Angela Mellissa Griffin (born 19 July 1976) is a
British actress and
television presenter who has been active on British television since the early 1990s. She is best known for portraying the roles of
Fiona Middleton in the
ITV soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...
'' (1992–1998, 2019),
Kim Campbell
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female ...
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 ...
school-based drama series ''
Waterloo Road'' (2006–2007, 2009–2010, 2022–present), and DS Lizzie Maddox in the final two series of ITV's detective drama series ''
Lewis'' (2014–2015). Griffin was also an original cast member of ''
Holby City'', playing nurse
Jasmine Hopkins (1999–2001).
Early life
Griffin attended
Intake High School in Leeds. She grew up on Cottingley Estate, near
Beeston. She was born to an English mother and Caribbean father from
St Kitts and Nevis.
Career
Between December 1992 and September 1998, Griffin appeared in the popular long-running
ITV soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...
'' as hairdresser
Fiona Middleton. She made a guest appearance in 2019. Griffin appeared in the ITV soap opera ''
Emmerdale
''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffa ...
'' in 1993, playing a minor character called Tina. Subsequently, she joined the original cast of 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 ...
medical drama
A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...
series ''
Holby City'' as staff nurse
Jasmine Hopkins, but left at the end of the third series in 2001 as the next series would be longer. Griffin has also appeared in the BBC dramas ''
Cutting It'' and ''
Down to Earth''.
In October 2001 Griffin presented ''Brown Britain,'' a programme on the UK's
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
about mixed race people in British society. The show included interviews with a large number of well-known British mixed-race people such as
Bruce Oldfield and
Hanif Kureishi, as well as political figures such as
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...
.
From 2006 to 2010, she appeared as art teacher and head of
pastoral care Kim Campbell
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female ...
opposite former ''Cutting It'' co-star
Jason Merrells and former ''Coronation Street'' co-star
Denise Welch in the BBC One school-based drama series ''
Waterloo Road''. She took a break during the third series in late 2007/early 2008, but returned to the role for the fourth series in 2009. However, she left once again at the end of the fifth series to concentrate on her new daytime show on
Sky1.
From November 2009 to July 2010, Griffin hosted her own live daytime show on Sky1 called ''
Angela and Friends'', a mix of health topics and celebrity gossip. She was joined by her best friends
Lisa Faulkner and
Nicola Stephenson. In 1999, she presented ''The Midweek National Lottery'' and also took part in the BBC's millennium programme on New Year's Eve. She filmed a pilot for the show ''Dishes'' on Channel 4, but decided against presenting it once it had been commissioned and was replaced by
Kate Thornton.
Griffin also provides the voice of Amy, the vet in children's television show ''
Postman Pat''.
In March 2008, Griffin appeared on the daytime reality show ''
Murder Most Famous'', where, with five other celebrities, she wrote a crime novel, coached by crime writer
Minette Walters, the end prize being, having the winning celebrities' novel published. It was won by former ''Coronation Street'' co-star
Sherrie Hewson
Sherrie Lynn Hutchinson (born 17 September 1950) is an English actress, television personality and novelist. She is known for her roles as Maureen Holdsworth in ''Coronation Street'' (1993–1997, 2006), Virginia Raven in '' Crossroads'' (2001â ...
.
In January 2010, Griffin and
Gethin Jones
Gethin Clifford Jones (born 12 February 1978) is a Welsh television presenter. He was an active rugby union player while at Manchester Metropolitan University and, after graduation, he began his television career on Welsh language channel S4C ...
co-presented Sky 1's coverage of the
Golden Globes. Griffin appeared in the first two series of Sky TV comedy drama ''
Mount Pleasant'' and presented ''
Emergency with Angela Griffin'' on Sky1. In January 2012, she appeared in the
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
show ''
The Great Sport Relief Bake Off'' and was one of three finalists.
In 2013, Griffin played Dolly in ''
One Man, Two Guvnors''. In 2014 and 2015, Griffin starred as DS Lizzie Maddox in the ITV series ''
Lewis''. From 5–9 January 2015, Griffin and
Kian Egan co-hosted ''Fat Pets: Slimmer of the Year'' for ITV.
Griffin had a recurring role as Elizabeth Harvey in the third series of ''
Harlots''. On 17 September 2018, Griffin co-presented ''
The One Show'' on BBC One alongside
Matt Baker.
In October 2018, Griffin began playing detective Stevie Hall in the Canadian drama ''
The Detail''.
Griffin hosted
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...
's ''Unwinds'', starting in August 2021. From September 2021, Griffin also started sitting in for
Steve Wright on ''Sunday Love Songs'' on various occasions on the station.
In January 2022, it was announced that Griffin would once again reprise her role as
Kim Campbell
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female ...
for a new series of ''
Waterloo Road'', with her character now promoted to Head Teacher.
In April 2022, Griffin starred in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
Horror film ''
Choose or Die
''Choose or Die'' (formerly titled ''CURS>R'') is a 2022 British horror thriller film directed by Toby Meakins in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Iola Evans, Asa Butterfield, Robert Englund and Eddie Marsan.
''Choose or Die'' ...
'', playing the main protagonist's mother Thea.
Filmography
References
External links
*
''Radio 2 Unwinds with Angela Griffin''(BBC Radio 2)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Angela
1976 births
Living people
Actresses from Leeds
BBC Radio 2 presenters
Black British actresses
English television actresses
English soap opera actresses
English television presenters
English people of Saint Kitts and Nevis descent