Seeta Indrani (born 20 April 1963) is a British dancer and actress from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Biography

Performance

After graduation as a dancer from the

London Contemporary Dance School London Contemporary Dance School (informally LCDS) is a contemporary dance school located in London, England. Previously part of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, since 2022 LCDS has been independently registered with the Office for Stud ...

, Indrani took the role of Cassandra in the original 1981 West End production of ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

'' by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

. She then undertook various pieces of stage work, including seasons at the

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

, The Royal Exchange, and the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

. Indrani then took the role for which she is best known, WPC Norika Datta, in the ITV drama ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' from 1989 to 1998. She was voted Best Supporting Actress by the Asian Film Academy in 1995, and best actress in 1996. In 2019, Seeta Indrani shared her memories of ''

'' during an in-depth interview about her life and career. After leaving ''The Bill,'' she returned to the stage with roles in ''Cruel Garden'' with the

Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, played Ariel to

Alec McCowen Alexander Duncan McCowen, (26 May 1925 – 6 February 2017) was an English actor. He was known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. Early life McCowen was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the son of Mary (née Walkden), a dancer ...

's Prospero in ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

,'' and at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

with

Cyd Charisse Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American dancer and actress. After recovering from polio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilit ...

. She also played the title role in “Aladdin” at the Wycombe Swan theatre, alongside Simon Bates as Abanazer. She was then invited on the first national tour in 40 years of Britain's oldest opera company, Carl Rosa Opera, playing Prince Orlovsky in ''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ...

.'' From October 2008 to March 2010 she appeared in the role of Dr. Lily Hassan on the

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 ...

daytime soap, ''

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 ...

.'' She portrayed Afia Khan's maternal aunt Shameem on ''

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 ...

'' in 2011. In 2011, Indrani appeared as Brenda Kiely in the Sky1 comedy drama series '' The Café''. In 2013, she made a guest appearance as DCI Stella Morton in the BBC One drama series ''

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 ...

'' in the episode " Badge of Honour". Indrani portrayed Harita in nine episodes of '' Catastrophe'' in 2015 and 2017. In 2020, she appeared in 3 episodes of '' The Show Must Go Online'', playing the Duchess Eleanor of Gloucester in '' Henry VI, Part II'', Gertrude in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' and Goneril in ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

''.

Production

Indrani is co-founder and co-owner of MashMosh Films with editor Chris Bishop. Created in 2004, its productions include '' Asians in Europe'', a promo film for Asian Music Award winner

DJ Swami Diamond Duggal also known as DJ Swami is a British-Indian music producer, composer, musician and AI consultant. He has produced for a number of notable artists, including Shania Twain, Pras Michel, Apache Indian, Maxi Priest, Stereo Nation, Zo ...

funded by Sony Entertainment Television Asia,Background at Seeta Indrani
and short film ''Snapshots'' and full production '' The Good time Girls'' which both debuted at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. Indrani also has her own dance company, Fuego Flamenco, which indulges her passion for the Spanish dance, which she also teaches.

Personal life

She was born in

. Indrani's hobbies include ballet,

step dance Step dance is a generic term for dance styles in which footwork is considered to be the most important part of the dance and limb movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant. Step-dancing is a percussive form of dan ...

and yoga, while she continues to study singing with Mary Hammond.

Radio

From October 1987 to 1989, Seeta played Anita Sharma in

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 ...

's drama series ''

Citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Indrani, Seeta 1963 births Living people 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from London English female dancers British people of Indian descent British soap opera actresses English stage actresses British television actresses Flamenco dancers Royal Shakespeare Company members