Deborah Ann Stirling Gallacher (born 30 November 1970) is an English actress. She 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 ...

soap opera ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' as George Woodson for six years, which earnt her numerous nominations at the

British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV (TV network), ITV. The trophies given to the winners are made from metal a ...

. Gallacher's other notable roles include Jennifer Taylor-Clarke in the BBC comedy ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'', Paula Martin in the ITV soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' and Ffion Morgan in the BBC medical drama ''

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 ...

''.

Early and personal life

Deborah Ann Stirling Gallacher was born on 30 November 1970. She was born and raised in Bowdon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. Gallacher gave birth to her first son in January 2004. On 20 June 2009, she married her ''

'' co-star and on-screen husband, Seán Gleeson. That same year, Gallacher had another child with Gleeson, who has two other children from a relationship prior to Gallacher.

Career

After minor appearances in films and television series, Gallacher booked a regular role in ''

Meet Ricky Gervais ''Meet Ricky Gervais'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British television comedy talk show written and hosted by Ricky Gervais. It was produced by Talkback (production company), Talkback for Channel 4 in 2000 and ran for one series on Fr ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 2000. A year later, she was booked in a main role on the

sitcom ''

'', co-created by Gervais.Sickels, Robert C. (2008) ''The Business of Entertainment: Movies'', Praeger Publishers, , p. 63 At the time, Gallacher was working in an IT job for the BBC, who allowed her to continue her office job while simultaneously appearing on the series. Then in 2003, she appeared in Gervais' film ''

Animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

''. Later that year, Gallacher was cast as George Woodson in the BBC soap opera ''

'', a role she stayed in until 2009. In 2007, she received the accolade for Best On-Screen Partnership at the

alongside Gleeson, who played her husband, Ronnie Woodson. Also from 2003 to 2005, she appeared in ''

Little Britain Little Britain may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little Britain'' (TV series), a British radio and then television series ** '' Little Britain USA'', an American spin-off * "Little Britain", a song by Dreadzone from the 1995 album ''Second ...

'' in various different roles. In 2017, Gallacher appeared in three episodes of the BBC soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', portraying the Mayor of

Walford Walford is a fictional borough of East London in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. It is the primary setting for the soap. ''EastEnders'' is filmed at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, towards the north-west of London. Much of the location wor ...

, as well as appearing in an episode of the ''

Tracy Beaker Tracy Beaker is a fictional character and the lead role of the ''Tracy Beaker'' franchise. After first appearing as the main character in Jacqueline Wilson's 1991 book '' The Story of Tracy Beaker'', she appeared in the children's television ...

'' spin-off series ''

The Dumping Ground ''The Dumping Ground'' (also informally referred to as ''The DG'') is a Television in the United Kingdom, British children's television series, children's television drama series that focuses on the lives and experiences of young people who ...

''. Gallacher joined the cast of ''

'' in August 2018 as Paula Martin, a love interest for established character

Sophie Webster Sophie Webster is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She was born on-screen during the episode broadcast on 4 November 1994. She was played by Ashleigh Middleton from 1994 until 1997 and by Emma Woodwar ...

(

Brooke Vincent Brooke Levi Vincent (born 4 June 1992) is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Sophie Webster in the ITV soap-opera ''Coronation Street'', which she played from 2004 to 2019. Early life Vincent was born in Audenshaw, Greater Manch ...

). In February 2020, it was announced that Gallacher had joined medical drama ''

'' as police officer Ffion Morgan, the wife of established character Jan Jenning (

Di Botcher Diane F. Botcher (born 2 June 1959) is a Welsh actress. She has starred in several British television sitcoms and dramas, including the Sky comedy drama '' Stella'', BBC comedies '' Little Britain'' and '' Tittybangbang'' and the ITV period dra ...

). Gallacher confirmed that she would not leave ''Coronation Street'' for the new role, but instead would appear in both shows simultaneously. Gallacher made her ''Casualty'' debut on 18 July 2020. For her role as Ffion, Gallacher stated that she wanted to appear different to her ''Coronation Street'' character, so she wears a wig due to having an allergy to hair dye.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallacher, Stirling 1970 births Living people English stage actresses English television actresses English soap opera actresses Actors from Altrincham Actresses from Cheshire