Amanda Burton (Wikipedia)
Amanda Burton is an Irish actress, well known for her television roles, including Heather Black in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, Beth Glover in Peak Practice, Sam Ryan in the BBC crime drama series Silent Witness, Clare Blake in The Commander and Karen Fisher in Waterloo Road.
Burton was born in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the youngest of four sisters. Her father was a primary school headmaster at Ballougry Primary School, which she attended as a child.[2] After later attending Londonderry High School she moved to England at the age of 18, where she spent three years studying drama at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre.[2]
Although best known for her television roles, Burton had worked almost exclusively in the theatre prior to landing the role of Heather Black in Channel 4’s Liverpool-based flagship drama series Brookside. After nearly four years in the role, during which time Heather had become one of the show’s most-popular residents of Brookside Close, she began to lose sympathy with her character and decided to leave.[3] Following her departure her television work consisted mainly of guest appearances, with parts in a number of peak-time drama series including Minder, Inspector Morse, Boon, Medics, Van Der Valk, Stay Lucky and Lovejoy.
In 1993 Burton starred alongside Kevin Whately in Peak Practice. She played the role of Doctor Beth Glover in the medical drama series, based in Derbyshire‘s Peak District, for three series until her departure in 1995. In 1996 she then took the main role of Professor Sam Ryan in the highly acclaimed BBC drama Silent Witness; she held this role until 2004. Though her decision to portray Ryan as a reflective personality – sometimes staring into space – was satirised by the comedienne Dawn French, she helped lay the groundwork for what was to become one of the most popular BBC series, continuing to run (albeit without her) to the present (February 2019). After Silent Witness, she took on the role of Prosecutor Helen West in a series based on Frances Fyfield‘s novels. She also played Aunt Polly in a 2003 remake of Pollyanna. One of her most recent roles is as Commander Clare Blake in Lynda La Plante’s drama, The Commander.
In 2010, Burton appeared in the sixth series of BBC drama Waterloo Road as new head teacher, Karen Fisher,[4] and departed the show in 2011.[5] She recently starred in BBC1’s Celebrity Masterchef and made it through to the semi-finals. She appeared as gangster’s wife Cherie Le Saux in ITV drama The Level in Autumn 2016.[6]
