Leni Harper is a Scottish actress, best known for playing Maddie in ''

Me and My Girl ''Me and My Girl'' is a musical with music by Noel Gay and its original book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose. The story, set in the late 1930s, tells of an unapologetically unrefined Cockney gentleman named Bill Snibson, wh ...

''.

Career

Leni's breakthrough role was in a 1981 West End production of ''

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grang ...

''. In 1982 she was recruited for the role of spinning the Whirly Wheel on the first series of '' The Late Late Breakfast Show'', but her "whirlybird" role was dropped after three shows (pre-filmed inserts were seen for a further three weeks). During 1982-83 Leni appeared in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's children-oriented sketch show ''Dear Heart'', which also featured

Billy Hartman Billy Hartman (born 1957) is a Scottish actor, well known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV's ''Emmerdale'' from 1995 until his character was killed off in 2011. Career Together with ''Emmerdale'' co-stars Steve Halliwell and Al ...

, Nicky Croydon,

Bob Goody Robert Goody (16 April 1951 – 5 March 2023) was a British actor, librettist, writer and former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Early life Goody was born in Brighton, East Sussex, the son of Kenneth William Goody (1926–2005), an air ...

and

Trevor Laird Trevor Laird (born 11 July 1957, London, England) is a British actor. Biography Born in Islington, London in 1957, Laird trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. Early roles included a 1976 role in a TV adaptation of the Peter Prince novel ''Pla ...

. In 1984-5 Harper appeared as co-host on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's children's game show '' So You Want to be Top?''. During this period she also appeared on primetime TV in the role she would probably become best known for, as Maddy in

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

's comedy ''

'' alongside

Richard O'Sullivan Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor. He is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the TV sitcoms ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and '' Robin's Nest'' (1977–1981) and as the title character in the period adven ...

."Leni Harper's IMDB Profile"
/ref> In 1989–91 she played Meg in a touring production of '' The Meg and Mog Show'' and was also heard in

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

's ''McKay the New''. Later in the 1990s she had various roles in ''

Chucklevision ''ChuckleVision'' is a British children's comedy television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy, and Bria ...

'' on

. Later roles included an episode of ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' and a role in the 2007 movie ''

Death Defying Acts ''Death Defying Acts'' is a 2007 supernatural romance film, directed by Gillian Armstrong, and starring Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It concerns an episode in the life of Hungarian-American escapologist Harry Houdini at the height of his ...

''.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Leni Living people Scottish television actresses Scottish stage actresses Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters Scottish television personalities 1954 births