| Clare Buckfield | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 April 1976 |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Partner | Declan Donnelly (1993–2003) |
Clare Buckfield (born 10 April 1976) is an English actress, best known for playing the role of Jenny Porter in the BBC sitcom 2point4 children for most of the nineties and Natasha Stevens in the CBBC series Grange Hill.
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From an early age both she and her identical twin sister Julie harboured ambitions to be actresses, leading their mother to hire her daughters an agent. As a result Clare and Julie appeared in local productions and were offered modelling work.
A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, Buckfield originally auditioned for the part of Natalie Stevens in BBC 1 teenage soap "Grange Hill". She lost out to her twin sister Julie who was auditioning for the part of Chrissy Mainwaring, but Clare eventually won the role of Natasha Stevens in 1992. She appeared in "Grange Hill" for two years.
Clare and Julie competed again to replace Clare Woodgate as character Jenny Porter in 2point4children, but this time Clare got the part over Julie. Clare appeared in the series up until the year 1999, when the premature death of actor Gary Olsen in 2000 ensured this special millennium episode would be the last.
In 2003, Buckfield played the role of Sandy in Grease opposite Noel Sullivan at The Jersey Opera House[1]
In 2004, Buckfield landed the role of Katy Bell in Steel River Blues, a programme intended to fill the void left by London's Burning on ITV1. The series was not re-commissioned beyond its initial seven episode run.
Buckfield has also appeared in episodes of Dangerfield, Doctors & Holby City. She was the voice-over of Samantha in the PG Tips television commercials and appeared in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio of The One Doctor, alongside 6th Doctor Colin Baker, as Sally Ann-Stubbins in 2001. In 2006 she returned to Doctor Who, starring alongside Paul McGann and Stephen Gately in the radio adventure The Horror of Glam Rock and then again in 2007 (released in 2008) in Dead London. She is most recently noted for playing Audrey in The Little Shop of Horrors 2009 UK Tour.
Buckfield gained second place in the second series of the hit ITV show Dancing on Ice. Her partner was the Russian skating star Andrei Lipanov, whom she regarded as a 'gentle giant'. She was the last female celebrity contestant left in the competition, and was in the final along with rugby ace Kyran Bracken and singer Duncan James. The final requirement was for the celebrities to fly over the ice using a harness, at which Clare excelled and got the joint highest result of the series at 29.5. Going into the final Clare was the second favourite to win with odds of 4:1. The final took place on Saturday, 17 March 2007 and saw the three remaining stars battle it out for the trophy in the skate off she and Kyran Bracken were both battling out to win but she only came second. A week later champions of champions was on and she once again faced Kyran Bracken in the final skate off but again came second.
After her very first flawless performance in a dazzling red outfit to Dusty Springfield, Buckfield was classed as a cut above the rest of the line-up, sparking rumours that she has skated before. Buckfield denied those rumours, and said like all the others this was her first time on the ice. During the series, she experienced several injuries, the most serious being a pulled muscle underneath her ribcage. This restricted her a little in the lifts that she was able to perform. Despite her natural aptitude for the ice Clare was polled in the final two twice during the series but was saved from eviction from the judges.
She appeared in the Dancing On Ice Live Tour which saw past celebrities from the two series battle it out again on the ice.
Clare has also taken part in the Sense City Ice Skate challenge in support of Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association and she also appeared in Kyran Bracken's Ice Party on several dates spread over Bournemouth, Blackpool and Jersey.
In 2003, she broke up with her long term boyfriend Declan Donnelly, of TV duo Ant & Dec. It is said the split was due to the thriving career of Dec, who frequently spent long spells in Australia whilst filming the two series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.[2] They still remain good friends, and Clare was quoted to have said that she will 'never say never' about Dec. Dec recently went to see her perform and supported her in ITV's Dancing On Ice.
http://www.timehole.com/joh.php?period=2003
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