Janet Stephanie Francis (born 5 August 1947) is an English actress. She appeared as Penny Warrender in the 1980s

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

Just Good Friends ''Just Good Friends'' is a British sitcom written by John Sullivan. It stars Paul Nicholas and Jan Francis as former lovers Vincent Pinner and Penny Warrender, who meet in a pub five years after he jilted her at the altar. Three series and a 9 ...

''.

Early life

Francis was born at the former

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central L ...

London. She is the eldest child of Frank Francis, a clerical officer with the Agricultural Society, and Marjorie (née Watling), an employment agent, who were married in 1944. She was brought up in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

and was educated at the Lady Edridge Grammar School. After training as a dancer at the Royal Ballet Senior School from which she graduated in 1965, Francis performed with the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

Touring Company in Britain, in the rest of Europe and the United States. Francis left the Royal Ballet in September 1969 to pursue an acting career.

Acting

Francis made the transfer to becoming an actress through choreography, and performed with the Cheltenham Repertory Company between 1969 and 1970. She first appeared on television in 1971, before landing

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

drama roles including Kschessinska in ''

Fall of Eagles ''Fall of Eagles'' is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series was created by John Elliot and produced by Stuart Burge. The series portrays historical events from 1848 to 1918, dealing with the ruling dynasties of ...

'' and Lisa Colbert in '' Secret Army'' (1977–78). She appeared in ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...

'' (1979) as Mina Van Helsing with

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage ...

as Abraham Van Helsing. She played the part of Susie Dean in

Alan Plater Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. Career Plater was born in Jarrow, County Durham, although his family ...

's adaptation of the J. B. Priestley novel ''

The Good Companions ''The Good Companions'' is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley. Written in 1929, it follows the fortunes of a concert party on a tour of England. It is Priestley's most famous novel and established him as a national figure. It won ...

'' (1980) which was produced by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

. Writer John Sullivan met Francis and later created her best-known part, Penny Warrender, in the 1980s BBC sitcom ''

''. She later co-starred with

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

as Sally Hardcastle in the 1989–1992 ITV drama series ''

Stay Lucky ''Stay Lucky'' is a British television comedy-drama series ran from 8 December 1989 to 6 August 1993. Made by Yorkshire Television and screened on the ITV network, it starred Jan Francis and Dennis Waterman. Plot Drama about a small-time gan ...

''. This was followed by an appearance in '' Heartbeat'' in 1993, in which she played Vivienne Keen in the episode ''Love Hurts.''. She also played Nick's "old enough to be his mother" girlfriend in the sitcom ''

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...

''. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, she starred in the

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...

television commercials alongside

Nigel Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor. His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film ''Chariots of Fire'', which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war dram ...

and

Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...

. In 2006, she guest starred in ITV prison drama '' Bad Girls'' as interior designer Catherine Earlham, who was sent to Larkhall on remand for

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

. The character played a key role in the exit storyline for fellow inmate Darlene Cake ( Antonia Okonma). She is also a regular performer, and part of the original cast, of the touring play ''

Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners ''Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners'' is an anthology-style play compiled and written by '' Carry On...'' writer Norman Hudis and producer Marc Sinden, who is also the director. It was originally devised by Sinden as a female rival to th ...

''. In 2009, she appeared as Julia in the second series of '' Mistresses'' on BBC1. In November 2009, she starred in the ITV drama ''

Collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...

''. She also played a love interest for Rodney Blackstock in 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 Laffan, ...

'', in 2010. In April 2014, she made a guest appearance as a patient in the BBC hospital drama series '' Casualty''.

Personal life

Francis married the actor-writer Martin Thurley in

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...

on 1 August 1977; he writes using the pseudonym Thomas Ellice. They have two daughters and reside in

Woodchurch, Kent :''There is another Woodchurch in Kent, a hamlet in the Manston civil parish within the Thanet district.'' Woodchurch is a Kent village, the largest civil parish in the Borough of Ashford. It is centred from the market town of Ashford and fr ...

Selected Filmography

Theatre

* ''The Sleeping Beauty'' (1969) ... Royal Ballet (1969) * ''The Farmer's Wife'' (1969) ... Cheltenham Repertory Company, as Susan Maine * ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1969–1970) ... Pantomime, as Fairy Dreamawhile * ''The Boyfriend'' (1970) ... as Maisie (& Lolita) * ''When Did You Last See My Mother'' (1970) ... at The Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, as Linda * ''Cinderella'' (1970) ... at the Manchester Opera House * '' Play It Again Sam'' (1971) ... at the New Theatre, Bromley as one of Barbara and the Dream Girls * ''The Heiress'' (1971) ... as Marian Almond * ''Romance!'' (1971) ... at the Duke of York's Theatre, London as Lotte * ''Out of Bounds'' (1973) ... Bristol Old Vic Company as Ermyntrude Johnson * ''Lend Me A Tenor'' (1986) ... at the Globe Theatre, London as Maggie * ''Hay Fever'' (1988) ... at the Chichester Festival Theatre as Myra Arundel * Dear Ralph' A Valentine's Day Gala'' (1993) ... at the London Palladium as a Host for the Evening * ''Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners'' (2004–2008) ... at various theatres on tour * ''An Evening at Le Candide'' (2006) ... at the King's Head Theatre, London

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Jan 1947 births Living people English ballerinas English stage actresses English television actresses Actresses from London People from Westminster People from Woodchurch, Kent Audiobook narrators