Joan Hooley

Last updated

Joan Hooley
Born (1936-11-13) 13 November 1936 (age 87)
Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom [1]
Occupation Character actor
Notable credit(s) EastEnders (1998–2000)
Off Their Rockers (2015–2016)
Spouse
Geoff Harris
​
​
(m. 2002;died 2004)​

Joan Hooley (born 13 November 1936) is a British actress. [1] [2] She is best known for playing the role of Josie McFarlane in BBC's EastEnders. Still, she has also appeared in other television programmes, since the mid-1950s. Since 2015, she has appeared in ITV's Off Their Rockers .

Contents

Career

Hooley first appeared on television in the 1950s. She was cast in the ITV hospital soap opera Emergency Ward 10 and appeared in the series in 1964. She played Dr Louise Mahler, who embarked on an interracial relationship with a white doctor, Giles Farmer (played by John White), which included what was long-thought to have been the first interracial kiss on television. [3] A love scene between the two characters was rewritten because it was considered "a little too suggestive". [4] She has commented, "I suddenly found myself in the papers under the headline: 'Black and White TV Kiss Banned'. It was very upsetting and it hit my self-esteem. My part suddenly evaporated and Dr Mahler was sent back to Africa on a holiday where she was bitten by a snake and died. What an exit!" [2]

Her other credits include roles in No Hiding Place (1961); Danger Man (1965); Special Branch (1969); as Umma in C.A.B. (1988); The Bill (1988; 1993); Bugs (1995) and Kavanagh QC (1997). In 1998 she was cast as Josie McFarlane, the mother of Mick McFarlane (Sylvester Williams), in the BBC soap opera EastEnders . The character was introduced by executive producer Matthew Robinson, but in November 1999 it was announced that Hooley's character was being dropped. [5]

She made her final appearance in episodes transmitted in February 2000. Since leaving the serial, Hooley has publicly accused EastEnders and the BBC of racism and tokenism, for giving her character no significant storylines, and using her like a prop. In 2000 she commented, "It was very demeaning and a form of insidious racism. That is a very strong phrase to use against the BBC and EastEnders but I feel very badly about how they handled my character. They were just fulfilling a duty to have a black face in the show." [2]

Hooley subsequently had roles in Urban Gothic (2000); Doctors (2004), and Respectable (2006), among others. As well as acting, Hooley has written scripts for the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond's . [2]

In 2015, Hooley joined the cast of ITV's Off Their Rockers as one of the pranksters. She starred in Season 5, Episode 2 of BBC's Death In Paradise, which aired on 28 January 2016.

Personal life

In 2002, at the age of 65, Hooley married actor Geoffrey Harvard Harris, [6] known for his portrayal of Charles Dickens in his one-man Dickens show. They met and became a couple in 1993, and remained together until Harris' death of cancer in 2004. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Ryan</span> English actress (born 1984)

Michelle Ryan is an English actress, best known for portraying the role of Zoe Slater in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2000–2005). In 2007, she starred in the short-lived American television series Bionic Woman. She appeared as the evil sorceress Nimueh in the 2008 BBC fantasy series Merlin and as Lady Christina de Souza in the 2009 Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Dead".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikki Sanderson</span> British actress (born 1984)

Nikki Sanderson is an English actress and former glamour model who is known for playing Candice Stowe in the television soap opera Coronation Street, Dawn Bellamy in Heartbeat and Maxine Minniver in Hollyoaks. During her time at Coronation Street and since, she has also been a television presenter on programmes such as CD:UK, Junior Eurovision: The British Final and Ministry of Mayhem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Alderton</span> English actor (born 1940)

John Alderton is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah, Wodehouse Playhouse, Little Miss, Please Sir!, No - Honestly and Fireman Sam. Alderton has often starred alongside his wife, Pauline Collins.

Lesley Jane Dunlop is an English actress, known for her role as Brenda Walker in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. Her other roles include Anna Kirkwall in Where the Heart Is and Zoë Angell in May to December.

Lisa Jane Riley is an English actress, comedian and television presenter. Riley is best known for portraying the role of Mandy Dingle in the long-running ITV soap opera Emmerdale between 1995 and 2001, and from 2019 onwards. She also replaced Jeremy Beadle as the presenter of You've Been Framed! between 1998 and 2002. She was also a contestant on the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, and a panellist on the ITV daytime series Loose Women.

<i>Emergency Ward 10</i> British television soap opera (1957–1967)

Emergency Ward 10 is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. It is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas.

<i>Compact</i> (TV series) British TV soap (1962–1965)

Compact is a British television soap opera shown by BBC Television from January 1962 to July 1965, created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Taylforth</span> English actress (b. 1955)

Gillian Taylforth is an English actress. She is known for her role as Kathy Beale on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, as well as appearing as Jackie Pascoe on ITV's Footballers' Wives (2002–2006) and Sgt. Nikki Wright in ITV's The Bill (2006–2008). She has also appeared in film during her early career, has presented on ITV's Loose Women and appeared as a celebrity contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008.

Lindsey Coulson is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Carol Jackson on the BBC soap opera EastEnders. For this, she won the 2000 British Soap Award for Best Dramatic Performance. Other roles include Cheryl in Manchild (2002–2003), DC Rosie McManus in Murder Investigation Team (2003–2005), DCI Sarah Tanner in Bulletproof (2018–2021), and Penny Armstrong in The Bay (2019–2021). Coulson's film credits include AKA (2003) and Funny Cow (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie McFarlane</span> Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Josie McFarlane is a fictional character that appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Joan Hooley between 25 August 1998 and 1 February 2000. Since leaving the serial, Jamaican-born actress Joan Hooley has publicly accused EastEnders and the BBC of racism and tokenism, for giving her character no significant storylines, and using her as a prop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Fonseca</span> Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Dr. Fred Fonseca is a fictional character from the popular soap opera EastEnders, played by Jimi Mistry from 13 September 1998 to 10 February 2000.

Corinne Ann Hollingworth is a British television producer and executive, best known for her contributions to British soap operas, including BBC's EastEnders and five's Family Affairs. Hollingworth has gained a reputation for winning huge drama audiences by concentrating on human interest storylines.

Emergency – Ward 9 is a Dennis Potter television play first broadcast on BBC1 in the Thirty-Minute Theatre series on 11 April 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Adair (screenwriter)</span> English actress and screenwriter

Hazel Joyce Marriott, known professionally as Hazel Adair, was a British actress turned screenwriter and creator of soap operas for radio and television. She is best known for co-creating Crossroads with Peter Ling.

Lily Elizabeth Caldwell, known professionally as Katherine Parr, was a British actress, who played the recurring role of Irene Holloway, commonly known as Auntie Irene, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, between 1986 and 1987, when her character died from lung cancer.

The date and program of the first interracial kiss on television is a much debated topic. In many parts of the world social stigma and legislation have hindered relations between people from different groups (races). The first kiss on television has been discussed in the context of this social stigma. As there is no agreement on what constitutes a race there is also no general agreement on when the first interracial kiss occurred and a number of claims exist.

"You in Your Small Corner" is a British television play shown in the Play of the Week series on the Independent Television (ITV) on 5 June 1962. It was formerly believed to include the first televised interracial kiss on British television until the rediscovery of an earlier interracial kiss featuring the same male actor in an ITV broadcast of Hot Summer Night on 1 February 1959.

<i>Life in Her Hands</i> 1951 film by Philip Leacock

Life in Her Hands is a 1951 drama film sponsored by the British Ministry of Labour with the aim of recruiting women to the nursing profession. It was produced in response to addressing the short supply of qualified nurses in Britain after the Second World War, caused to some degree by the needs of the newly founded National Health Service (NHS). It was produced by the Crown Film Unit and distributed widely across all major cinemas by United Artists. The film was written by Anthony Steven and Monica Dickens, and directed by Philip Leacock. The cast included Bernadette O'Farrell, Jenny Laird, Jean Anderson and Kathleen Byron.

Angela Rosemary Crow was an English television actress, best known for her appearance in the early days of British soap opera Coronation Street, as factory worker Doreen Lostock, between 1961 and 1963.

References

  1. 1 2 The BFI indicates Joan Hooley was born in Manchester, Lancashire. See "Joan Hooley". BFI Film Forever. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Danny Buckland (23 July 2000). "Racist BBC only want black actors to be whores, gangsters, pimps and freaks; EASTENDERS STAR JOAN SLAMS SOAP OVER STEREOTYPES". The People. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
  3. ↑ "Emergency - Ward 10". Television Heaven. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  4. ↑ Anthony Clark. "Emergency - Ward 10 (1957-67)". Screenonline. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
  5. ↑ Matthew Wright (2 November 1999). "HOOLEY GONER". Daily Mirror . Retrieved 18 February 2008.
  6. ↑ Geoffrey Harris obituary, The Stage, 10 January 2005.
  7. ↑ Sally Farmiloe-Neville. "Obituary: Geoffrey Harvard Harris". Hot Gossip. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.