Jan Francis

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Jan Francis (born August 5 1947 in London) is an English actress.

After training as a dancer, Francis performed with the Royal Ballet. She made the transfer to becoming an actress through choreography, before landing BBC television drama roles roles including Kschessinska in "Fall of Eagles" and Lisa Colbert in "Secret Army."

She played the part of Susie Dean in Alan Plater's adaptation of the J.B. Priestley novel "The Good Companions" which was produced by Yorkshire Television in 1980.

In 1979 she starred in "Dracula" as Mina Van Helsing, opposite Sir Laurence Olivier as Abraham Van Helsing.

As a result, writer John Sullivan met her and later created her most famous part as Penny Warrender in the 1980s BBC sitcom "Just Good Friends".

She later played Nick's "old enough to be his mother" girlfriend in the sitcom "My Family," and co-starred with Dennis Waterman as Sally Hardcastle in the 1989-1992 ITV drama series "Stay Lucky".

During the late 80's - early 90's she starred in the Lloyds Bank television commercials alongside Nigel Havers.

In 2006, she guest starred in ITV1 prison drama Bad Girls as interior designer, Catherine Earlham. She was sent to Larkhall on remand for embezzelment and played a key role in the exit storyline for fellow inmate, Darlene Cake (played by Antonia Okonma). She is also a regular performer (and part of the original cast) of the long-running touring play "Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners" produced by Marc Sinden.

External links

*imdb name|id=0290186|name=Jan Francis

Now lives in Woodchurch, Kent