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IMDbPro

Helen Cotterill

  • Actress
  • Writer
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Helen Cotterill has had a long acting career since the early 1960s with one of her first acting roles being in the H.V. Kershaw-produced series for Granada, The Villains in 1964. The year after, she appeared in The Brain Drain, the final episode of the first season of the Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression as Beryl, a vacuous shop assistant at Dobson and Hawkes who didn't even know the name of the then-Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. Twenty years later, she appeared in the video The Jubilee Years as Alice Hughes who had supposedly once lived at 13 Coronation Street before emigrating to Australia. It took until 2013 for her to appear in the parent programme as Margaret Cropper, Roy's stepmother. She appeared in the BBC soap The Newcomers in the late 1960s and also acted in popular dramas and comedies such as The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre, The Liver Birds, Love Thy Neighbour and had a regular role in the Thames Television comic-drama Born and Bred in 1980.

Her most recent credits include Casualty, Holby City and Doctors. Her extensive list of stage work includes three years with Sir Ian McKellen's Actors' Company on British, South American and Scandinavian tours and she is an accomplished watercolour painter and sells at exhibitions and by commission.
BornOctober 24, 1939
  • More at IMDbPro
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BornOctober 24, 1939
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Add photos, demo reels
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  • Known for

    Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, and Eddie Redmayne in Les Misérables (2012)
    Les Misérables
    7.5
    • Ensemble Factory Woman
    • 2012
    Born and Bred (1978)
    Born and Bred
    7.1
    TV Series
    • Shirley Tonsley
    Richard Beckinsale, Freddie Fletcher, Bernard Hepton, Arthur Lowe, Jack Rosenthal, and Paula Wilcox in ITV Playhouse (1967)
    ITV Playhouse
    7.0
    TV Series
    • Myfanwy Owen
    • Ann
    Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin, Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff Stewart, and Mark Wingett in The Bill (1984)
    The Bill
    6.7
    TV Series
    • Mrs. Ross
    • Janice Richards
    • Claire Dodds
    • Mrs. Duffy

    Credits

    Edit
    IMDbPro

    Actress



    • EastEnders (1985)
      EastEnders
      4.8
      TV Series
      • Miriam Crabbe
      • 2016
    • Holby City (1999)
      Holby City
      5.8
      TV Series
      • Sheila Hodgson
      • Alice Laventure
      • 2009–2014
    • Edge of Heaven (2014)
      Edge of Heaven
      5.8
      TV Series
      • Rita
      • 2014
    • Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Luca Pasqualino, and Howard Charles in The Musketeers (2014)
      The Musketeers
      7.8
      TV Series
      • Drunk Woman
      • 2014
    • Peter Adamson, Jean Alexander, Johnny Briggs, Margot Bryant, and Doris Speed in Coronation Street (1960)
      Coronation Street
      5.6
      TV Series
      • Margaret Cropper
      • 2013
    • June Brown in EastEnders: Dorothy Branning - The Next Chapter (2013)
      EastEnders: Dorothy Branning - The Next Chapter
      7.5
      TV Movie
      • Maude
      • 2013
    • Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, and Eddie Redmayne in Les Misérables (2012)
      Les Misérables
      7.5
      • Ensemble Factory Woman
      • 2012
    • Doctors (2000)
      Doctors
      4.5
      TV Series
      • Rose Williams
      • Dolly Turpin
      • Kestrel
      • 2005–2012
    • Danny Dyer, Denise Van Outen, and Sarah Harding in Run for Your Wife (2012)
      Run for Your Wife
      2.7
      • 2012
    • After You've Gone (2007)
      After You've Gone
      6.7
      TV Series
      • Patty
      • 2008
    • Casualty (1986)
      Casualty
      6.1
      TV Series
      • Felicity Stopes
      • 2006
    • Martin Kemp and Harley Cuthbert in Can't Buy Me Love (2004)
      Can't Buy Me Love
      7.6
      TV Movie
      • Aunty Vi
      • 2004
    • Nick Berry in Heartbeat (1992)
      Heartbeat
      6.9
      TV Series
      • Betty Kirk
      • 1999–2000
    • dinnerladies (1998)
      dinnerladies
      7.8
      TV Series
      • Betty
      • 1999
    • Peak Practice (1993)
      Peak Practice
      6.5
      TV Series
      • Sonia
      • 1999

    Writer



    • Spitting Image (1984)
      Spitting Image
      7.4
      TV Series
      • additional material (as Helen Coterill)
      • 1986

    Producer



    • Lay Me Down (2014)
      Lay Me Down
      5.5
      Short
      • executive producer
      • 2014

    Personal details

    Edit
    • Alternative name
      • Helen Coterill
    • Height
      • 5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
    • Born
      • October 24, 1939
      • Wimbledon, Surrey, England, UK
    • Spouse
      • Michael FolkesMarch 1984 - present
    • Other works
      She acted in J.M. Barrie's play, "Dear Brutus," was performed at the Oxford Playhouse in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England with Gwen Nelson, Barbara Jefford, Sheila Ballantine, George Selway, Richard Goolden, Donald Layne-Smith, Philip Voss, and John Turner in the cast. Edgar Wreford was director.

    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      She is also a singer.

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