Ruth Gemmell is an English actress. Early life
Ruth Gemmell was born in Darlington, County Durham, England. She has three
brothers. She attended an all-girls' school in Darlington called Polam Hall
School. Her parents divorced when she was a child and she moved with her
mother to Darlington from Barnard Castle. Later she moved to London, to
live with her father, to pursue her acting dream. She states; "I moved to
London because I assumed you had to go to drama school there...I didn't know
any better. Having not lived with my dad before I thought it was an ideal
opportunity, which is crazy now!" She trained at the Webber Douglas
Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Career
Gemmell has played a variety of roles mainly in theatres plus TV dramas. She
played the leading female role in the 1997 film Fever Pitch starring opposite
Colin Firth and had another leading role in the comedy/drama January 2nd.
In 2004 she starred in Tracy Beaker's Movie of Me as the mother of the title
character, who abandoned her when she was a baby, leading her to spend life in
a children's home. From January 2009 she became a recurring
character in EastEnders as Debra Dean, the mother of a teenage girl who,
identically to her role in Tracy Beaker's Movie of Me, abandoned her
daughter when she was an infant. In August 2009, she starred as Rebecca
Sands in two episodes of The Bill. Ruth has appeared three times in the
BBC's police drama Waking the Dead, playing two different characters. Her
first appearance was in 2002 in the episode Special Relationships as DI Jess
Worral, a former lover of DSI Boyd. She next appeared in the episode Sins of
seventh season in 2008 as Linda Cummings, an exceptionally intelligent
serial killer. Gemmell reprised the role of Cummings in Endgame, the fourth
episode of the eighth season of the show. The storyline had Cummings
manipulating Boyd and revealed that Cummings' accomplice was responsible for
the drugs overdose that killed Boyd's son Luke. The role reprisal of Cummings
is a first in the show's history. Gemmell's ex-husband Ray Stevenson has
also appeared in the show as consultant child abductor in the episode Fugue
State. Ruth starred in Episode 8 of Jimmy
McGovern's BBC drama Moving On playing the role of Joanne, in November 2010.
In November 2011, Ruth played Lady Shonagon in the adaptation for BBC Radio
4 Woman's Hour of "The Pillow Book", by Robert Forrest. She appeared as Jen, the
wife of an adulterous civil servant, in Channel 4 drama Utopia, in early 2013.
= Television work= Band of Gold
The Bill Silent Witness
Dalziel and Pascoe: "For Love Nor Money" Waking the Dead: "Special Relationships"
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries episode 2.1 "Playing for the Ashes"
Spooks "Without Incident" / "President's Visit"
Tracy Beaker's Movie of Me Midsomer Murders episode 9.1 "The House
in the Woods" A Touch of Frost
Summerhill Waking the Dead: "Sins", "Skin"
EastEnders Primeval
Lewis: "Your Sudden Death Question" Casualty: "No Place Like Home"
Moving On: "Losing My Religion" Inside Men:
Utopia: Holby City: "Only Human"
Silent Witness: "Undertone" Father Brown Martha Quinton "The wrong
shape" Inspector George Gently "Irene Seddon"
Casualty: "Deadfall" Midsomer Murders episode 17.4 "A Vintage
Murder" Home Fires as Sarah Collingborne
= Film work= Fever Pitch
January 2nd [1] Good
Offender = Theatre work=
Betrayal The Weir
Nabokov's Gloves The Turn of the Screw
Othello Measure for Measure
Uncle Vanya An Ideal Husband
The Winter's Tale The Second Mrs Tanqueray
The Importance of Being Earnest A Tale of Two Cities
Death and the Maiden Coram Boy
She performed in Macbeth and King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company in
2004/2005. = Radio work=
Personal life Gemmell was married in Westminster,
London, in 1997 to actor Ray Stevenson, whom she met in 1995 during the filming
of TV drama Band of Gold. The couple divorced in 2005.
References External links
Ruth Gemmell at the Internet Movie Database
Interview with Ruth Gemmell