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Jill Halfpenny (born 15 July 1975) is an English actress who first garnered attention playing Nicola Dobson in the coming-of-age BBC drama series Byker Grove (1989–1992). She became more widely known for her roles as Rebecca Hopkins on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (1999–2000), Kate Mitchell on the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2002–2005), and Izzie Redpath in Waterloo Road (2006–2007). Her other notable credits include Babylon (2014), In the Club (2014–2016), Humans (2015), Three Girls (2017), Liar (2017–2020), Dark Money (2019), The Drowning (2021), and The Long Shadow (2023). She won the second series of the television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing in 2004. For her portrayal of Paulette Bonafonté in the original West End run of Legally Blonde (2010–2011), Halfpenny received the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Her other stage credits include Chicago (West End, 2005), Calendar Girls (West End, 2009), Abigail's Party (West End, 2012), Way Upstream (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2015), The Girl on the Train (Leeds Playhouse, 2018), and A Taste of Honey (Royal Exchange, 2024). Career 1989–2004: Television debut, soap roles, and Strictly Come Dancing Halfpenny began her professional career in 1989 when she joined the cast of the Newcastle-based children's drama series Byker Grove, playing the part of Nicola Dobson until 1992. Following guest star appearances on shows such as The Bill, Birds of a Feather, and Peak Practice, she landed the part of staff nurse Rebecca Hopkins on ITV's Coronation Street; a role she played between 1999 and 2000. The character was involved in a high-profile affair storyline with Martin Platt, eventually leading to the breakdown of Platt's marriage. In December 2002, Halfpenny took on the role of Kate Mitchell on BBC One's EastEnders. The character—an undercover policewoman—was introduced as a honeytrap for Phil Mitchell, with the intent of coaxing him into a murder confession; her cover was eventually blown and, having fallen in love with him, she became Mitchell's wife. It was revealed in October 2004 that the character had been axed, with her final scenes airing in January the following year. Between October and December 2004, Halfpenny competed in the second series of the celebrity ballroom dancing contest Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with professional dancer Darren Bennett. The couple were crowned the winners of the competition during its live final on 11 December 2004, after receiving the maximum 40 marks from the judging panel. That same week, it was announced that Halfpenny would star as Roxie Hart in the West End musical Chicago, beginning in January 2005. 2005–2017: Stage roles, Waterloo Road, and presenting work Halfpenny earned critical praise for her performance in The Bodies, a play adapted from an Émile Zola novel by Peter Flannery, which ran from June to July 2005 at Newcastle's Live Theatre. Describing her work as the "dangerously crazed" Thérèse, The Guardian commented, "Halfpenny, forced to remain impassive at the outset, is tough and moving in her portrayal of [the character's] descent into madness". Next, she made a cameo appearance as a Geordie nanny on The Catherine Tate Show; guest-starred on Channel 4's Shameless as a violent ex-jailbird; hosted the debut episode of the BBC musical theatre tribute The Sound of Musicals, where she performed songs from My Fair Lady and Moulin Rouge!; and began playing the regular part of schoolteacher Izzie Redpath on the BBC's Waterloo Road, for which she won the 2007 TV Quick Award for "Best Actress". The character was later killed in an accidental stabbing during the finale of the show's second series, which aired on 26 April 2007. That same year, she narrated the BBC Three documentary series Freaky Eaters and the Channel 4 one-off special Fat Man's Warning. Halfpenny appeared as Norma Farnes—Spike Milligan's long-suffering manager—in Richard Harris's Surviving Spike, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in February 2008. In his review for The Independent, critic Julian Hall felt that Halfpenny's performance "lends added zip to what is already a tightly written play ... [she] successfully evokes the tenacity that Farnes must have had to [endure Milligan]". Her next roles on stage were Cora in Calendar Girls (July to October 2009) and Paulette Bonafonté in the West End production of Legally Blonde, which opened in January 2010. She earned particularly strong notices for her performance in the latter, winning the Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. In March 2012, Halfpenny headlined a revival of Mike Leigh's 1977 play Abigail's Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory, which later transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre for four months. Her portrayal of the snobbish Beverly was warmly received, with The Guardian's Kate Kellaway calling her "fantastic", adding: [she] perfectly catches Bev's dark side – her selfishness, sexual frustration and dangerous stupidity". She then portrayed the matriarch of a 1940s household in the supernatural horror miniseries Lightfields, which aired between February and March 2013. Halfpenny featured in two major television projects in 2014: first, the Kay Mellor-produced BBC One drama series In the Club, where she played an expectant first-time mother, and then Channel 4's seven-part satirical comedy series Babylon, in which she co-starred as PC Davina Bancroft. In September that same year, she narrated a segment on the history of North East England as part of the televised opening ceremony for the Great North Run. She then appeared as a timid middle-class holidaymaker in Alan Ayckbourn's Way Upstream at Chichester Festival Theatre (April to May 2015), and played one of the principal characters—Jill Drummond, a disabled woman who falls for her humanoid caregiver—on the first season of the science fiction drama series Humans, which aired between June and August 2015. Described as a "stylishly slow-burning Sunday night treat" by The Telegraph, Humans was Channel 4's highest-rated drama in two decades, attracting an average of 6m viewers. Halfpenny made her radio broadcast debut in May 2017, covering slots on BBC Radio 2 for regular presenters such as Liza Tarbuck and Sara Cox, and later hosting the station's Good Morning Sunday show throughout August 2018. Her acting projects during this period included the controversial BBC miniseries Three Girls, an examination of the events surrounding the Rochdale child sex abuse ring. Airing over three consecutive nights in May 2017, the drama received a positive reception, with Halfpenny's portrayal of Julie Winshaw—a fictionalised version of one of the parents whose teenage child was exploited—garnering praise. 2018–present: Theatre and television In the stage adaptation of the psychological thriller novel The Girl on the Train, Halfpenny headlined a.... Discover the Norma Farnes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Norma Farnes books.