Sarah Baxendale

Last updated
Sarah Baxendale
Born1978or1979(age 46–47)
Education St Mary's Catholic High School, Astley
OccupationActress
Years active2000–
Television Hollyoaks

Sarah Baxendale (born 1978 or 1979) is a British actress. She began her career with guest appearances in Fat Friends and Doctors . as well as appearing in the television movie My Beautiful Son (also known as Strange Relations). From 2002 to 2005, she played Ellie Mills on the British soap opera Hollyoaks , which she also played in the one-off spinoff Hollyoaks: Leap of Faith (2003). For her role as Ellie, Baxendale was longlisted for Best Actress at the 2004 British Soap Awards. After leaving the soap, she appeared in the theatre productions Wrestling Mad (2005) and Secrets (2009), the television comedy-drama A Civil Arrangement (2012), the gameshow whodunnit series Armchair Detectives (2017) and the films The Knife That Killed Me (2014) and Happy New Year, Colin Burstead (2018). She has also guest-starred in various other television and internet shows, including Benidorm and Holby City .

Contents

Early and personal life

Sarah Baxendale was born in 1978 or 1979. [1] She attended St Mary's Catholic High School, Astley, and she later returned to present the year 11 record of achievements. [2]

Career

In 2000, Baxendale appeared in "Face the Fat", the fifth episode of the drama series Fat Friends . [3] She also appeared in the soap opera Doctors and the television movie My Beautiful Son (also known as Strange Relations). [1] She then began portraying Ellie Mills on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks , with her first appearance originally airing in February 2002. [4] [1] Baxendale enjoyed portraying Ellie and was on contract with the soap. [1] Baxendale said of joining, ""Coming into it is exciting. I'm working with people I've been watching for a long time, but they have made me welcome." [1] She watched the soap before joining the cast and would watch it on Sunday mornings after night outs on Saturday evenings as part of the soap's "hangover audience". [1] Several of Baxendale's colleagues believed that she was the younger sister of actress Helen Baxendale, but the two are actually not related, with Sarah Baxendale explaining, "I've had so many people ask me that since I came here - everyone in the MTV building thought I was related in some way and they had even started seeing similarities between us both." [1] During her time on the soap, Ellie's storylines included marrying serial killer Toby Mills (Henry Luxemburg) and being disowned by her family. [4] Baxendale also played the role in the 2003 late-night special spin-off, Hollyoaks: Leap of Faith , which saw Ellie attempt to kill herself before Toby is killed by her brother. [5] For her role as Ellie, Baxendale was longlisted for Best Actress at the 2004 British Soap Awards, whilst "Leap of Faith" was nominated for Spectacular scene of the year at the same awards. [6] Baxendale left Hollyoaks in 2005 and has since appeared in another soap opera, Coronation Street , as well as appearing in Doctors again. [4] [7]

In 2005, she appeared in the play Wrestling Mad at the Hull Truck Theatre; she was replaced by Amy Thompson when the play ran later that year. [8] In 2008, Baxendale played a receptionist in second episode of the three-part BBC One comedy-drama Sunshine . [9] [10] [3] [11] The following year, Baxendale took part in the production of Secrets, a composition where the secrets of eight actors reveal a personal secret and have it "woven into a narrative", at the Kilburn theatre, which ran from 17 November to 5 December 2009. [4] She was a last-minute replacement for Rachael Boulton, and as a result, Baxendale took over Boulton's secret rather than revealing her own. [4] Baxendale guest-starred in an episode of the thirteenth series of the British medical drama Holby City which originally aired on 12 April 2011. [12] She has also returned to Doctors again for one-off stints as different characters in the episodes originally airing on 17 May 2013, 16 January 2015 and 19 April 2018. [13] [14] [15]

Baxendale played Kelly in the BBC Four one-off television comedy A Civil Arrangement, which was originally broadcast on 6 May 2012. [16] [17] She portrayed Shane's mother in the 2014 drama film The Knife That Killed Me . [18] In 2017, she appeared in an episode of the ninth series of the British sitcom Benidorm . [19] She also played SOCO Simmons in the 2017 British gameshow whodunnit series Armchair Detectives . [20] [21] Baxendale made an appearance in the second episode of the British crime drama Hard Sun , which aired in January 2018. [22] She also played the main role of Paula in the 2018 comedy drama film Happy New Year, Colin Burstead . [23] [24] [25] The film premiered at the 2018 BFI London Film Festival. [23] [26] Baxendale portrayed Ruby in two episodes of the second series of the online sitcom M.O.T.H.E.R Knows Best, which were both released in March 2020. [27] [28] She has also appeared in Bo' Selecta! and Loose Women . [7]

Acting credits

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotesRef(s).
Unknown Coronation Street —— [4]
Unknown Doctors —— [4]
2000 Fat Friends Trendy AssistantSeries 1, episode 5 ("Face the Fat") [3]
2001My Beautiful Son/Strange Relations—Television movie [1]
2002–05 Hollyoaks Ellie Mills Regular role [4]
2003 Hollyoaks: Leap of Faith Ellie MillsLate night spinoff [5]
2008 Sunshine ReceptionistEpisode 2 [3]
2011 Holby City Gemma Lavelle1 episode ("Boy Valentine, Girl Valentine") [12]
2012A Civil ArrangementKellyOne-off television comedy-drama [16]
2013DoctorsRosemary McMann1 episode ("Crash Barrier") [13]
2014 The Knife That Killed Me Shane's MotherDrama film [18]
2015DoctorsKatia Palowsi1 episode ("Safe House") [14]
2017 Benidorm Jenny1 episode (Series 9, episode 7) [3]
2017 Armchair Detectives SOCO Simmons1 series [20]
2018 Hard Sun Frankie Buckley1 episode ("Episode 2") [22]
2018DoctorsSusie Fleetwood1 episode ("Place of Safety") [15]
2018 Happy New Year, Colin Burstead Paula Comedy drama film [23]
2020M.O.T.H.E.R Knows BestRuby2 episodes [3]

Theatre

YearProductionRoleVenueRef.
2005Wrestling Mad— Hull Truck Theatre [4]
2009Secrets—Kilburn theatre [4]

Awards and nominations

List of acting awards and nominations
YearAwardCategoryTitleResultRef.
2004 British Soap Awards Best Actress Hollyoaks Longlisted [6]
2004British Soap AwardsSpectacular Scene of the YearHollyoaksShortlisted [6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hendry, Steve (24 February 2002). "Everyone thinks I'm Helen's young sis; Hollyoaks Sarah on name mix-up". Sunday Mail . Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025– via The Free Library.
  2. ↑ Graham, Charles (22 October 2024). "Class flashback: pupils and events at Astley St Mary's in the '90s and '00s". Wigan Today . National World . Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sarah Baxendale". British Comedy Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Sarah Baxendale Steps Into Secrets at the Nick of Time". WhatsOnStage.com . 2 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  5. 1 2 Collinson, Dawn (5 October 2025). "Hollyoaks 20th anniversary: remember these soap spin-offs?". Liverpool Echo . Reach plc. Archived from the original on 30 November 2025. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 "British Soap Awards nominations". Newsround . BBC. 8 May 2004. Archived from the original on 3 December 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  7. 1 2 "Sarah Baxendale". TV Guide . Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Simpson, Ron (12 July 2005). "Wrestling Mad (Hull)". WhatsOnStage.com . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  9. ↑ "Sunshine - Full Cast & Crew". TV Guide . Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  10. ↑ "Episode 2". BBC One . BBC. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  11. ↑ "Sunshine". British Comedy Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  12. 1 2 "Boy Valentine, Girl Valentine". BBC One . BBC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  13. 1 2 "Safe House". BBC One . BBC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  14. 1 2 "Crash Barrier". BBC One . BBC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  15. 1 2 "Place of Safety". BBC One . BBC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  16. 1 2 "A Civil Arrangement". BBC Four . BBC. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  17. ↑ "A Civil Arrangement". British Comedy Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  18. 1 2 "The Knife That Killed Me - Full Cast & Crew". TV Guide . Fandom. Archived from the original on 3 December 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  19. ↑ "Series 9, Episode 7". British Comedy Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  20. 1 2 "Armchair Detectives - Full Cast & Crew". TV Guide . Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  21. ↑ Lines, Craig (6 December 2017). "Armchair Detectives: brilliant new daytime TV murder mystery". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  22. 1 2 "Episode 2". BBC One . BBC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  23. 1 2 3 "Sarah Baxendale in Ben Wheatley's Happy New Year, Colin Burstead". Rossmore Management. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  24. ↑ Dalton, Stephen (11 October 2018). "'Happy New Year, Colin Burstead': Film Review | London 2018". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 30 November 2025. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  25. ↑ Lodge, Guy (14 October 2018). "Film Review: 'Happy New Year, Colin Burstead'". Variety . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 30 November 2025. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  26. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (13 October 2018). "Happy New Year, Colin Burstead review – Ben Wheatley contrives a simmering hothouse of misery". The Guardian . Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  27. ↑ "Series 2, Episode 4 - Death". British Comedy Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  28. ↑ "Series 2, Episode 6 - Farewell". British Comedy Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
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