Beatrice Edney (born 23 October 1962) is an English television actress.
Born in London, she is the daughter of actress
Sylvia Syms and her husband Alan Edney. Her brother is Benjamin Edney and her cousin is musician
Nick Webb. Edney first came to audiences' attention as Heather MacLeod in the 1986 film ''Highlander'', the first entry in the ''Highlander'' series. She returned to the role again in the 2000 film ''Highlander: Endgame''.
In 1987, Edney performed the title role in the television production of ''The Dark Angel'' with
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vi ...
. In 1990, she appeared in the
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.
Beresford's notable films he has directed include '' B ...
film ''
Mister Johnson'', alongside
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 ('' GoldenEye'', '' Tomorrow ...
and
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE (1 June 1930 – 16 November 2009) was an English actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he began his career on stage. Throughout his career, he appeared in productions ...
.
Her many television appearances include a leading role in the 1986 television series ''Lost Empires'', based on the novel by
J.B. Priestley, in which she acted alongside
Colin Firth
Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He was identified in the mid-1980s with the " Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a challenging series of roles, including leading roles in '' A M ...
. She has also appeared in episodes of a host of successful British television dramas such as ''Rosemary & Thyme'', ''A Touch of Frost'', ''Prime Suspect'', ''Inspector Morse'' (and its spin-off ''Lewis''), ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' (episode ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'') and ''Wallander''. In 1994, Edney played the role of Louisa Gradgrind in the television adaptation of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' ''Hard Times''.
In 1995, she had a starring role in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Dressing for Breakfast''.
In 2012, she played Queen Charlotte in ''The Madness of King George III'', at the Apollo Theatre, London. Other stage appearances included ''The Girlfriend Experience'' at the Royal Court.
Edney played the leading role of Prudie in the BBC's
2015 revival of ''Poldark''. In 2019 she caused controversy by accusing the BBC of ageism for not inviting her to a première, but she later apologised, saying there had been a "mix-up".
Film and television appearances
*''
A Day at the Beach'' (1970) - Winnie
*''
Lost Empires
''Lost Empires'' is a 1986 television miniseries adaptation of J. B. Priestley's 1965 novel of the same name and starred Colin Firth, John Castle and Laurence Olivier. Produced by Granada Television, it was shown as a serial, and premiered o ...
'' (1986, TV Series) - Nancy Ellis
*''
Highlander
Highlander may refer to:
Regional cultures
* Gorals (lit. ''Highlanders''), a culture in southern Poland and northern Slovakia
* Hill people, who live in hills and mountains
* Merina people, an ethnic group from the central plateau of Madagascar
...
'' (1986) - Heather MacLeod
*''Diary of a Mad Old Man'' (1987) - Simone
*''
A Handful of Dust'' (1988) - Marjorie
*''
Inspector Morse'' (1989, Episode: "The Last Enemy") - Deborah Burns
*''
Trouble in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise is an idiom used to describe problems in supposedly positive situations.
Trouble in Paradise may also refer to:
Books
* ''Trouble in Paradise'' (Parker novel), a 1998 crime novel by Robert B. Parker
* ''Trouble in Paradise' ...
'' (1989) - Ann Kusters
*''
Frederick Forsyth Presents: Just Another Secret'' (1989, TV Movie) - Anneliese
*''
Mister Johnson'' (1990) - Celia Rudbeck
*''
Agatha Christie's Poirot
''Poirot'' (also known as ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'') is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. David Suchet starred as the eponymous detective, Agatha Christie's fictional H ...
'' - "
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'' is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United ...
" (1990) and "
The Clocks" (2011) - as Mary Cavendish and Mrs. Hemmings (respectively)
*''
In the Name of the Father'' (1993) -
Carole Richardson
The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were the collective names of two groups whose convictions in English courts in 1975 and 1976 for the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974 were eventually quashed after long campaigns for justice. The Guil ...
*''
Hard Times
Hard may refer to:
* Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture
* Hard water, water with high mineral content
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series
* Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...
'' (1994, TV Mini-Series) - Louisa Gradgrind
*''
Mesmer'' (1994) - Marie Antoinette
*''
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday'' (1994, TV Movie) - Natalia
*''
Prime Suspect
''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, ...
'' (1995, Episode: "The Lost Child") - Susan Covington
*''
Dressing for Breakfast'' (1995-1998, TV Series) - Louise
*''
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' (1996, TV Mini-Series) - Annabella
*''
Highlander: Endgame'' (2000) - Heather MacLeod
*''
Murder Rooms'' (2001, Episode: "The White Knight Stratagem") - Lyla Milburn
*''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...
'' (2003, Episode: "Hidden Truth") - Sheila Hadley
*''
Rosemary & Thyme'' (2006, Episode: The Gooseberry Bush") - Penelope
*''
Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!'' (2006, TV Movie) -
Joan Sims
*''
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day'' (2008) - Mrs. Brummegan
*''In Your Dreams'' (2008) - Zoe
*''
New Tricks'' (2009, Episode: "Last Laugh") - Janet Spencer
*''
Wallander'' (2010, Episode: "The Fifth Woman") - Adela Blomberg
*''
Law & Order: UK'' (2010, Episode: Duty of Care") - Megan Parnell
*''
Lewis'' (2013, Episode: "Down Among The Fearful") - Justine Skinner
*''
The Coroner'' (2015-2016, TV Series) - Judith Kennedy
*''
Poldark'' (2015-2019, TV Series) - Prudence "Prudie" Paynter
*''
Van der Valk 2020-2022'' (2022, Episode 1) - Cassie Davids
*''
Andor
Andor may refer to:
* ''Andor'' (TV series), a television series in the ''Star Wars'' universe
**Cassian Andor, the titular character
* Andor (''Wheel of Time''), a country in Robert Jordan's ''The Wheel of Time'' novels
* Andor Technology, a ...
'' (2022, Episode 7) - Judge
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edney, Beatie
1962 births
Living people
Alumni of Bretton Hall College
People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School
English film actresses
English television actresses
Actresses from London