Gabrielle Glaister

Gabrielle Glaister
Born	(1960-07-27) 27 July 1960 Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, England
Occupation	Actress

Gabrielle Glaister (born 27 July 1960) is an English actress, best known for her role as Patricia Farnham in British soap opera Brookside and Trish Wallace in Family Affairs. She is also notable for her portrayal of Bob/Kate/Bobbie Parkhurst in several episodes of Blackadder.

Education

Glaister attended Chichester College where she studied English and Drama, then trained with the National Youth Theatre.

Career

Glaister appeared in the title role in a stage production of Oliver Twist, alongside Ben Elton as the Artful Dodger. In 1983, she returned to the stage in Denise Deegan's comedy play Daisy Pulls It Off, based on Winifred Norling's 1939 novel The Testing of Tansy.

Glaister's first television roles were in 1983 in Jury and Jane Eyre. Her first notable television roles were three appearances as "Bob" in the 1980s Blackadder series and the part of Patricia Farnham, the long-suffering partner of Max Farnham (Steven Pinder), in Brookside from 1990 until 1997.

Glaister returned to soap acting in 2000 when she appeared in Coronation Street as Debs Brownlow, the sister of Natalie Horrocks, played by Denise Welch. Her next soap role was in Channel 5 soap Family Affairs from September 2004 playing Trish Wallace until September 2005. In 2019, Glaister took the role of Hilary Benshaw in Emmerdale, playing rival to Nicola King as they both vied to be elected as a local councillor. She later re-appeared in Coronation Street as Fern Lindon from August - November 2022.

Filmography

Television

• Jane Eyre (1983)
• Blackadder II (1986) "Bells"
• All at No 20 (1986)
• Grange Hill (1988)
• Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) "Major Star", "Private Plane"
• Brookside as Patricia Farnham (1990 to 1996)
• Coronation Street as Debs Brownlow (2000)
• Family Affairs as Trish Wallace (2004 to 2005)
• Law & Order: UK (2009) "Honour Bound"
• New Tricks (2012) "Part of a Whole"
• The Dumping Ground (2014) "Face the Music"
• Upstart Crow (2016) "The Quality of Mercy", reprising the role of Bob from Blackadder II
• Sherlock (2017) "The Six Thatchers"
• Unforgotten (2018)
• Emmerdale as Hilary Benshaw (2019)
• Dark Money as Cordelia (2019)
• Doctors as Martha Taile (2020)
• Coronation Street as Fern Lindon (2022)
• Trigger Point as Martina Wyatt (2024)
• Death in Paradise as Cora Blyth (2024)

Film

• Buddy's Song (1990)
• The Heart Surgeon by Jed Mercurio (1997)

Theatre

• Daisy Pulls It Off
• Elton John's Glasses by David Farr
• Insignificance by Terry Johnson

External links

• Gabrielle Glaister at IMDb
• Joining Coronation Street in 2000