Книга: Charlie Brooks «Citizen»

Charlene "Charlie" Brooks (born 3 May 1981) is a Welsh actress, best known for playing Janine Butcher on the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Acting career

Brooks attended Corona Theatre School and the Arts Educational School. Brooks has also appeared in episodes of The Bill, London's Burning, Jonathan Creek and The Demon Headmaster. She trained at Songtime Theatre Arts in her younger years.

In a break from EastEnders in spring 2003, Brooks appeared in a Bill Kenwright production of the play Office Games at the Pleasance Theate in London opposite fellow Soap Opera Alumnus Adam Rickitt.

Brooks had a chance to show off her versatile acting skills whilst working at EastEnders as she portrayed Janine in a number of harrowing storylines involving cocaine addiction, prostitution and murder. She filmed a behind the scenes show for the BBC "The rise and fall of Janine Butcher" which aired in February 2004. It showed the history of the character Janine Butcher and also followed Brooks as she filmed her most dramatic scenes involving the murder of Janine's husband Barry Evans.

In May 2004, Brooks left EastEnders; after her character Janine was wrongly arrested for the murder of Laura Beale (Hannah Waterman). Her character's trial took place 18 months later, but she did not appear on screen and the character was cleared of murder.

Brooks received a National Television Award nomination in 2000 for Most Popular Newcomer but lost out to Coronation Street's Tina O'Brien.She won her first award in 2001 for Best Bitch at the 2001 Inside Soap Awards, an award she also won at the 2004 Inside Soap Awards. At the 2004 British Soap Awards, Brooks won the award for Villain of the year and was also nominated in the category of Soap Bitch of the year. At the British Soap Awards 2005 she won the award for Best Exit.^{[citation needed]}

Since leaving EastEnders, Brooks has appeared in the ITV1 drama The Golden Hour, the BBC medical drama Casualty, the 2005 BBC adaptation of Bleak House, the independent film Take 3 Girls which is yet to be released, an episode of ITV's Heartbeat and as the voice of Mary Dixon for the BBC Radio adaptation, Dixon of Dock Green.

In December 2005, Brooks released the work-out DVD Charlie Brooks - Before and After Workout, which rapidly became the biggest-selling fitness release in the country.

During 2005, she had been approached by EastEnders bosses to return as Janine for the character's murder trial in the later part of the year, as they had successfully approached Janine's father Frank (played by Mike Reid) for a brief comeback. She rejected the offer and the trial was filmed without her, instead focusing on the activities outside of the court. According to press reports, EastEnders bosses offered her the chance to return during the summer of 2006, but she turned the offer down, however in May 2007, Brooks admitted that she might one day return to EastEnders "if the time was right".

In May 2006, Brooks played Beverley Allitt to much critical acclaim in a BBC1 docu-drama called Beverley Allitt: Angel of Death.^[1] In 2007 she appeared in a short run of Our Country's Good at the Liverpool Playhouse and later that year appeared in a second series of both Robin Hood and Love Soup for the BBC.^[2][3] The Sun announced on 5 November 2007 that Brooks would make her return to EastEnders in the spring of 2008, appearing for four episodes to attend the funeral of Janine's father Frank Butcher (played by Mike Reid, who died in real life on 29 July 2007). She briefly reprised her role in April 2008, but announced that same month she is considering a full-time return to the show. She said "We have spoken about it, and we will just have to play it by ear."^[4][5]

On May 2, 2008 it was announced she will be returning permanently to EastEnders in Autumn 2008. On May 15, 2008 she announced her intentions to remain for just a year and said she will leave for good in 2009.^[6] However, Brooks changed her mind, and in June 2009 she signed a new 3 year contract, meaning she will be onscreen until at least Autumn 2012.^[7]

Also in mid-May 2008, ITV announced it had cast Brooks in a three-part drama entitled Wired due to air on October 13, 2008. The series is directed by Kenny Glenaan and co-stars Toby Stephens, Jodie Whittaker, and Laurence Fox, among others. The drama is about an Internet banking scam, with Brooks as an innocent target.^[8] Filming has taken place in Liverpool^[9] and filming was also to take place in Manchester and London.^[10]

Also Brooks appeared as a guest star on the Radio 1 Chart Show on the 12th of July 2009. The show lasted from 3:00pm until 7:00pm and, during her time on the show, she answered questions from fans on the radio. Also along with Fearne Cotton who was asking her questions about life on the Eastenders set and also her personal life.

Personal life

Brooks was engaged to former Grange Hill actor Jon Newman but the couple split up when Newman found out that Brooks was seeing an EastEnders cameraman.^[11] Brooks has a daughter called Kiki-Dee by her former partner Tony Truman.^[12] She has a brother named Ben who acted in the children's TV series Aquila.^{[citation needed]} Her father, Danny Brooks, lives in Barmouth, Wales. Her mother, Roe Brooks, owns a Theatre School in Kew Bridge.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2011 she ran the Great North Run with Neil McDermott in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.^[13][14]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Charlie Brooks at the Internet Movie Database