Helen Baxendale

Helen Victoria Baxendale (born 7 June 1970) is an English actress of stage and television, known for her roles as Rachel in the British comedy-drama Cold Feet (1997–2003), and Emily in the American sitcom Friends (1997–1998) and most recently Mary Charteris in the British docudrama "the Crown".

Helen Baxendale
Baxendale in 2009
Born	Helen Victoria Baxendale 7 June 1970 Pontefract, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actress, film producer
Years active	1991–present
Partner(s)	David L. Williams
Children	3, including Nell Williams

Baxendale's early stage credits include The Soldiers at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre, which earned her a 1993 Ian Charleson Award nomination. Her other television credits include Cardiac Arrest (1994–1996), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1997–1999), Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (2001), Cuckoo (2012–2019), and Noughts + Crosses (2020).

Early life

Baxendale was born on 7 June 1970 in Pontefract,[1] West Riding of Yorkshire.[2][3] Her sister is the screenwriter Katie Baxendale.

She grew up in Shenstone, Staffordshire and attended King Edward VI School, Lichfield. She wanted to be a ballet dancer when she was younger. She trained at the Elmhurst School for Dance but dropped out at 17 in favour of an acting career. She moved to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and then worked at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre from 1992–1995.

Career

Television

Via her work at Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, she was cast in hospital TV series Cardiac Arrest, though it was not her first television role. Her performance as Dr Claire Maitland earned her a Scottish BAFTA nomination in 1995.

She was one of the stars of the popular TV series Cold Feet, playing Rachel Bradley, a role which garnered her a British Comedy Award nomination in 1997 in the pilot episode. She also starred in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, playing Cordelia Gray, and made notable recurring appearances on the American series Friends as Ross Geller's girlfriend, wife and finally ex-wife Emily Waltham, which gave her wide exposure on American network television. Other notable roles include Lorna Johnson in Truth or Dare (in which John Hannah also starred), Caroline Meagher in The Investigator (alongside Laura Fraser), and Julie Matthews in Curt Truninger's Dead by Monday.

She was nominated for another Scottish BAFTA in 1997 for her role as Lorna Johnson. Dead by Monday won the Angel Award for Best Film at the Monaco International Film Festival in 2003 and the Portland Festival of World Cinema award for best feature film in 2001.

She played Pandora Braithwaite in Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years in 2001 and "Maggie" in the multiple award-winning Bolse Vita. She also appeared in Saving Nellie, a physics programme running on Teachers TV. In 2007 to January 2008 she starred in Swimming with Sharks alongside Christian Slater at London's Vaudeville Theatre.[2] In 2008 and 2009 she has also appeared in several TV adverts for Morrisons, a British supermarket chain.[4]

In January 2011, she co-starred with Trevor Eve in the three-part ITV drama Kidnap and Ransom, filmed on location in South Africa.[5] Later in the same year, she starred as DCI Marion Bettany in Val McDermid's radio crime drama Village SOS.[6]

In 2010 Helen Baxendale appeared in the pilot episode of Dirk Gently as Susan Harmison. In 2012 she reprised her role in the second episode of the commissioned first and only series. She then appeared in the Inspector George Gently episode "The Lost Child" alongside Mark Gatiss.

From 2012 to 2019 she starred in Cuckoo as Lorna, the mother in-law of the titular Dale 'Cuckoo' Ashbrick. Then in 2020 she played housekeeper Meggie McGregor in Noughts + Crosses.

Stage

On-stage, Baxendale starred as Christine in Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, and in 2005 appeared as Romy, the eponymous title role in The Woman Before at the Royal Court alongside Nigel Lindsay, Saskia Reeves, Tom Riley and Georgia Taylor but has also played various roles including that of Ophelia in Hamlet (the Marovitz Hamlet) along with Henry Ian Cusick. For her 1993 performance in Soldiers at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, she was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award (best classical actor under 30).[7] In 2009 Baxendale played Lara in Amongst Friends alongside Aden Gillett and Emma Cunniffe at Hampstead Theatre.[8]

Personal life

Baxendale has been with her boyfriend David L. Williams since her Glasgow days and together they have three children,[9] Her first pregnancy was written into An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and her second was written into the fourth series of Cold Feet.[9]

Her first pregnancy (coupled with the fact that her country of residence was the UK, rather than the USA) meant that her character was written out of Friends earlier than the writers had originally intended. Baxendale appeared in only 14 episodes, despite her character dating, marrying, and then divorcing Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), one of the show's main characters.[9][10]

Filmography

Film & television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Marshal	Anita	Television film
	Euphoric Scale		Short film
	The Good Guys	Miss Lomax	Episode: "All for Love"
	Casualty	Emma	Episode: "Give Us This Day"
1994–1996	Cardiac Arrest	Dr. Claire Maitland	1994–1996; 27 episodes — Nominated: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actress in Television (1995)
1994	Love's Lost Hour	Hilary	Short film
1995	Dangerfield	Tara 'Crystal' Jackson	Episode: "The Call Girl"
1996	Crossing the Floor	Ruth Clarke	Television film
	Truth or Dare	Lorna Johnston	Television film — Nominated: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actress in Television (1997)
	In Suspicious Circumstances	Queen Elizabeth I	Episode: "An Evil Business"
	Bolse vita	Maggie
1997–2001	An Unsuitable Job for a Woman	Cordelia Gray	10 episodes
1997–2003	Cold Feet	Rachel Bradley	1997 (pilot), 1998–2003 (series); 32 episodes Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress — Nominated: British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress (1997)
1997	The Investigator	Sgt. Caroline Meagher	Television film
	I'd Like a Word With You	Joan	Direct-to-video
	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth
1997–1998	Friends	Emily Waltham	recurring; 14 episodes
2000	The Servant Girl		Television film
	Ordinary Decent Criminal	Lisa
	Tales from the Madhouse	The Servant Girl	Television mini-series; episode: "The Servant Girl"
2001	Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years	Pandora Braithwaite	6 episodes
	Dead by Monday	Julie Matthews
2002	Flyfishing	Sam
	Lost in the Snow	Lily	Animated film
2003	Skagerrak	Stella
	Murder in Mind	Helen Robbins	Episode: "Justice"
2006	The Only Boy for Me	Annie	Television film
2007	Dead Clever	Sarah
2008	Agatha Christie's Marple	Mary Dove	Episode: "A Pocket Full of Rye"
2009	Lewis	Caroline	Episode: "Counter Culture Blues"
2010	Dirk Gently	Susan Harmison	2010–2012; 2 episodes
	Beyond the Pole	Becky
	Big Mouth	Mum	Short film
	The Rendezvous		Voice
2011	Kidnap and Ransom	Angela Beddoes	2011–2012; television mini-series; 6 episodes
	Anonymous	Anne de Vere
2012	Inspector George Gently	Frances Groves	Episode: "The Lost Child"
2012–2019	Cuckoo	Lorna Thompson	33 episodes
2013	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Elizabeth Cole	Episode: "Curtain"
2014	Death In Paradise	Sasha Moore	1 episode series 3
	The Secrets		1 episode
2016	Midsomer Murders	Rose Lancaster	1 episode series 18
2020	Noughts + Crosses	Meggie McGregor[11]

References

1. Edmonds, Mark (30 September 2012). "Helen Baxendale, actress". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
2. Jarvis, Alica-Azania (10 November 2007). "The 5-minute interview: Helen Baxendale". The Independent. Retrieved 26 May 2018. A common misperception of me is...that my birthday is on Valentine's Day. It's on 7 June.
3. Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005. Volume 2d, page 1778.
4. Better than Half Price British Strawberries at Morrisons Advert, Ad – Morrisons – Video Clip
5. Deans, James (8 February 2010). "Trevor Eve to star in ITV1 thriller". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
6. BBC Press Office (4 August 2011). "Network Woman's Hour Drama – Village SOS". Press release. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
7. Fowler, Rebecca. "Triumphant first acts". Sunday Times. 13 March 1994.
8. Gardner, Lyn (28 May 2009). "Amongst Friends". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
9. Laws, Roz (13 April 2009) including actress Nell Williams. "Helen Baxendale gets the balance right after Cold Feet and Friends". Birmingham Post (Trinity Mirror Midlands). Retrieved 26 May 2018.
10. Bright, Kevin S.; Marta Kauffman; David Crane. (2004). Friends: The Complete Fourth Season DVD audio commentary for "The One with Ross's Wedding". [DVD]. Warner Home Video.
11. "Meet the cast of BBC One's Noughts and Crosses". Radio Times.

External links

• Helen Baxendale at IMDb