Shelley King (born 25 September 1955) is a British actress, known for her roles as Jay Harper 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 ...

drama series ''

Angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

'' and

Yasmeen Nazir ''Coronation Street'' is a British soap opera first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that appeared in 2014, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by series producer Stuart Blackburn. Sha ...

on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

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 ...

''.

Early and personal life

King was born in Calcutta, India in 1955 to Kelly King, a photographer in India and the UK. She grew up in New Malden, Surrey, and attended Coombe Girls School. In April 2018, during an interview on

's ''

This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * ''CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succes ...

'', King opened up about being a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

and discussed her own struggles and difficulties which she had with her own sexuality. While appearing in ''

'', King was in her mid–20s, and producers of ''Angels'' wanted to make her character gay, but due to struggling with her own sexuality, she declined. She also revealed that at that time, she was turned away from entering a lesbian club due to them not believing that she was gay. King is in a civil partnership with Trilby James. In 2023, she announced she was being tested for

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

, and subsequently confirmed she had been diagnosed the following year.

Career

King made her television debut in the

drama series ''

'' as Jay Harper in 1975. She remained in the series until 1980, after which she appeared in various British television series including '' The Jewel in the Crown'', ''

Tandoori Nights ''Tandoori Nights'' is a television sitcom that was broadcast on Channel 4 between 4 July 1985 and 13 November 1987. It consisted of two series of six episodes each. The series was directed by Jon Amiel and written by Farrukh Dhondy. It is the st ...

'', ''

King of the Ghetto ''King of the Ghetto'' is a 1986 British four-part television drama miniseries which was aired on BBC Two, it was directed and written by Farrukh Dhondy, and stars Tim Roth. The drama is about racial tensions in the East End of London in the ...

'' and '' The Demon Headmaster''. In 2010, she appeared as Nakuru Kapur, in an episode of The Bill, titled, “Intervention”..Then in 2014, King made her debut appearance as

in the

soap opera ''

''. Her character began featuring in a high-profile

coercive control Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to in ...

storyline from May 2019 with her on-screen husband Geoff Metcalfe (

Ian Bartholomew Ian Bartholomew (born 23 August 1954) is a British actor and musician from Portsmouth, England who has worked widely in both theatre and television. In March 2018, Bartholomew joined the cast of ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', as Geof ...

). It was announced in January 2025 that King had quit her role as Yasmeen, with her final scenes set to air later in the year.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Shelley 1955 births 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Autistic actors Actresses from Kolkata Autistic LGBTQ people British actors with disabilities British people of Anglo-Indian descent English film actresses English lesbian actresses English LGBTQ entertainers English people of Indian descent English people of Irish descent English people of Portuguese descent English people of Scottish descent English soap opera actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Indian emigrants to England LGBTQ actors with disabilities Living people