Janet Ravens (born 14 May 1958) is an English actress and impressionist, known for her voice work on '' Spitting Image'' and '' Dead Ringers''.

Early life

Ravens grew up in Hoylake, then in

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 ...

, on the west side of the Wirral with her father, a local government clerk, and her mother, a nurse. She attended West Kirby Grammar School for Girls, where

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

presenter Sheila McClennon ('' You and Yours'') was two years below her. She read education studies and drama at Homerton College, Cambridge, and was the first female president of

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

Club in 1979–80.

Career

After Cambridge, Ravens became a radio comedy producer. Her first television role was in the ITV series, ''Just Amazing''. She joined

Jasper Carrott Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, writer, actor, singer and television presenter. His credits include '' An Audience With Jasper Carrott'' (1978), '' The Secret Policeman ...

's comedy, ''

Carrott's Lib ''Carrott's Lib'' is a British satirical comedy series broadcast between 2 October 1982 and 30 December 1983. It starred Jasper Carrott and a cast of many comedians. The show was a satirical comedy and sketch show, featuring many comedians who w ...

'', in 1983. In 1986, she played the heavily pregnant Vanessa Plowright in the "Tourists" episode of '' Farrington of the F.O.'' (broadcast 13 March). In 1986, she accompanied then husband Steve Brown on the Capital Radio satirical show ''Brunch'', along with DJs Paul Burnett, Roger Scott and comedians

Angus Deayton Gordon Angus Deayton (; born 6 January 1956) is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. Deayton was the original presenter of two successful British comedy panel shows, ''Have I Got News for You'' (1990–2002) and ''Woul ...

and Jeremy Pascall. In 1994, she spent a year with the RSC. She has done much voice-over work, being the Cadbury's Caramel bunny for several years, and was the seductive voice of a can of apple Tango. She has also appeared on ''

Just A Minute ''Just a Minute'' is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th ser ...

'' and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on Radio 4, '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', '' Have I Got News for You'', '' No Frills'', '' Alexei Sayle's Stuff'' and in Dictionary Corner 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 ...

's '' Countdown'' (one of the shows parodied on ''Dead Ringers''). She was producer of the Radio 4 comedy '' Elephants to Catch Eels''.

Repertoire

Ravens has regularly imitated '' Newsnight'' host Kirsty Wark, Charlotte Green formerly of

(with

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

s), Ellen MacArthur (who regularly bursts into tears),

Nigella Lawson Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in ...

(with double entendres), Ann Widdecombe (narrating fanciful racy storylines in her novels), Patricia Routledge's Hyacinth Bucket,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, a chirpy

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She ha ...

, a stern-faced Gillian McKeith, Sophie Raworth (with a bemused school-girl grin) and Fiona Bruce (with barely concealed filthy invitations) of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Anne Robinson Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944) is a British journalist and television presenter, best known as the host of BBC game show ''The Weakest Link'' from 2000 to 2012, and again in 2017 for a one-off celebrity special for ''Children ...

of ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

'', Lesley Garrett (often referring to her generous cleavage),

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...

and the Geordie-accented Ruth Archer from the BBC Radio 4 series ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

''. She also appeared as the then Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

in an episode of ''

Are You Being Served? ''Are You Being Served?'' is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was created and written by David Croft (TV producer), David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd. Croft also served as executive producer and television directo ...

'' although only her voice is heard.

Other television

Ravens appeared in a series-three episode ("Monday Morning will be Fine") of David Renwick's series ''

One Foot in the Grave ''One Foot in the Grave'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom written by David Renwick. There were six series (each consisting of six half-hour episodes) and seven Christmas specials over a period of ten years from early 1990 to late ...

'' as Pat Aylesbury, one of the neighbours to whom Meldrew turns after being burgled. From 1996 till 2001, she played Janet Grimley, the mother in '' The Grimleys'', a nostalgic sitcom set in 1970s'

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

. In autumn 2006, Ravens appeared on 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 ...

entertainment programme ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' partnered with Anton Du Beke. She was eliminated in the fifth week. In spring 2007, she appeared on the BBC's ''The Truth About Food'', exploring how foods affect behaviour. Also in 2007, she appeared in Ronni Ancona's comedy

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

, '' Ronni Ancona & Co''. She won the edition of '' Celebrity Mastermind'' on 1 January 2008, the second woman to win, Edwina Currie having been the first. Ravens appeared as Effy's art teacher in E4 drama '' Skins''. In February 2010 and November 2017, she was a panellist on '' QI'', and in 2012 appeared as Susan in the sitcom '' Hebburn''.

Radio

In late 2016, Ravens featured in the

miniseries ''Desolation Jests'' alongside

David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally as David Jason, is an English actor. He has played Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the drama series '' A Touch ...

, Rory Bremner and John Bird. The four-part show was written by David Renwick.

Personal life

Ravens's first husband was Steve Brown but the couple divorced in 1993. She married the vice-president of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, Max Hole, in July 1999 in

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

. She lives in Barnes. She has three sons: Alfie and Lenny by her first husband, born in April 1987 and January 1991, and Louis by her second, born in June 1998. She is an ambassador for the charity ActionAid and has visited Kenya with the organisation and raised money for it on '' Celebrity Mastermind''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ravens, Jan 1958 births Living people 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians Actors from Bebington Actresses from Cheshire Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge English radio producers Comedians from Cheshire English impressionists (entertainers) English radio actresses English sketch comedians English television actresses English women comedians People educated at West Kirby Grammar School People from Hoylake