Beth Cordingly

Beth Cordingly
Beth Cordingly (2009)
Born	Rebecca Kate Cordingly (1976-11-01) 1 November 1976 Brighton, England
Height	5'6 (167cm)
Spouse(s)	Adam Speers (2011 - present)
Children	1
Website
Official website

Rebecca "Beth" Kate Cordingly (born 1 November 1976^[1]) is an English actress and writer, best known for her role as PC Kerry Young in the ITV police drama The Bill.

Biography

Cordingly was born in Brighton. She attended Brighton and Hove High School where she was well known for her lead roles in plays, and her enthusiasm for acting and singing. She made her first major television appearance in the soap opera, Family Affairs as troubled teenager Sara Warrington; a lapdancer who blew most of her wages on cocaine.^[2]

She left Birmingham University with a Double First in English and Drama^[3] before going on to train at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Beth started out in theatre, playing roles in adaptions of Othello and played the lead in Noël Coward's Semi-Monde at The Lyric Theatre in the West End.^[4]

In 2002, she joined The Bill as PC Kerry Young,^[5] which became her biggest role and one of the show's much loved characters. After her departure from the show when her character was brutally murdered in 2004, she then went on to appear as a stripper in the comedy series Funland. In 2008, she played Veronica in Charlie Brooker's Dead Set, a TV horror drama set in the Big Brother house during a zombie apocalypse.^[6]

She is also the narrator on the audiobook of Penny Smith's novel, Summer Holiday.^[7]

Writing career

Alongside her acting career, Cordingly has an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London.^[8] In 2009, her short story Marianne and Ellie was selected by Sarah Waters to be published in an anthology of short stories, Dancing with Mr. Darcy. In 2012, she won the Litro magazine 'Dutch Double' short story competition for her short story about Amsterdam, The Bike Ride.^[9]

Personal life

Cordingly previously dated The Bill co-star Daniel MacPherson. In 2006, Cordingly met her husband, Adam Speers, a theatre director and producer; they married on 29 May 2011^[10] and live in London. In 2013, Cordingly gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter.

Her father is David Cordingly, an authority on pirates who has written books and appeared in numerous documentaries on the subject.

Charity work

Cordingly is an active ambassador to the Anti-Bullying Alliance, speaking at the Anti-bullying week conference 2006, at Westminster Central Hall. She is an Ambassador for ChildLine and she ran the London Marathon in 2004 to raise money for them. She was given an award at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom for her outstanding contributions to the NSPCC.^[11]

Filmography

TV and film

Theatre

References

External links

• Official website
• Beth Cordingly at the Internet Movie Database
• Beth Cordingly at Spotlight
• Cordingly interview at icSouthlondon