Jill Halfpenny

Jill Halfpenny (born 15 July 1975) is an English actress. Her notable roles include Rebecca Hopkins in ITV soap opera Coronation Street (1999–2000), Kate Mitchell in BBC One soap opera EastEnders (2002–2005), Izzie Redpath in Waterloo Road (2006–2007), and Diane Manning in In The Club (2014–2016). She won the second series of the television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing in 2004. Career Halfpenny began her acting career in 1989 at the age of 14 in the BBC television children's drama series Byker Grove, filmed in the Benwell area of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her other early work included a recurring role as Kelly in Peak Practice in 1999, plus appearances in Dalziel and Pascoe, Barbara and Coronation Street on television, and theatre with the acclaimed Hull Truck Theatre Company. In 2002, Halfpenny took the major role of Kate Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, in which her character was introduced as a police officer sent to honey trap Phil Mitchell; after Kate's cover was blown, she quit the police force, married Phil and opened a nail salon. Halfpenny's final scenes were broadcast in January 2005, after her character was axed. In 2004, Halfpenny participated in the BBC One pro-celebrity ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing, dancing with professional Darren Bennett. The couple won the competition after receiving the full 40 marks from the judges in the final. On 14 December 2004, Halfpenny and Darren Bennett made an appearance on stage at the Royal Variety Performance, which took place at the London Coliseum. In a special one-off Christmas programme which pitted the Strictly Come Dancing champions (and other top performing couples) from series one and two against each other, Halfpenny and Bennett were crowned as Champions of Champions. In December, it was announced that she would take the role of Roxie Hart in the West End musical Chicago, starting in January 2005. In 2005, Halfpenny appeared in The Bodies, a new play adapted from an Émile Zola novel by Peter Flannery at the Live Theatre, Newcastle, opposite her real-life husband, actor Craig Conway. In 2005 and 2006, Halfpenny appeared in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. She was the guest presenter for and performed in the first show of the BBC four-part series The Sound of Musicals in January 2006, and played Roxy Ball in Shameless in an episode broadcast on 31 January 2006. In 2006, Halfpenny made a guest appearance in an episode of The Catherine Tate Show.