 |
Vicki trained at the Aida Foster Theatre
School and quickly won a variety of roles in film, television and
on stage but it was her portrayal of Yvette in the hit
BBC series Allo Allo that gained her worldwide recognition.
Vicki played Yvette for all nine series with the
Allo Allo
stage play
taking her on national and international tours to Australia and
New Zealand smashing box office records, not to mention four
seasons in the West End at the Palladium, Prince of Wales and
Dominion theatres.
Renowned for her versatility, Vicki began her
extensive acting career playing leading straight roles in Softly
Softly, The Professionals, Minder and Play for Today but her
wonderful gift for comedy timing soon brought her to the roles we
are most familiar with. On TV she has worked with the greatest
names in comedy including Les Dawson, The Two Ronnies, Ken Dodd
and Kenny Everett, and has appeared in such series as Whatever
Happened to the Likely Lads, Are you Being Served and Come Back
Mrs Noah, her role in the latter being directly instrumental in
her winning the part of Yvette in Allo Allo. She has also made
guest appearances on countless chat and game shows including
Noel’s Houseparty, where she played the role of Noel’s amorous
next door neighbour for three seasons, This Morning, Generation
Game, Give Us A Clue, Through The Keyhole, All Over The Shop,
Today’s The Day, Loose Lips, The Weakest Link, Stars Reunited,
Britain’s Best Sitcom, Comedy Connections and the documentary
Pantoland. Added to this she is also an accomplished presenter and
is frequently sought after today as a speaker at corporate
functions. She also regularly hosts charity events around the
country.
Film credits include: - The Greek Tycoon, The
Likely Lads, Alfie Darling, Sweet William, Spectre, The Last Days
of Pompeii, George and Mildred, The Priest of Love, Queen Kong,
The Sentinel, Four on Four and The Colour of Funny.
In the year 2000, Vicki embarked on a totally
new venture working with English Sinfonia. Not only did she
perform with them at The Cressing Temple Festival but also
narrated Edith Sitwell poetry to William Walton’s Façade at the
orchestra’s home venue, bringing a sparkling new dimension to the
work which will long be remembered.
Extensive theatre work has taken her from
drama to pantomime, musicals to comedy. She played opposite Dudley
Moore in Play It Again Sam at the Globe Theatre – London, the
leading roles of Vera in Doctor In The House,
Mina in
Dracula,
Renee in
Women Of A Certain Age,
Ruth in Alan Ayckbourn’s
Round
and Round The Garden and
Table Manners, Pamela Willey in
Out of
Order, Sally in
Bedside Manners, performed overseas, Bathsheba in the British musical version of
Beauty and the
Beast and the Narrator in Reflections-The Musical Journey of Diana
Ross. Recent years have proved particularly momentous for Vicki in
the theatre where she has performed continuously scoring a string
of major successes most notably for her portrayals of Hilda Bigley
in the new comedy
Business Affairs by Jeremy Lloyd and John
Chapman; Glenda Parry in
The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife, a role
allowing her to rediscover her more dramatic roots; Jacqueline in
Don’t Dress For Dinner, a role with which Vicki has become
synonymous; a gloriously, contrastingly funny and poignant
portrayal of Maxine in Richard Harris'
Stepping Out adding tap
dancing to her repertoire; the hugely diverse roles of Lady Raeburn and Asphynxia in the 50th Anniversry revival of the
musical Salad Days for Matthew Townshend and as the incorrigible Miss Hannigan in the musical
Annie
where her dynamic performances were received by the
rapturous response of audiences and critics alike.
An experienced pantomime performer, Vicki has
played the title role and Genie in
Aladdin, the Red Queen in
Snow White, The Fairy in
Jack and the Beanstalk and
Mother
Goose, Mrs. Darling and Hook’s sister, Harrietta in
Peter Pan, the
Lady Cruella in
Cinderella, Llandudno where she scored a major
triumph with her characterisation, giving a modern approach to the
traditional pantomime ‘baddie’ while retaining all the essential
elements and a particularly evil portrayal as the Wicked Fairy in
Sleeping Beauty at the Broadway Theatre Peterborough. She
followed this a year later with an equally enchanting portrayal of
the Lilac Fairy from the same pantomime, this time for
Extravaganza Productions.
In recent months on stage, Vicki has returned to the role of Miss Hannigan in
Annie,
for Kevin Wood Productions, reprised her roles in the musical
Salad Days as Lady Raeburn and
Asphynxia again for Matthew Townshend Productions and appeared as Betty in the Ray
Cooney farce Funny Money for Ian Dickens Productions. She has just
completed a short season at the Lyceum Theatre, Crewe where she
played Gillian in Simon Mawdsley's
Audacity and identical twins
Dawn and Donna in Double Vision by Eric Chappell for Stage Further
Productions. She has also made a welcome return to television in the new
and slightly controversial hour
long drama for Channel 4 Television,
All in the Game, in which she
played the role of Emma, wife of troubled football club manager
Frankie (Ray Winstone) and returned to the role of Yvette for a TV
special entitled The Return of Allo Allo for BBC 2 screened in April of
2007. This generated a great deal of media interest, initiating
further guest appearances on This Morning, Richard and Judy and
Breakfast TV as well as numerous radio interviews.
Vicki has just completed another much acclaimed return to the role of Miss
Hannigan in Annie
during the summer of 2007 and made her debut in the popular soap
Emmerdale as the flamboyant Patricia Foster. She was also be seen
on our television screens during the autumn of 2007 making
guest appearances on such shows as The Generation Game-Now and
Then and Children in Need in which she performed in a spoof sketch
based on the popular programme Hotel Babylon.
She has just completed a box office breaking run starring as The
Enchantress in Robin Hood and made a recent return visit to
Emmerdale.
|
 |
