Caroline Harker
{{Short description|English stage and television actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Caroline Harker
| birth_name = Caroline Anne Owens
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}
| birth_place = London, England
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1990–present
| spouse = Anthony Calf
| children = 3
| mother = Polly Adams
| relatives = Susannah Harker (sister), Joseph Harker (great-great-grandfather)
}}
Caroline Harker (born 1966 as Caroline Anne Owens) is an English stage and television actress.
Career
Harker is known for her roles as Celia in the BBC's Middlemarch, and as Woman Police Constable (WPC) (later Detective Sgt.) Hazel Wallace in the ITV police drama A Touch of Frost (1992–2003).{{cite web|url=https://www.theatrclwyd.com/profile/caroline-harker|title=Caroline Harker|website=Theatr Clwyd|access-date=21 January 2021}} She also played Alicia Davenport in Coronation Street for four episodes in 2012.
Harker played the role of 'mother' in the Mike Kenny's adaptation of The Railway Children, directed by Damian Cruden and staged at the Waterloo International railway station. Harker is married to fellow actor Anthony Calf, with whom she appeared in The Madness of King George{{cite book|author=Alan Bennett|title=A Private Function|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihEvDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT215|date=26 May 2016|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-33290-8|pages=215}} and in a TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Riders{{cite book|title=BFI Film and Television Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_OFkAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=British Film Institute|isbn=978-0-85170-344-2|page=298}} They have three daughters.
From January 2023, Harker starred as Clairee in a production of Steel Magnolias at the Richmond Theatre, London. Harker appeared alongside Lucy Speed, Diana Vickers, and Elizabeth Ayodele.{{cite web|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23209341.diana-vickers-back-stage-steel-magnolias-tours-uk/|title=Diana Vickers back on stage as Steel Magnolias tours the UK|website=Lancashire Telegraph|last=Anson|first=John|date=23 December 2022|access-date=26 April 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/cast-for-steel-magnolias-tour_57863.html|title=Cast for Steel Magnolias tour announced|website=What's on Stage|last=Wood|first=Alex|date=22 November 2022|access-date=26 April 2023}} The production, going on to tour the UK, was rated 2/5 stars by What's on Stage.{{cite web|url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/richmond-theatre/reviews/steel-magnolias-richmond-tour_58236.html|title=Steel Magnolias at Richmond Theatre and on tour – review|website=What's on Stage|last=Satin|first=Ella|date=27 January 2023|access-date=26 April 2023}} In January 2025, Harker debuted as Doctor Caitlin Todd on the British soap opera Emmerdale.{{cite web |last1=Wheeler |first1=Olivia |title=Where you've seen Emmerdale's Dr Caitlin star before after Jacob's deadly blunder |url=https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/youve-seen-emmerdales-dr-caitlin-30698918 |website=Leeds Live |publisher=Reach plc |access-date=5 January 2025 |date=2 January 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Spadoni |first1=Shelley |last2=Govan |first2=Chloe |title=Emmerdale fans left floored as they work out where they've seen Dr Todd actress before |url=https://www.ok.co.uk/tv/emmerdale-fans-left-floored-work-34433297 |website=OK! |access-date=10 January 2025 |date=7 January 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Wheeler |first1=Olivia |title=ITV Emmerdale Dr Caitlin star's career from Coronation Street to Slow Horses |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/itv-emmerdale-dr-caitlin-stars-30698974 |website=Manchester Evening News |publisher=Reach plc |access-date=5 January 2025 |date=2 January 2025}}
Personal life
Harker was born in London, a daughter of actress Polly Adams and actor Richard Owens. She and her sisters, Nelly and Susannah, were brought up as Catholics and educated at a "strict" independent convent boarding school run by nuns in Sussex, and at the Central School of Speech and Drama in North London.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070205140844/http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/prideandprejudice/susannah_harker.shtml Susannah Harker] BBC Drama, April 2007.
She and her sisters are descended from theatrical designer Joseph Harker.{{cite web|url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/feb/05/susannah-harker-family-joseph-harker-scene-painting-london-studio|title=Harker family visit great-grandfather's threatened scene-painting studio|date=5 February 2017|author=Maev Kennedy|website=The Guardian|access-date=21 January 2021}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%;"
! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Film | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The Madness of King George | Mrs Fitzherbert | |
| 1999 | Een vrouw van het noorden | Charlotte | |
| 2007 | Lady Godiva: Back in the Saddle | Catherine Osbourne | |
| 2020 | The Croft | Suzanne | |
| 2021 | Mothering Sunday | Sylvia Hobday | |
| colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Television | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
| 1990 | Casualty | Helen Bradley / Tessa | 2 episodes |
| 1992–2003 | A Touch of Frost | W.P.C. Hazel Wallace | 11 episodes |
| 1993 | Riders | Tory Lovell | TV movie |
| rowspan="2"|1994 | Middlemarch | Celia Brooke | 7 episodes |
| Honey for Tea | Lucy Courtney | 7 episodes | |
| 1997 | Holding On | Vicky | 8 episodes |
| 1997–1998 | Keeping Mum | Wendy | 3 episodes |
| 1998 | Kavanagh QC | Rowena Featherstonehaugh | 1 episode |
| 2002 | Midsomer Murders | Tamsin Proctor | Episode: "Market For Murder" |
| 2003 | Foyle's War | Jane Hardiman | 1 episode |
| rowspan="2|2004 | Auf Wiedersehen, Pet | Pru Scott-Johns | 5 episodes |
| Murder in Suburbia | Tessa Northover | 1 episode | |
| rowspan="2"|2007 | The Man Who Lost His Head | Fiona Harrison | TV movie |
| Hana's Helpline | Betty | 6 episodes | |
| 2010 | Doctors | Claire Jarrett | Series 10 episode 170 |
| 2011 | New Tricks | Tabitha Hall-Chalmers | Series 8 episode 10: Tiger Tiger |
| rowspan="3"| 2012 | Coronation Street | Alicia Davenport | 4 episodes |
| Holby City | Imogen White | Series 14 episode 16: Here and Now | |
| rowspan="2"| Doctors | Elaine Stainton | Series 12 episode 52 | |
| 2016 | Caroline Vossman | Series 16 episode 131 | |
| 2021 | Toast of Tinseltown | Sue Pipkins | Series 1 episode 1: Anger Man |
| 2022 | Ten Percent | Casting director | Series 1 episode 8 |
| 2025
| Guest role |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0363100|name=Caroline Harker}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harker, Caroline}}
Category:English television actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:Actresses from London
{{England-actor-stub}}