Jennie Elizabeth McAlpine (born 12 February 1984) is an English television actress, comedian and businesswoman. She is known for her role as

Fiz Brown Fiona 'Fiz' Dobbs (also Brown and Stape) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street''. Portrayed by Jennie McAlpine, the character first appeared on screen on 20 April 2001. Initially appearing for five epis ...

in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

soap opera '' Coronation Street''. She also took part in the seventeenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' in 2017, where she finished in fourth place.

Early life

McAlpine was born and grew up in

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

.Rick Fulton, 'Fiz: I'm a Flaming Scot', ''

Scottish Daily Record The ''Daily Record'' is a national tabloid newspaper which is published online also based in Glasgow, Scotland. The newspaper is published Monday-Saturday while the website is updated on an hourly basis, seven days a week. The ''Records sis ...

'' (21 March 2008), p. 24. She is of Scottish and Irish descent, with a grandfather from County Kerry and a grandmother from

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

. As a young girl she used to put on shows on the patio for the neighbours, charging them 50 pence apiece. She did song and dance routines, copying groups like

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. T ...

.Sue Crawford, 'Interview – Jennie McAlpine – Stand up and deliver', ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

'' (11 August 2001), p. 11. Her father Thomas McAlpine worked in mental health and was awarded the OBE for services to mental healthcare; he died in March 2017. With his encouragement she took up amateur dramatics at the age of eight, when father and daughter appeared together in a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

by the Bury Parish Players. She was the fairy and he was the dame. As a teenager she joined the Carol Godby Theatre Workshop. McAlpine's parents separated when she was young after which she lived with her father. She has one brother.

Career

In 1997, at the age of 13, she entered a Young Comedian of the Year competition run by

Fanta Fanta is an American-owned German brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks created by Coca-Cola Deutschland under the leadership of German businessman Max Keith. There are more than 200 flavors worldwide. Fanta originated in Germany as ...

and came second in the final at the

Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy S ...

in London. Jennie entered the competition again in 1998, also finishing second. From 1997 to 2001 she performed as a stand-up comedian at charity nights, galas and pub nights in and around Bury with her father. McAlpine played Michelle Morley in ''

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 Laffan, ...

'' from 1999 to 2000. After leaving school she enrolled in her local college, Holy Cross, and began studying for

A-levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

.Claire Donnelly, 'Fiz Is the Biz' ''

'' (2 February 2005) At the age of 17 she auditioned for the part of

on '' Coronation Street'', a role she has played since 2001. McAlpine auditioned for the role with her arm in a sling, after dislocating her shoulder in a fall two days earlier. She was originally hired for five episodes, and went back to studying for her A-levels and working part-time in

Boots The Chemist Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...

. In November and December 2016, Jennie covered for

Becky Want Rebecca Elizabeth Want (born 13 June 1964, Hyde, Cheshire) is a radio and television broadcaster, based in Manchester. Radio career Want has worked for the Manchester radio stations Piccadilly Radio and Key 103, where she co-presented the launc ...

BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...

. In 2017, McAlpine was confirmed to be taking part in

season 17 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. She finished in 4th place after spending 21 days in the jungle. In December 2020 she also became the voice of the new

Burnley Bus Company The Burnley Bus Company operates both local and regional bus services in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield, which operates bus services across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire ...

Witchway buses running between

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Rawtenstall Rawtenstall () is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles/24 km north of Manchester, 22 miles/35 km east of Preston and 45 miles/70 km south east of the county town of Lancaster. The town is at the ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

providing onboard information and next stop announcements on the route.

Personal life

McAlpine married Chris Farr, a restaurant manager, in 2017. The couple have been together since 2005. On the subject of her Scottish ancestry, and famous red hair she said: McAlpine gave birth to her first child in 2014. In 2018 she announced that she was pregnant with her second child, and gave birth to the child the same year.

Other projects

Since the age of 17, McAlpine has devoted her spare time to helping deprived children in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

through the Thebes Project in

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

. She has also opened a restaurant in Manchester city centre, Annie's, with her husband Chris Farr. The restaurant serves modern British cuisine.

Filmography

Game show appearances

*''

Who Wants to be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'' (16 August 2008) – won £50,000 for charity *'' The Cube'' (2 January 2011) – won £1,000 for Mood Swings *''

All Star Family Fortunes ''Family Fortunes'' is a British television game show based on the American game show '' Family Feud''. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2002. A celebrity version, ''All Star Family Fortunes'', followed from 2006 t ...

'' (11 September 2010) *'' The Chase'' (16 September 2012) – won £15,750 for Mood Swings *''

All Star Mr & Mrs ''All Star Mr & Mrs'' is a British television show which first began airing on 12 April 2008 on ITV. It is a celebrity revival of the original '' Mr and Mrs'' that aired on ITV from 1968 to 1988 with two separate revivals in 1995–1996 and 1 ...

'' (22 May 2013) *'' Tipping Point: Lucky Stars'' (28 July 2013) – won £6,700 for Mood Swings *''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers t ...

'' (30 November 2013) *''

'' (28 December 2013) – on the '' Coronation Street'' team, won £30,000 for Mood Swings and The Albert Kennedy Trust *''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' (8 – 12 February 2016) – Dictionary Corner *''

You're Back in the Room ''You're Back in the Room'' was a British television game show that was broadcast on ITV from 14 March 2015 to 9 April 2016. The show was hosted by Phillip Schofield and starred Keith Barry. The premise consists of contestants who have to comp ...

'' (9 April 2016) *'' Rolling In It'' (8 August 2020) *''

Richard Osman's House of Games ''Richard Osman's House of Games'' is a British quiz show produced by Banijay (owners of Endemol Shine UK), a branch of Remarkable Television for the BBC. The show is hosted by Richard Osman. It is played on a weekly basis, with four "celebri ...

'' (2022)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McAlpine, Jennie English soap opera actresses English television actresses Living people English people of Scottish descent Anglo-Scots English people of Irish descent 1984 births People from Bury, Greater Manchester People educated at Holy Cross College I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants English Roman Catholics