Biography
Born Susan Frances Harmar Nicholls on 23 November 1943 in Walsall, West Midlands, England, the daughter of a former Conservative Member of Parliament, she counts among the few performers to headline two of Britain’s most-watched soap operas. After accumulating extensive stage credits, she entered the cast of the long-running ITV serial Crossroads in 1965 as waitress Marilyn Gates. Her on-screen popularity prompted the broadcast of a song she performed in the storyline, “Where Will You Be,” written and produced by Tony Hatch, which reached the UK Top 20 in 1968. Buoyed by that chart success, she left the series to pursue a singing career on tour, yet the follow-up single “All The Way To Heaven” faltered commercially, prompting her return to acting. Subsequent television work included guest roles in numerous programmes, among them the sitcoms The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Perrin, in which she portrayed Mr. Perrin’s secretary Miss Jones, and Up The Elephant And Round The Castle. In 1979 she joined the cast of Coronation Street and, from 1985 onward, has remained a fixture of the programme as Councillor Audrey Roberts.