph: she visited her parents occasionally in India, Tehran
and Beirut in the school holidays. Upon leaving school she moved to London to
attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She then became a stage manager and
worked in repertory theatre. Television
= Coronation Street= Reid's first major acting role was as
the character of Valerie Tatlock on Coronation Street. Her character was
very popular with the fans with Valerie's marriage to Ken Barlow being
an early example of a soap supercouple. Her character Valerie was the mother of
the twins Susan and Peter. Reid joined the cast, initially for two months,
starting in August 1961 and leaving in October. She returned to the programme
to marry Ken on 1 August 1962 in a wedding watched by 15.8 million viewers.
In 1965 Val and Ken had twins and Granada Television received numerous
gifts addressed to the couple as congratulations.
In 1968, Reid played one of the most difficult parts in Coronation Street,
when Val was held hostage by a rapist. Although Val was not harmed, viewers
sent in hate mail to the actor who played the rapist. In November 1970,
Reid announced she was leaving Coronation Street as she was then
pregnant with her son. In a 2011 interview with the Radio Times, Reid
said she'd had enough and wanted to do other things.
I was a basket case when I left! I'd already had too much of it. That kind of
work suits some people, but it didn't suit me. It was my decision to leave and
I was desperate, really desperate, to go. Because I knew I was good at comedy
and there was no way that Valerie Barlow was ever going to be funny.
On 27 January 1971, 18.26 million viewers watched as Valerie Barlow was
written out, dying after being electrocuted by a hairdryer with a
faulty plug. On 3 February 1971, the character's funeral was shown and 18.92
million people watched. = Later work=
Following a break from acting to bring up her son, Reid resumed her career on
stage and television in the 1980s. From 1998 to 2000, Reid played the major role
of Jean in the BBC comedy series Dinnerladies by Victoria Wood, and has
appeared in other television programmes including The Benny Hill Show, Hancock's
Half Hour, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Boon, Casualty and Hetty Wainthropp
Investigates. She also made an appearance in the Doctor Who serial The
Curse of Fenric which was broadcast in October 1989.
In 2003, Reid had a part in Midsomer Murders in the episode "A Tale of Two
Hamlets", and a main part in the comedy drama The Booze Cruise. She also had a
major role in the ITV drama series Life Begins, which ran from 2004 to 2006, in
which she appeared alongside Caroline Quentin and Frank Finlay. In 2005 she
had a supporting role in the BBC's adaptation of Bleak House and in 2006
made a brief appearance in Jane Eyre. On 31 March 2007, Reid appeared for a
second time in the series Doctor Who in the episode "Smith and Jones". In the
episode, she played Florence Finnegan: a shape-shifting, blood-sucking alien
known as a Plasmavore, who took on the guise of a human. That same year she
appeared in the ITV television adaptation of the novel The Bad Mother's
Handbook, co-starring alongside Catherine Tate.
In February 2008, Reid appeared as the mother of Monica Gallagher, Joan, who
was suffering from Alzheimer's in the Channel 4 drama Shameless. In October
2008, she played the title role in In Love with Barbara on BBC Four, a
biographical film of Barbara Cartland. In 2009 Reid appeared in the television
series Agatha Christie's Marple in the episode Nemesis. From 2009 to 2010 she
starred as Vera alongside Maureen Lipman as Irene in an ITV3 adaptation of the
BBC Radio 4 series Ladies of Letters. In 2010 she began playing Mrs Thackeray,
the cook, in the BBC's short-lived revival series of Upstairs Downstairs,
and also appeared in Five Days, New Tricks and Moving On. In 2011 Reid had a
major part in Marchlands, a five-part ITV supernatural drama, made a guest
appearance in Doc Martin and played a supporting role in The Jury II.
In 2012 Reid starred as Celia alongside Derek Jacobi as Alan in a six-part BBC
romantic comedy-drama series, Last Tango in Halifax. A second series was
broadcast in 2013 and a third series began in December 2014. Reid was
nominated for the 2013 British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for
this performance. In 2013 she appeared in the second
series of the BBC drama Prisoners' Wives. She also starred with Katherine
Kelly in The Last Witch, part of a series of original dramas for Sky Living
and appeared in the final Agatha Christie's Poirot mystery, Curtain.
In 2014, she guest-starred in "Sardines", the first episode of BBC
anthology series Inside No. 9. She also starred alongside Lee Ingleby and Ralf
Little in the six-part BBC drama series Our Zoo.
In September 2015 Reid took part in an episode of the BBC genealogy series Who
Do You Think You Are?. Film
In 1995, Reid was the voice of Wendolene Ramsbottom in the Wallace and Gromit
film A Close Shave. Her other film appearances include Love and Death on
Long Island and The Mother, the latter performance secured her a nomination for
the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2004.
She filmed a minor role as a lesbian headmistress in the 2003 film Love
Actually, but Reid is not credited in the cast list since all her scenes were
ultimately deleted because they were not central to the main plot. The scenes
can, however, be viewed in the deleted scenes on the Love Actually DVD. She
also appeared in the film Hot Fuzz in 2007. In 2010, she appeared with Ricky
Gervais in the film Cemetery Junction, which he wrote and directed with Stephen
Merchant. Reid co-starred with Vanessa Redgrave
and Terence Stamp in the film Song for Marion which was released in UK cinemas
in 2013. Theatre
In 2002 Reid appeared in the premiere of The York Realist at the Royal Court
Theatre, which later transferred to the West End.
From September 2005 to January 2006, she appeared on stage in the West End in
Epitaph for George Dillon, and in July 2006 starred in School Run, a short
series of plays on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
In June 2007 she played the role of Jack's mother in Stephen Sondheim's Into
the Woods at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
From January to May 2008 she appeared in the National Theatre's production of
Happy Now?, a new play by Lucinda Coxon. From March to May 2009 she appeared at
the Donmar Warehouse in Dimetos, a 1975 play by Athol Fugard.
Reid appeared at London's Old Vic from September to November 2012 in a
production of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, starring Sheridan Smith.
On 26 January 2015 Reid played Madame Armfeldt in a special concert version of
A Little Night Music at the Palace Theatre to celebrate 40 years since the
musical premiered in the West End. Selected film and television appearances
References External links
Anne Reid at the Internet Movie Database