Claire Elizabeth Hardwick (born 3 November 1960)
''

Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...

'', 10 February 2004 is an English actress. She portrayed the role of

Val Pollard Valerie "Val" Pollard (also Lambert) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale'', played by Charlie Hardwick. She made her first screen appearance in the episodes broadcast on 1 February 2004. Val was introduced as ...

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 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 ...

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, '' ...

'' (2004–2015, 2017). In 2019, she began portraying the role of Sue Carp in the

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 ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series ''

Ackley Bridge ''Ackley Bridge'' is a British comedy-drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire Halifax () is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdal ...

''.

Career

In addition to her role in ''

'', Hardwick starred in the 2000 comedy film ''

Purely Belter ''Purely Belter'' is a 2000 British comedy drama film directed by Mark Herman about two teenagers (Chris Beattie and Greg McLane) trying to get money, by any means necessary, in order to get season tickets for home games of Premier League football ...

'', ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy wh ...

'' and won the best actress award at the Monte Carlo International Television Festival in 1998 for her role in

Amber Films Amber Film & Photography Collective (often shortened to Amber Films or Amber) is a film and photography collective based in Newcastle upon Tyne with an aim to capture working-class life in North East England. Often combining professional and non- ...

' ''The Scar'', about a

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

pit community in crisis. She also starred as Sian, a youth worker in ''

Byker Grove Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series '' Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is borde ...

''. In 2003, Hardwick played Maggie Thomas in an episode of ''

The Royal ''The Royal'' is a British period medical drama, produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios), and broadcast on ITV1 from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the st ...

''. In 2007, Hardwick was an occasional contributor on ''

Grumpy Old Women ''Grumpy Old Women'' is a British television series, continuing in the same vein as its predecessor, '' Grumpy Old Men''. Both programmes are shown on BBC Two. The first two series were narrated by Alison Steadman, and the third by Judith Holder ...

''. For her role on ''

'', Hardwick has been nominated seven times at the

British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV and has been presented by Phillip Schofield since 2006. The trophies give ...

, winning in 2006 for Best Comedy Performance. Hardwick has acted in a number of stage productions, including starring in ''

Cooking with Elvis ''Cooking with Elvis'' is a dark comedy by playwright Lee Hall which was performed in 1999 in Edinburgh. The farce was adapted from a play written for the award-winning BBC Radio ''God's Country'' series and premiered in 1999 in Edinburgh. It wa ...

'' alongside

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

, which toured nationally. In 2012, she starred in the comedy play ''The Awkward Squad''. In 2019, Hardwick joined the third series of the Channel 4 comedy drama ''

'' as Sue Carp.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* 1960 births Living people English film actresses English television actresses English soap opera actresses Actresses from Newcastle upon Tyne {{UK-tv-actor-1960s-stub