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Actor- Alexandra Pigg
Alexandra was born in 1962 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, a British actress who first came to prominence as Petra Taylor in the multiple award winning TV soap opera Brookside.
Her best-known film appearances are as Elaine in Letter to Brezhnev( 1985), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award, and as Bridget Baines in A Chorus of Disapproval( 1988). She also starred in the BBC film Smart Money( 1986), Strapless( 1989) with Bridget Fonda, Chicago Joe and the Showgirl( 1990) with Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Lloyd, Bullseye!( 1990) starring Michael Caine and Roger Moore, and Immortal Beloved( 1994) with Gary Oldman.
Alexandra Pigg and Margi Clarke
Margi Clarke
Margi Clarke was born in Liverpool and brought up in nearby Kirkby. Her public career began in 1978, as a presenter on the late-night entertainment magazine show, What’ s On, which was just shown in the Granada region. She was known then simply as Margox.
In 1983, Clarke appeared as Fran in two early episodes of Channel 4’ s award winning soap opera Brookside, credited as Margi MacGregor. Her brother Frank wrote her in, because, as she later said,“ I had a gas bill which I couldn’ t pay!’
She came to greater notice when she featured in the acclaimed low-budget film Letter to Brezhnev( 1985) about two working class Liverpool girls who meet two Russian sailors. The film was made for approximately £ 50,000( Clarke called this“ the cocaine budget on Rambo”), and became an international hit. Margi originated her role of Theresa in Letter to Brezhnev a few years earlier when she played the role in a modest run at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983.
In 1986, at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, Clarke was awarded the prize for“ Most Promising Newcomer”. She followed this with the European art-house trilogy for the Kaurismäki brothers( Helsinki Napoli All Night Long, I Hired a Contract Killer and L. A. Without a Map).
She had a lead role in the films The Dressmaker( 1988) and Strike It Rich( 1990), and appeared in the Pet Shop Boys’ video for their 1987 single,“ Rent”. She was the stand-in host for Paula Yates on Channel 4’ s The Tube on several occasions.
In 1989, she was cast as Queenie in the long running BBC award winning series Making Out, set in a Manchester electronics factory and written by Debbie Horsfield. The show ran for three series. In 1991, she returned to presenting, this time on the late night ITV show The Good Sex Guide which gained unheard-of audience figures of 13 million for a show that aired at 10.35pm. She received a Royal Television Society( RTS) Award for“ Best Female Presenter” in 1994. A second series and third series followed, the last entitled The Good Sex Guide Abroad. Margi turned down an offer to take the series into a late night chat show format, the host eventually being Toyah Willcox.
In 1991 Clarke performed with Half Man Half Biscuit on the single“ No Regrets”, a cover of the classic song,“ Non, je ne regrette rien”, by Édith Piaf. At the same year she also portrayed Ronnie O’ Dowd, a sexy female boxer in her brother Frank’ s feature Blonde Fist.
Following the success of The Good Sex Guide, Carlton TV offered Margi her own day-time show, and the resulting programme, Swank, ran for two series. In 1994, she tried a new venture, stand-up comedy, and took her one-woman show 21st Century Scutt around the country- the tour included a stint at the Edinburgh