Annette Badland

After drama school, Badland joined Ian McKellen's Actors' Company at the Cambridge Arts Theatre; her first professional productions were in director Noel Willman's Three Arrows (by Iris Murdoch) and Richard Cottrell's Ruling the Roost (Georges Feydeau) in October 1972.[6][7][8][9] After pantomime (Toad of Toad Hall at the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster),[10] at the end of that year she moved on to the 1973 season with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford.[11] Her Audrey in As You Like It was considered an auspicious debut in a leading company.[2][12][13]

Badland joined the cast of Jim Cartwright's play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, which centres on a shy young woman from Lancashire who expresses herself through song, at the Aldwych Theatre from October 1992 through February 1993.[14] In 1994, she starred in Tony Kushner's post-communist tragic comedy Slavs!, which explored the repercussions of the post Soviet era.[15]

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, a play adapted from Muriel Sparks' novel about an otherwise inspirational teacher who transpires to have an unhealthy admiration for fascist leaders, saw Badland as headmistress Miss Mackay on London's West End in 1998.[16] She went on to perform opposite Jude Law in both David Lan's 1999 production of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and his 2002 production of Doctor Faustus at the Young Vic Theatre in London.[17][18]

In 2006, Badland worked with The Peter Hall Company on two productions at the Theatre Royal in Bath, England. The first was Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a drama centring on protagonist Isabella's moral dilemma of whether or not to sacrifice her virginity to save her brother.[19][20] Second was writer Alan Bennett's ensemble piece Habeas Corpus, a farce penned in 1971 and set to modern music of that time.[21][22] She went on to work with Hall again in 2007 in a production of Noël Coward's The Vortex at London's Apollo Theatre.[23]

During the Tiata Delights Festival in 2009, Badland performed in Zimbabwean playwright Michael Bhim's The Golden Hour, a thriller set in a London hospital where the main character encounters a baby he thinks has been brought to the country illegally.[24] That same year she participated in Hampstead Theatre's (London) fiftieth anniversary season by starring in Michael Frayn's play Alphabetical Order, which is set in a provincial newspaper library.[25][26] Finishing out 2009, Badland featured as psychic medium Madame Arcat in Noël Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England.[27][28]

With a cast consisting mostly of child actors, Badland starred as the headmistress in 2010's Royal Court Theatre production of Kin, a disturbing play detailing the lives of young girls at boarding school.[29] From there she went on to star in Far Away, Caryl Churchill's dystopian drama where the future is war, at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre.[30]

In 2018, Badland signed on to work with The Globe Theatre in London in their production of Blanche McIntyre's The Winter's Tale, which was broadcast live to theatres in October of that year, and Matt Hartley's Eyam, based upon the true story of a Derbyshire village that voluntarily quarantined themselves during an outbreak of the Black Plague.[31][32][33] During the first quarter of 2019, Badland starred in two separate productions, featuring the same cast, at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London. The first was Edward II, where she portrayed Mortimer, and the second was After Edward, a response to Marlowe's Edward II, where she portrayed Gertrude Stein.[34]

In September 2019, Badland was made a patron of The Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham. The theatre dedicated a seat in her honour that reads "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it".[35]

In March 2020 she appeared in Our Lady of Blundellsands, a new play written by Jonathan Harvey as one of the two sisters in the dysfunctional Domingo family.[36]

In September 2021, she was the sole performer in a special event held on the Golden Hind in Brixham Harbour to mark the 131st anniversary of the birth of the crime writer Agatha Christie: fittingly, specific details of the event were not publicised in advance and the audience of 30 was sworn to secrecy.

Badland's first professional television role was for Thames Television in 1975's feature length biopic The Naked Civil Servant, where she portrayed the tap-dancing pupil.[37] Between 1978 and 1980, she was featured in a series one episode of BBC Two's The Devil's Crown, an episode of Southern Television’s Spearhead, ATV's long running serial Crossroads, made-for-TV film Flat Bust, BBC One's Shoestring, and Thames Television's The Dick Emery Hour.[38][39][40][41][42][43] From there she secured a recurring role as Charlotte in BBC's crime drama Bergerac (1981–84), a four-episode stint in Thames Television's Bognor, BBC's mini-series Great Expectations, and several episodes of BBC Two's comedy The Last Song.[44][45][46][47]

1982 saw Badland appear in several guest-starring roles in episodic television. ITV's crime drama The Gentle Touch, a police drama set in 1980's Britain, featured her in the series three episode "Solution".[48] She also guest-starred as a nurse in both BBC's period drama Nanny and Thames Television's crime series Minder.[46] In February 1983 she starred as Vera in PBS's comedic mini-series Pictures, set during the era of silent films, which was broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre.[46] Later that year, Badland guest-starred on an episode of BBC Two's satirical mini-series The Old Men At The Zoo, which was based upon Angus Wilson's dystopian novel of the same name.[49][50] ABC's drama Lace, originally aired in 1984, featured Badland alongside Angela Lansbury and Phoebe Cates.[51] She would reprise her role as Piggy Fassbinder in the 1985 made for TV sequel Lace II.[46] Between those appearances, Badland would feature in Channel 4's made for film TV film Last Day of Summer, BBC's Two-part mini-series Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: "A Pocket Full of Rye" as Gladys Martin, BBC's made-for-TV film Newstime as Doreen, Channel 4's TV film Sacred Hearts as Sister Mercy and an episode of ITV's children's anthology series Dramarama.[52][53][54][55][56]

From 1985 to 1986, Badland starred as Christine in ITV's sitcom Troubles and Strife, which revolved around the effect a new young vicar had on the town's women.[57] She went on, the next year, to co-star in the PBS mini-series A Little Princess, based upon Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's novel (1905) and a series one episode of the BBC's sitcom You Must Be the Husband.[58][59] Badland was a regular guest in series one of ITV/Channel 4's comedy sketch series Hale & Pace in 1988 before a turn in a series four episode ("Chinese Whispers", 1989) of BBC's anthology series Screenplay.[60][61][62] Following that, she appeared in "The Rough and The Smooth", an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, an episode of BBC's medical drama Casualty, and CBS's made-for-TV film The Pied Piper, alongside Peter O'Toole.[63][64] From 1990 to 1991, Badland featured as multiple characters in BBC One's children's series Happy Families, which was based upon a set of books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.[65][66]

Badland guest-starred in a four-episode stint on BBC's Manchester based comedy Making Out early in 1991 and three episodes of the BBC One children's programme Archer's Goon in 1992.[67][68][69] She also featured in two separate episodes, one in 1991 and one in 1993, of the family sitcom 2point4 Children.[70][71] Returning to BBC's medical drama Casualty for a second time, Badland featured in 1993's series 8 episode "Born Loser".[72] She also appeared in director Andy Wilson's mini-series The Mushroom Picker and director Carol Wiseman's mini-series Goggle Eyes.[73][74] Between 1993 and 1995, Badland starred as the nurse in BBC's comedy, Inside Victor Lewis-Smith, which was presented as a look into comic and journalist Lewis-Smith's mind while he was in a coma.[46] During that time, she had guest-starring roles on several television programs, including the BBC drama Smokescreen, comedy Love Hurts with Zoë Wanamaker, Frank Stubbs Promotes with Timothy Spall, Channel 4's comedy Blue Heaven, and children's program Mike & Angelo.[46][75][76][77]

In 1995, Badland was featured in three episodes of BBC's BAFTA nominated children's program Jackanory, which featured celebrities reading bedtime stories for younger audiences.[78][79] From there, she guest-starred on a series one episode of Stewart Lee and Richard Herring's comedy sketch showcase Fist of Fun and a series three episode of the British Comedy Award winning show Outside Edge.[80][81][82] Between 1995 and 1996, Badland starred as Dolly Buckle in the BBC's drama Black Hearts in Battersea, an adaptation of Joel Aiken's novel of the same name.[83] During that time she also featured in NBC's two part mini-series Gulliver's Travels, BBC's children's series The Demon Headmaster, and director Martyn Friend's made-for-TV movie Cuts.[84][85][86]

BBC's gritty crime mini-series Holding On (1997), set in London and following a series of unconnected characters, featured Badland as Brenda in four of the eight episodes.[87] Between 1997 and 1998 she guest-starred in the BBC One children's comedy Mr Wymi, which focused on a young boy who builds a robot butler for his family, and ITV's children's program The Worst Witch.[88][89][90] In 1999, Badland guest-starred for the fourth time on ITV's long-running police procedural The Bill. She appeared in a series seven episode entitled "Vital Statistics" (1991), a series eleven episode entitled "Off Limits" (1995), a series fourteen episode entitled "The Fat Lady Sings" (1998), and a series fifteen episode entitled "Look Again" (1999).[91][92][93][94] That same year, Badland guest-starred on the series two premiere of BBC's medical drama Holby City, TNT's made-for-TV movie A Christmas Carol opposite Patrick Stewart, and ITV's Alan Bleasdale penned mini-series Oliver Twist.[95][96][97] In three episodes broadcast between 1999 and 2000, Badland portrayed Aunt Glenda in BBC's dramatic comedy series Microsoap.[98] She also featured in her first episode of BBC's medical drama Doctors in the series one episode "A Woman's Right to Choose".[99]

Children's series The Queen's Nose, originally broadcast on CBBC, saw Badland in the role of Mrs. Dooley in series four and five (2000/2001).[100][101] She went on to star in the made-for-TV film The Gentleman Thief and feature in Hallmark's two-part-mini series The Lost Empire (aka The Monkey King).[102][103] Her next television role, in 2002, was a guest spot on BBC's family drama Born and Bred.[104] Badland followed this appearance with two made for television movies. First was The Mayor of Casterbridge, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel, and the second was Indian Dream for BBC Two.[105][106] Between 2002 and 2005, Badland co-starred in BBC's Cutting It, a drama series set in a Manchester, England hair salon.[107] Badland was once again showcased in an Agatha Christie's adaptation in 2003, this time portraying Mrs. Spriggs in the episode "Five Little Pigs" in the series nine premiere of ITV's Poirot.[108] Following that role, she featured in her second episode of BBC's Doctors in the series six episode "An Inspector Called".[109] 2005 saw Badland featured in a variety of television mediums. She began the year by portraying Einstein's nurse in an episode of BBC Two's documentary series Horizon entitled "Einstein's Unfinished Symphony".[110] From there she returned to serialised television in a four-episode stint on long-running soap opera Coronation Street, a two-episode guest-starring role on BBC's court drama Judge John Deed, and an episode of BBC Three's dark comedy Twisted Tales.[111][112][113][114] In a crossover episode of medical dramas Holby City and Casualty, where fans decided the fate of certain characters, Badland guest-starred as Wendy Wincott.[115] She also portrayed the recurring villain Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen a.k.a. "Margaret Blaine" in the 2005 series of Doctor Who and provided commentary on the Doctor Who Complete Series One Box Set for the episodes "World War Three" and "Boom Town".[116][117]

Portraying Angela Robbins, a disturbed inmate who suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, Badland appeared at Larkhall Prison in 2006 in an episode of the eighth series of ITV One's drama Bad Girls.[118][119] The next year she starred in Hat Trick Productions' made for TV Film Miss Mary Lloyd and featured in her third role on BBC's Doctors in the series nine episode entitled "Background Noise".[120][121] Badland then featured in the series two premier of ITV's comedy Kingdom (2008), opposite Stephen Fry, Channel 4's Coming Up, opposite Imelda Staunton, and made-for-TV film Summerhill.[122][123][124] She also portrayed the sharply conservative Ethel Tonks in BBC's All the Small Things (April/May 2009) alongside Sarah Lancashire, Neil Pearson, Sarah Alexander and Bryan Dick.[125] BBC Three's mini-series Personal Affairs, a candid look at office life among up and coming women, featured Badland as Mahiri Crawford, and the made-for-TV film Whatever It Takes saw her portray the role of Connie.[126][127] Then, in a third appearance on BBC's medical drama Casualty, she guest-starred in the series twenty-four episode entitled "Every Breath you Take" (2009).[128]

Annette Badland answering questions during a group panel at the Sasnak City Outlander convention on 17 November 2018.

In 2010 Badland featured in her fourth stint on BBC's Doctors in the series twelve episode "Love Thy Neighbour" and the pilot episode of Sky One's Little Crackers, a series of autobiographical shorts written by and starring some of Britain's top comedians.[129][130] The next year she featured in an episode of BBC's WWI drama Land Girls, which focused on the lives of several women in Britain's Women's Land Army, a second episode of Little Crackers based upon Sheridan Smith's life experiences, and an episode of BBC Two's documentary series The Faces of... focusing on the career of Michael Caine.[131][132][133] From 2011 to 2015 on The Sparticle Mystery, Badland appeared in four episodes as DoomsDay Dora and eight episodes as HoloDora.[134][135] 2012 saw her appear in several episodic series, including Channel 4's cult-hit Skins, her fifth and final episode of BBC's Doctors, and her fourth and final episode of BBC's Casualty.[136][137][138] Badland also appeared as Ursula, from 2012 to 2014, in the CBBC science fiction series, Wizards vs Aliens.[139]

Award-winning web series 3some featured Badland as one of the main character's mother in 2013.[140] She went on to star in an episode of Sky One's Playhouse Presents entitled "Snodgrass", which imagined what would have happened if John Lennon had left The Beatles prior to becoming famous.[141] She rounded out 2013 by featuring in an episode of comedy series You, Me & Them and several episodes of Channel 4's sitcom Man Down.[142][143] On 12 December 2013, it was announced that Badland would appear as a regular in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, playing Babe Smith. She made her first on-screen appearance in the episode broadcast on 31 January 2014.[144] In 2016 it was announced, by new executive producer Sean O'Connor, that Badland's character would be leaving the serial and making her final appearance on 9 February 2017.[145]

Beginning in 2014, Badland portrayed the featured recurring role of Mrs. Fitzgibbons in Starz's television adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's best selling Scottish time travel novel Outlander.[146] That same year she featured in an episode of BBC's mystery series Father Brown "The Daughters of Jerusalem" as Judith Bunyon, before a turn as her EastEnders character Aunt Babe in the made for TV Film Neighbours 30th Anniversary Tribute: Ramsey Square.[147][148]

In May 2018, Badland reached the final of BBC's charity series Pointless Celebrity with Midsomer Murders' Neil Dudgeon, eventually donating £500 to the Midland Langar Seva Society.[149] 2018 also saw Badland in several episodic television roles such as BBC One's sitcom Not Going Out, ITV Two's Roman sitcom Plebs, CBBC's children's series The Dumping Ground, BBC One's comedy Hold the Sunset, and Sky One's mystery series Agatha Raisin.[150][151][152][153][154] "The Fairies of Fryfam" as Betty Jackson. In 2019 she guest-starred on BBC's dramatic daytime comedy Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators[155] "Nothing Will Come of Nothing" as Ms Rose King. Beginning in series twenty (2019) of ITV's long-running crime drama Midsomer Murders, she has portrayed Dr. Fleur Perkins, Midsomer's resident pathologist.[156]

Badland's first film role was Terry Gilliam's 1977 film Jabberwocky, based upon Lewis Carroll's epic poem, alongside Michael Palin and Harry H. Corbett.[157] She would not return to film again until 1986's independent feature Knights & Emeralds, which explored the consequences of a white drummer joining a mostly black marching band.[158] From there she landed roles in director Jonnie Turpie's film Out of Order (1987) and director Chris Newby's Anchoress.[159][160]

Writer John Brosnan's horror film Beyond Bedlam (1994) and director Angela Pope's drama Captives, which focused on a prison dentist's illicit affair with an inmate, both featured Badland in 1994.[161][162] Her next film was director Paul Unwin's Oscar nominated short Syrup.[163][164] She went on to Xingu Film's comedyThe Grotesque (1995, aka Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets), director Philip Haas' drama Angels & Insects, director Angela Pope's drama Hollow Reed, and director Shane Meadows sports drama TwentyFourSeven.[165][166][167][168] In 1998, Badland co-starred in the SAG nominated drama Little Voice (1998) as the friend of Little Voice's mother Mari (Brenda Blethyn).[169][170] The next year she starred in director Rachel Mathews' short film Mrs. Buchan, a black comedy exploring religious conviction, director Mark Greenstreet's romantic comedy Caught In the Act, and Tall Stories' dramatic comedy Beautiful People, which centres on the conflict between two Bosnian refugees in London.[171][172][173]

2000 saw Badland in two feature films, the first was director David A Stewart's drama Honest, a black comedy set in London of the late 1960s alongside Peter Facinelli, and the second was Focus Films' Secret Society, a comedy where several women working factory jobs by day are secretly sumo wrestling by night.[174][175] Between 2001 and 2004, Badlland had roles in the comedy Redemption Road, dramatic comedy Club Le Monde, dramatic comedy Mrs. Caldicot's Cabbage War, director Joe Perino's A Village Tale, director Sonja Phillips' directing debut The Knickerman, and Caspian Productions' short film The Tale of Tarquin Slant.[46][176][177][178][179] In 2005, Badland lent her voice to the Walt Disney's animated feature Valiant, about a WWI carrier pigeon who joins the Royal Homing Pigeon Corps, alongside Ewan McGregor and Tim Curry.[180] She went on to feature in Tim Burton's fill-length film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), thriller The Kovak Box (2006), and the drama Almost Adult (2006).[181][182][183]

The Baker, a comedy from director Gareth Lewis about a hit man seeking refuge from his career, saw Badland feature as Martha Edwards early in 2007.[184] From there she went on to star in director Nic Cornwall's short film Mr Thornton's Change of Heart, feature in the comedy Three and Out opposite Colm Meaney, and appear in the thriller Legacy: Black Ops opposite Idris Elba.[185][186][187] In 2009, Badland signed on for a role in Jam, the first short film from three eighteen year old filmmakers, which was financed through crowdfunding after attracting the attention of the public and celebrities.[188] Continuing with short films, she starred in the Oscar nominated Wish 143, the story of a young man trying to live life before succumbing to cancer, from director Ian Barnes.[189][190] 2012 saw Badland featured in Mother's Milk, a drama based upon Edward St. Aubyn's novel of the same name, before returning to short films for 2013's The Girl In A Bubble and 2014's A Quiet Courage.[191][192][193]

In 2017, Badland featured in two separate biopics. The first was the biographical drama A Quiet Passion, directed by Terence Davies and starring Cynthia Nixon, which chronicled the life of poet Emily Dickinson.[194] Second was the biographical dramatic comedy The Man Who Invented Christmas, directed by Baharat Nalluri and starring Dan Stevens, which explored author Charles Dickens' journey to overcome writer's block and produce the novella A Christmas Carol.[195] In 2018, Badland starred in writer/director Callum Crawford's debut film, Degenerates, a film which centres on a writer who, unable to sell his screenplay ideas, sets out to create his own.[196][197]

Badland began her radio career in 1992 with a role in David Halliwell's comedy Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs for BBC Radio 3.[198] In 1994, she was cast as the lead role of DI Gwen Danbury on BBC Radio 4 Extra's crime drama An Odd Body, a role she would portray for three series.[199] From 2000 to 2003, Badland was a regular on BBC Radio 4 Extra's comedy Smelling of Roses before being cast in the six-part BBC Radio 4 radio drama Rolling Home, which centred on a group of people living in caravans (aka mobile homes/campers).[200][201][202][203] In 2004, Badland starred in BBC Radio 4's play The Pool, which focuses on a Londoner's adventures while stuck in Liverpool for the day, opposite Peter Wright, The Diary of a Nobody opposite Stephen Tompkinson, and Bumps and Bruises, which focuses on an unqualified woman attempting to run an antenatal (prenatal) class opposite Penelope Wilton.[204][205][206][207] Richard Monk's Church, broadcast in February 2005 and starring Badland alongside Andrew Garfield, tells the story of sex and religion through the eyes of two different men.[202] She then took over the role of Hazel Woolley, the "bad seed" adopted daughter of Jack Woolley in the long-running radio soap opera The Archers, featured in the radio adaptation of an adaptation of George MacDonald's children's novel At the Back of the North Wind, and starred as Mrs. Yeobright in BBC Radio 4 Extra's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native.[208][209][210]

In 2006 Badland starred in BBC Radio 4's River's Up alongside Peter Corey.[211] The next year she featured in Jonathan Myerson's six-part radio dramatization of Boris Pasternak's epic story Dr. Zhivago.[212] From there, Badland featured as Tilly Carbury in BBC Radio 4's 15 Minute Drama The Way We Live Right Now (2008), an adaptation of Anthony Trollope's satirical novel, and served as a narrator for Heather Couper's Cosmic Quest, an educational history of astronomy.[213][214] Yerma, a poetic play touching on the themes of love, infertility, and isolation by Spanish author Frederico Garcia Lorca, saw Badland star alongside Emma Cunniffe and Concrad Nelson in 2010 on BBC Radio 3.[215][216] That same year, she appeared in several episodes of BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please, where poems of various themes are chosen by listeners, and Chris Wilson's play Lump-Boy Logan, which focused on a boy with acne, for BBC Radio 3.[217][218][219] BBC Radio 4 Extra's show Poetry Extra featured Badland in an episode showcasing the work of poet Molly Holden later that year.[220] She later guest-starred in an episode of Sebastian Baczkiewicz's dark fantasy-adventure radio program Pilgrim (2013), a series of tales that followed the adventures of main character and immortal being William Palmer.[221] In the two-part radio serial The Aeneid (2013), writer Hattie Naylor's adaptation of the epic poem by Virgil, saw Badland in the role of Roman Goddess Venus on BBC Radio 4.[222] Doing Time: The Last Ballad of Reading Gaol, based upon the poem by Oscar Wilde and showcasing odd historical facts from the prison's records, featured Badland in 2014.[223][224] She went on to perform as a reader for series one, episode five of Jenny Eclaire's short story vignette series Little Lifetimes in an episode entitled "The Viewing".[225] The next year, she scored the lead role of Mrs. Pickwick, a commissioner for local government, in director Jeremy Mortimer's drama Mrs. Pickwick's Papers on BBC Radio 4.[226] It was announced in 2018 that Badland would reprise her role as Doctor Who's Margaret Blaine in the spin-off radio series Torchwood. The episode, entitled "Sync", was released in May 2019.[227][228]