| Roberta Taylor | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 February 1948 London, England |
| Occupation | Actress, author |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Spouse | Peter Guinness (m. 1996–present) |
Roberta Taylor (born 26 February 1948) is an English actress and author. She is probably best known for her roles of Irene Raymond in EastEnders (1997–2000), and Inspector Gina Gold in The Bill (2002–2008).
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Taylor worked in the theatre and appeared at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre from 1980 to 1992. During that period, she played La Duchesse de Guermantes in a stage adaptation of Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past) entitled A Waste of Time, in which Rupert Everett and Gary Oldman were also in the cast. She was also seen in Noel Coward's Design for Living, Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband. She was the Princess Kosmonopolis in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth in 1992, and in 1995 played the Nurse in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Lyric Hammersmith.
She has also appeared in episodes of the television series Doctors, Sharman, Holby City, Silent Witness and Inspector Morse. She has appeared as a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show and in the films The Witches (1990) and Tom & Viv (1994).
In 2005 she played Mrs Pardiggle in the BBC's drama serial adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. In 2009, she starred as the long-suffering Phoebe Rice in John Osborne's play The Entertainer at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. In 2011 she will appear in the West End revival of Pygmalion, alongside Rupert Everett, Kara Tointon and Dame Diana Rigg.
At the age of 18, Roberta married her childhood sweetheart, whose identity she has always kept hidden and later gave birth to their son Elliot. By the time she was 24, the marriage was already breaking apart and the couple finally divorced in the early 70's.
Roberta then joined the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where she met fellow actor Peter Guinness. Peter and Roberta married in September 1996 and Peter ironically appeared in a few episodes of The Bill as her lover in 2007. The couple resides in London.
Roberta has been arachnophobic since the age of 12. She is also very close friends with her former co-star Alex Walkinshaw, who sees her as a second mother to him, and she is even grandmother by proxy to his two children, Flora and Jack.
She also came out in support of the Labour Party (UK) for the 2010 general election, appearing in an election broadcast with fellow EastEnders actor Ross Kemp and hosting the silent auction at the Labour Party Women's Dinner on 6 December 2010 at Hotel Russell in London.
Alongside her acting career, Roberta is an experienced author. Her first book, Too Many Mothers, a memoir of an East London childhood, was published in October 2005 and her first novel, The Reinvention Of Ivy Brown, was published in November 2008.