Rachel Jane "Rae" Baker (born 19 November 1973) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

most famous for playing

Detective Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Juliet Becker in the long running ITV drama ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

.''

Career

Born in Winchester,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, Baker joined the local

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which '' H.M.S. ...

repertory company aged 13 and took private

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

and singing lessons to improve her soprano voice. She received a personal

bursary A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some aw ...

from

Cameron Mackintosh Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "t ...

to train at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. After graduation, Baker secured roles in ''

Guys & Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also ...

'' and ''

A Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some crit ...

'' at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. Her TV debut was in the first episode of ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...

''. In 1998, Baker had a role in the film '' Shadow Run'' with

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

and followed that with leading

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194– ...

roles in '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' opposite

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with '' Top Secret!'' (1984) and '' Real Genius'' (1985), as well as the military action fil ...

, and as Vivian in ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Housema ...

.'' In July 2003, Baker joined ITV drama ''

'' playing the role of

Juliet Becker. Originally Baker screen tested for the part of ditzy

Police Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Honey Harman ''The Bill'' is a long-running British television police procedural television series, named after a slang term for the police. The characters are all police officers or civilian staff at the fictional Sun Hill police station in London. Senior ...

, but the producers decided to cast

Kim Tiddy Kimberley Jane Tiddy (born 3 September 1977) is an English actress, known for her roles as PC Honey Harman in the ITV procedural drama ''The Bill'' and Heidi Costello in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Life and career The daughter of J ...

in that role and created the role of DC Becker especially for Baker, allowing her to indulge her passion of riding

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...

s by providing her with a

Honda Hornet The Honda CB600F (known as the Hornet in Europe and Brazil and 599 in the U.S.) is a standard motorcycle manufactured by Honda. It is powered by a liquid-cooled inline-four engine, originally a detuned version of that in the Honda CBR600 sport bi ...

. Baker took the role due to its variety of portraying a

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...

character, but left as she began to feel the role was not developing beyond a ratings gaining option to exploit the character kissing other women. Baker also played the love interest, Caroline Garvey, for Dr Nick West in the

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

daytime series '' Doctors.'' and has appeared as Jade Dixon-Halliday in children's spy drama ''

MI High ''M.I. High'' is a British action television series produced by Kudos for CBBC and created by Keith Brumpton. The series focuses on a team of undercover teenage spies working for a fictional version of the secret intelligence agency MI9 who hav ...

'' and played the role of "Shinada" in Sci-Fi movie " Ice Planet". In 2015 she appeared as Mimi in the BBC TV series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuiti ...

'' episode 3.8 "The Lair of the Libertines"

Personal life

Baker is married to actor and writer

Duncan Wisbey Duncan James Wisbey (born 16 December 1971) is an English actor, musician, writer and impressionist. He is often credited as simply Wisbey. Recordings and appearances From 2001, Wisbey collaborated with Jonny Trunk, founder of Trunk Records, to ...

and the couple had their first child Hattie in May 2011 and she is set to become the next generation in the Wisbey family. The family live in Surrey.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Rae 1973 births Living people Actors from Winchester Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Actresses from Hampshire English sopranos English stage actresses English television actresses English soap opera actresses 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers