Clare Buckfield (born 10 April 1976) is an English

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, best known for playing the role of Jenny Porter in 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 ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

2point4 Children ''2point4 Children'' is a BBC Television sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porters, a seemingly average, working-class London family whose world is frequently turned upside-down by bad luck and ...

'' for most of the nineties and Natasha Stevens in the

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

series ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

''.

Biography

From an early age, both she and her identical twin sister Julie harboured ambitions to be actresses, leading their mother to hire her daughters an agent. As a result, Clare and Julie appeared in local productions and were offered modelling work. A graduate of the

Sylvia Young Theatre School Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent school in Marble Arch, London, England. It is a specialist performing arts school named after its founder and principal, Sylvia Young OBE. Outline The Sylvia Young Theatre School was founded in 19 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Buckfield originally auditioned for the part of Natalie Stevens in

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

teenage

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

''. She lost out to her twin sister Julie who was auditioning for the part of Chrissy Mainwaring, but Clare eventually won the role of Natasha Stevens in 1992. She appeared in ''

'' for two years. Clare and Julie competed again to replace Clare Woodgate as character Jenny Porter in ''2point4children'', but this time Clare got the part over Julie. Clare appeared in the series until 1999. In 2003, Buckfield played the role of Sandy in ''Grease'', opposite

Noel Sullivan Noel Sullivan (born 28 July 1980, as Noel John Hayes) is a British singer and actor from Cardiff, Wales. He was a member of the British pop group Hear'Say. Like the other members of the group, he won his part through the ITV talent show ''Pop ...

as Danny and Amanda-Jane Manning as Rizzo at The Jersey Opera House. In 2004, Buckfield landed the role of Katy Bell in '' Steel River Blues'', a program intended to fill the void left by '' London's Burning'' on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

. The series was not recommissioned beyond its initial seven-episode run. She has also appeared in episodes of '' Dangerfield'', ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'', and ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

''. She did the voice-over of Samantha in the

PG Tips PG Tips is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom manufactured by Lipton Teas and Infusions. Brand name In the 1930s, Brooke Bond launched PG Tips in the tea market in the United Kingdom under the name Pre-Gestee, a variant of the original name "D ...

television commercials and appeared in the Big Finish

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

audio of '' The One Doctor'', alongside 6th Doctor

Colin Baker Colin Charles Baker (born 8 June 1943) is an English actor. He played Paul Merroney in the BBC television drama series ''The Brothers (1972 TV series), The Brothers'' from 1974 to 1976 and the Sixth Doctor, sixth incarnation of The Doctor (Do ...

, as Sally Ann-Stubbins in 2001. In 2006 she returned to ''Doctor Who'', starring alongside

Paul McGann Paul John McGann ( ; born 14 November 1959) is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial '' The Monocled Mutineer'' (1986), then starred in the dark comedy '' Withnail and I'' (1987), which wa ...

and

Stephen Gately Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 197610 October 2009) was an Irish singer who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdom, ...

in the radio adventure '' The Horror of Glam Rock'' and then again in 2007 (released in 2008) in ''

Dead London ''The Eighth Doctor Adventures'' is a Big Finish Productions audio play series based on the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It sees the return of Paul McGann reprising his role as the Eighth Doctor from the 1996 te ...

''. She most recently played Audrey in ''

The Little Shop of Horrors ''The Little Shop of Horrors'' is a 1960 American Comedy horror, horror comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about a florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human blood. The ...

'' (2009 UK Tour).

''Dancing on Ice''

Buckfield gained second place in the second series of the hit ITV show ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

''. Her partner was the Russian skating star Andrei Lipanov. She was the last female celebrity contestant left in the competition and was in the final along with rugby ace Kyran Bracken and singer

Duncan James Duncan Matthew James Inglis (born 7 April 1978) is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He became widely known in 2001 as a member of the boy band Blue and later for playing Ryan Knight in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. E ...

. The final requirement was for the celebrities to fly over the ice using a harness, at which Buckfield excelled with the joint highest result of the series at 29.5. The final took place on Saturday, 17 March 2007 and Buckfield came second. During the series, she experienced several injuries, the most serious being a pulled

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

underneath her

ribcage The rib cage or thoracic cage is an endoskeletal enclosure in the thorax of most vertebrates that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum, which protect the vital organs of the thoracic cavity, such as the heart, lungs and great vessel ...

. Buckfield was polled in the final twice during the series but was saved from eviction by the judges. She appeared in the Dancing On Ice Live Tour which saw past celebrities from the two series battle it out again on the ice. Buckfield has also taken part in the Sense City Ice Skate challenge in support of the Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association.

Personal life

From 1993 until 2003, Buckfield was in a relationship with

Declan Donnelly Declan Joseph Oliver Donnelly (born 25 September 1975) is a British television presenter, television producer, former singer, rapper, comedian and actor. He is best known for working alongside Ant McPartlin as part of the presenting duo Ant ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckfield, Clare 1976 births Living people Actresses from London English identical twins English television actresses Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School Identical twin actresses English twins