Debra Stephenson

Deborah Lee Duffield (' Stephenson; born 4 June 1972), known professionally as Debra Stephenson', is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer, best known for her roles as Diane Powell in Playing the Field (1999–2000), Shell Dockley in Bad Girls (1999–2001, 2003) and as Frankie Baldwin in Coronation Street'' (2004–2006).

Deborah Lee Stephenson was born on 4 June 1972 in Hull, Yorkshire, as an only child.

Her parents live in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Stephenson attended South Hunsley School in Melton, East Riding of Yorkshire, from the age of 11, and during these years she appeared in a number of national television talent shows doing impressions.

In 1995 she sang vocals on musician and writer John Robb project Sensuround.

She also sang in rave band Rhythm Quest, touring rave venues.

After graduating as an actor from The Manchester Metropolitan University, Stephenson was cast in various television roles, first appearing in ITV drama Reckless, starring Francesca Annis and Robson Green.

In 1996, Stephenson graduated in drama from the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre.

At the age of 14, Stephenson appeared on BBC TV's Opportunity Knocks, winning her way through to the All-Winners' Final, broadcast live from the London Palladium.

Around the same time she appeared on Blue Peter doing impressions.

She would later appear in other CBBC programmes such as The Friday Zone (in which she was a regular presenter) and was a backing singer on Chris Jarvis's 1997 charity single "Glasses".

In 1998 (for three series) she became one of the main characters in Kay Mellor's comedy drama about women's football, Playing the Field. Stephenson also appeared in the last two episodes of ITV's adaptation of Catherine Cookson's A Dinner of Herbs, in which she played the adult Kate Roystan, who fell in love with the son of the woman who murdered her grandfather.

In 1999, Stephenson played the prominent role of Shell Dockley in the ITV prison drama Bad Girls.

Her performance as the psychotic Dockley earned her consecutive nominations for Best Actress at the National Television Awards in 1999 and 2000.

After three years playing one of the show's most popular characters, Stephenson left in 2001, the same year she appeared on numerous TV light entertainment shows including as The Frank Skinner Show, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, Des and Mel, as well as taking part in Lily Savage's Blankety Blank; She returned to ''Bad Girls" for four episodes of the fifth series in 2003.

As well as doing stand-up comedy at venues including London's Comedy Store and The 100 Club Stephenson has played several roles as a comic actress on radio and television.

These include Hosanna in the BBC Radio 4 comedy At Home with the Snails (2002), and BBC1 sketch show TV to Go in 2000 with Hugh Dennis, Martin Freeman, Mckenzie Crook and Pauline McLynn.

Stephenson was also part of The Friday Night Project, interviewing the public and going undercover with disguises such as 'Debbo' and 'Sister Mary'.

From June 2004 to December 2006, Stephenson starred in British soap opera Coronation Street playing Frankie Baldwin.

She received nominations for "Best Newcomer" at various TV and soap awards shows.

In 2005, Stephenson took part in Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, a singing competition involving celebrities, to raise money for charity, and finished fifth.

Among her performances was a rendition of "Cry Me a River" which was called "blemishless".

Her participation on the show led to a recording contract and she released her debut album, In The Sunshine including cover versions of the songs she sang on the show.

On 14 May 2006, producers announced that Stephenson would be leaving the soap at the end of that year.

Her final scenes aired on 31 December 2006.

Stephenson was a reporter for GMTV throughout 2007 as part of The Richard Arnold Show.

Stephenson appeared on Lorraine weekly, presenting her 10-week bikini diet plan.

This involved demonstrating recipes in the studio kitchen.

Stephenson appeared on Channel Virgin 1's immersive style documentary The Prisoner:X in December 2008.

Here she was locked up for four days in a high security prison in America, where she spent a night in segregation and was treated as though she was an actual prisoner doing time in that prison.

Stephenson has performed in many pantomimes.

Roles have included Aladdin, Peter Pan and Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk) at venues including the Regent Theatre in Ipswich, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre and Poole Lighthouse.

Between 2009 and 2011, she co-starred with Jon Culshaw in The Impressions Show, a comedy sketch show with impressions of top celebrities.

The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson, led by Stephenson and Jon Culshaw, began recording in August 2009.

Eight episodes were commissioned by the BBC; the first aired on Saturday 31 October 2009.

In March 2010, Stephenson took part in Let's Dance for Sport Relief and reached the final after a rendition of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal".

The show was recommissioned for a second series in 2010 and then again for a third series of six episodes which started on 26 October 2011.

As of October 2011, only the first series has currently been released on to DVD.

Stephenson has voiced a number of characters for sketch shows such as Dead Ringers (2014–present) and Newzoids (2015–2016).

She was also a regular team captain on the panel show The Imitation Game for ITV (2018) and She also appeared in the BBC medical soap opera, Doctors (2019).