Cheryl Fergison

Cheryl Fergison
Born	Cheryl Ann Campbell[citation needed] 4 March 1964 (1964-03-04) (age 47) South East London, London, England
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	White British
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Notable works	See below
Television	EastEnders
Spouse	Jamshed Saddiqi (divorced) Yassim al-Jemoni (2011—)
Children	1 son

Cheryl Fergison (born Cheryl Ann Campbell^{[citation needed]} on 4 March 1964) is a British actress most notable for playing Heather Trott in the long running BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Career

After training at Rose Bruford College, Fergison started playing the role of Heather Trott in June 2007. The idea of Heather was conceived by the EastEnders executive producer Diederick Santer. Prior to starring as Heather, Fergison made a brief appearance on the show as a friend of Mo Harris.

Her stage credits include Measure For Measure, for the Royal Shakespeare Company^[1] and most recently the 2006 season at the Scoop at More London.^[2]

She also appeared in The Bill in 2005 as Katie Williams, a prison inmate. Fergison is also known for playing Joanna Harding, the "Big Fat Lezza" in the Linda Flint sketches of Little Britain, opposite David Walliams. She also played Judy in The IT Crowd. Other British television series in which she has appeared include 'Allo 'Allo!, Little Miss Jocelyn, Bad Girls and Casualty, as well as playing Mrs. Lloyd in two episodes of Doctor Who, "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances". Fergison also starred in a Keane promotional video for Atlantic, which is on the Under The Iron Sea DVD.

Fergison made her first appearance in EastEnders on 26 June 2007. She had previously appeared in the soap as a cellmate of Mo Harris.

In November 2007, Fergison participated in the Children in Need charity appeal alongside her EastEnders co-stars which was broadcast on BBC One. On 26 June 2008, she appeared on an EastEnders special of the quiz show The Weakest Link and emerged victorious. She won £22,700 for Great Ormond Street charity.

Since appearing on EastEnders, she has made a variety of television appearances on shows such as GMTV, The Paul O'Grady Show, This Morning and Loose Women. She won 'Best Comedy Performance' Award in the 2008 Inside Soap Awards.^{[citation needed]} She was also nominated in the same category and for the Best Onscreen Partnership Award (alongside Linda Henry) at the 2008 British Soap Awards.^{[citation needed]} She starred in Lets Dance For Sport Relief, and danced to Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. She also appeared in the fourth episode of series 7 of Shooting Stars on BBC Two, broadcast in August 2010.

On 17th September 2011, it was revealed that Fergison had been axed from Eastenders and would leave at the end of her current contract, departing the show in early 2012.

Personal life

Fergison divorced her husband, Jamshed Saddiqi, in 2008.^[3] She currently lives in Sidcup with her son.^[3] She said giving birth on EastEnders was more difficult than giving birth in real life, due to the many takes needed to complete the scene on EastEnders compared to having a caesarean whilst having her real son.^{[citation needed]} She has recently been spotted in various hotels in the Milton Keynes area with local 20 year old boy Gianni Palmiero. It is reported they are madly in love and are planning to get married in the new year.^[3] In 2009, Fergison revealed that she is diabetic and clinically obese.^[3] She is a vegetarian.^[4]

Selected filmography

• EastEnders: E20 (2010)
• EastEnders (2007–2012)
• The IT Crowd (2006–07)
• Casualty (2006)
• Little Miss Jocelyn (2006)
• Little Britain (2005–06)
• Doctor Who (2005)
• The Bill (2003–04)
• Bad Girls (2006)
• 'Allo 'Allo (1992)

References

1. ^ http://www.ahds.rhul.ac.uk/ahdscollections/docroot/shakespeare/performancedetails.do?performanceId=11565
2. ^ http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821154435328
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Todd, Ben (11 July 2010). "EastEnders actress falls for Moroccan toyboy nearly 20 years younger than her". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1293825/EastEnders-star-marry-Moroccan-goatherd.html. Retrieved 12 July 2010. 
4. ^ "7 Fave Shows - Cheryl Fergison". Buzz (London: News Group Newspapers) (22): 10. 19 February 2011. "But I'm a vegetarian so I could never eat a kangaroo's bits!" 

External links

• Cheryl Fergison at the Internet Movie Database
• Cheryl Fergison at bbc.co.uk/eastenders

Persondata
Name	Fergison, Cheryl
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 March 1964
Place of birth	South East London, England
Date of death
Place of death