Patsy Palmer

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Patsy Palmer (born Julie Harris on May 26, 1972 in Bethnal Green, London) is a red-haired English actress best-known for her 6-year role as the feisty Bianca Jackson in the popular British television soap opera EastEnders. Having changed her name professionally to avoid a conflict with another actress in Equity, she made her first television appearance, like many other EastEnders actors, on the children's drama show Grange Hill in 1985.

She was brought up along with her two elder brothers, Albert and Harry, by her mother Pat and originally trained at the Anna Scher Theatre School in London (where many other EastEnders stars such as Sid Owen, Gillian Taylforth and Susan Tully also trained). Aged six she starred in a West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and by the age of 12 she had written her own play about prostitution and won an award at the London Festival of Plays.

Her notable roles since EastEnders have been as Clare in BBC detective series McCready and Daughter, and her one-woman musical Tell Me On A Sunday which toured the UK and played in London's West End.

Palmer's first marriage to film-writer and director Nick Love in 1998 lasted only 5 months, and she re-married in August 2000 to taxi driver Richard Merkell, with whom she has had two children, Fenton (born June 2000) and Emilia (born July 2001). She also has another son called Charlie (born 1992) from her previous relationship with boxer Alfie Rothwell.

She currently lives with her husband and three children in Brighton, East Sussex, England.

In 2005 Patsy took part in BBC's Strictly Come Dancing show, to raise money for the Children in Need fund.