Jan Pearson

Jan Pearson (born 12 April 1959) is an English actress. Pearson grew up in Wollaston, West Midlands, and began her career in various stage productions. She yearned to work in television and was soon cast as Kath Fox in the BBC medical drama Holby City in 1999, a role she stayed in until 2004. She then ventured back into theatre, before joining the BBC soap opera Doctors as Karen Hollins. For her role in Doctors, Pearson won the award for Best On-Screen Partnership twice alongside Chris Walker, at the 2010 and 2023 British Soap Awards. Pearson left Doctors in 2023.

Jan Pearson
Pearson in 2023
Born	(1959-04-12) 12 April 1959 (age 65) Wollaston, West Midlands, England
Alma mater	Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Television	Holby City Doctors
Partner	Richard Signy

Early life

Pearson was born on 12 April 1959 in Wollaston, West Midlands.^[1] She learned ballet from a young age until she was 16 since her mother wanted her to be a dancer.^[2] Pearson attended High Park School in Wollaston, then went to Kidderminster College to do her A-levels. She studied biology in an attempt to be a surgeon, but failed, as well as not being able to pursue it due to having shaky hands.^[1] Pearson then studied Combined Arts at the Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education, where she learned theatre, dance, writing, fine art and music. Her year was the first place in the UK to offer the course. Pearson did not want to go to drama school as she was worried that the people would be "luvvies".^[2] However, Pearson found that since most of the staff were fresh to their positions, the teaching was poor quality who did not offer real acting training.^[2]

After she left Crewe and Alsager, she applied to do a post-graduate course at the University of Bristol. However, they could only offer her a place in a two-year course, and since she only wanted to study for one year, she turned it down and chose to work.^[2] At the time, Pearson was living in Wales, working in bars and a paper factory. She also worked in the Royal Exchange pub on Enville Street in Wollaston.^[3] She was insistent on wanting to work in the acting industry and kept applying for positions. Due to having no experience or contacts, she found it difficult, but eventually landed a gig playing a princess for £25. She then worked as a dancer for a year.^[2]

Career

Without an agent, Pearson made her acting debut in an episode of The Chief.^[1] She then ventured into theatre and despite not having an agent, got numerous roles in stage productions. These productions included: The Norman Conquests and Beauty and the Beast.^[2] Pearson began to want to work in television, for which she garnered an agent. She was then cast in the BBC medical drama series Holby City in 1999. She opted to leave the series in 2004 after feeling that her character had nowhere left to go.^[1] Alongside her appearances in Holby City, she played the recurring role of Maggie Hayes in The Cops from 1999 to 2001. She wanted to return to theatre, but found it difficult to enter back into the industry following her television appearances.^[2] Pearson then appeared in films such as Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence and Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution.^[1]

On 23 February 2009, Pearson made her debut appearance in the role of receptionist Karen Hollins in the BBC soap opera Doctors.^[4] At the 2010 British Soap Awards, Pearson and Chris Walker, who played her on-screen husband Rob Hollins, won the award for Best On-Screen Partnership.^[5] In 2012, Pearson was nominated for Best Comedy Performance.^[6] She was later nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Actress and Best Leading Performer.^[7] On 30 March 2023, Pearson made her final appearance as Karen when the character dies.^[8] She explained that she wanted a break from her career after 14 consecutive years on the series. Pearson admitted that she asked producers to kill Karen off, to which they were surprisingly obliging. She was pleased with her exit scenes and stated: "they gave me a lovely death, actually – I was very pleased with it. Chris was extraordinary. It was great. I was very, very pleased."^[9]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Chief	Landlady	Episode: "4.2"
1994	Wycliffe	Mary Clark	Episode: "The Pea Green Boat"
1996	The Bill	Ann Davis	Episode: "Repossession"
1997	Underworld	Susan & William's Mother	2 episodes
1998	The Bill	Doctor	Episode: "Daydream Believer"
1999–2001	The Cops	Maggie Hayes	Recurring role
1999–2004	Holby City	Kath Fox	Series regular
2004	Where the Heart Is	Gina Thorpe	Episode: "Skin Deep"
2008	Doctors	Chrissie Clarkson	Episode: "Served Cold"
2005	Silent Witness	Heather Deans	Episode: "Mind and Body"
2007	The Bill	Kerry Malcolm	Episode: "Cop Killer: Part 1"
2004	Doctors	Michelle Howarth	Episode: "Life Skills"
2009	Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution	Narrator (voice)	Television film
2009–2023	Doctors	Karen Hollins	Regular role

Stage

Title	Role	Director	Venue	Ref.
The Censor	Miss Fontaine	Anthony Neilson	Royal Court Theatre	[10]
The Norman Conquests	Ruth	Terry Hands	Theatr Clwyd	[11]
Sabina	Emma Jung	Andy Wilson	Bush Theatre	[12]
Beauty and the Beast	Various	Laurence Boswell	Royal Shakespeare Company	[12]
Realism	Mother	Antony Neilson	National Theatre of Scotland	[12]
Long Time Dead	The Widow	Roxanna Silbert	Paines Plough	[12]
The Cleansing of Constance Brown	Various	James Yarker	Stan's Cafe	[12]
The Wide Night	Lorraine	Lucy Morrison	Clean Break	[12]
Little Eagles	Various	Roxanna Silbert	Royal Shakespeare Company	[12]
Relocated	Marjory	Anthony Neilson	Royal Court Theatre	[12]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2010	British Soap Awards	Best On-Screen Partnership (with Chris Walker)	Won	[13]
2012	British Soap Awards	Best Comedy Performance	Nominated	[14]
2013	British Soap Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[15]
2014	RTS Midlands Awards	Best Female Acting Performance	Nominated	[16]
2014	British Soap Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[17]
2016	British Soap Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[18]
2018	British Soap Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[19]
2021	Inside Soap Awards	Best Daytime Star	Nominated	[20]
2022	British Soap Awards	Best Leading Performer	Nominated	[7]
2022	British Soap Awards	Best On-Screen Partnership (with Walker)	Nominated	[21]
2022	Inside Soap Awards	Best Daytime Star	Nominated	[22]
2023	British Soap Awards	Best On-Screen Partnership (with Walker)	Won	[23]
2023	Inside Soap Awards	Best Daytime Star	Nominated	[24]

References

1. "Jan Pearson". holby.tv. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
2. "An Interview With Jan Pearson". Stan's Cafe. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
3. Laws, Roz (22 November 2009). "Doctors star Jan Pearson on Black Country accents and bondage gear". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
4. Kilkelly, Daniel (5 May 2010). "'Doctors' pair: 'We're good at arguing'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
5. "EastEnders wins best soap at British Soap Awards". What's on TV. 8 May 2010. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
6. "Who's in line for soap awards". Sky News. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
7. Houghton, Rianne (21 April 2022). "British Soap Awards 2022 reveals longlist for viewer categories". Digital Spy. (Hearst Communications). Retrieved 19 May 2022.
8. "Doctors". TV Times. 1–7 April 2023. p. 27. Rob is utterly bereft following Karen's shock death
9. Kilkelly, Daniel. "Doctors star Jan Pearson explains Karen Hollins' shock death storyline". Digital Spy. (Hearst Communications). Retrieved 9 June 2023.
10. "The Censor". Royal Court Theatre. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
11. "Theatre: ... And beyond". The Independent. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
12. "Jan Pearson". Creative Artists Management. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
13. "The British Soap Awards 2010 Winners Release". ITV. 10 May 2010. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
14. Kilkelly, Daniel (5 April 2012). "British Soap Awards 2012: Full viewer and panel shortlist revealed". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
15. "British Soap Awards 2013: the winners in full". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
16. "Awards -- Midlands". Royal Television Society. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
17. "British Soap Awards 2014: full list of winners revealed". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
18. "British Soap Awards 2016 full winners list: Did your favourites take home prizes?". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
19. "British Soap Awards 2018 winners list in full: Coronation Street named best soap". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
20. "The Inside Soap Awards 2021". Inside Soap. 28 September 2021.
21. Warner, Sam (10 May 2022). "British Soap Awards 2022 announces full nominations shortlist". Digital Spy. (Hearst Communications). Retrieved 11 May 2022.
22. Harp, Justin (18 July 2022). "Inside Soap Awards announces nominations and new category for 2022 event". Digital Spy. (Hearst Communications). Retrieved 19 July 2022.
23. Barrett, Kerry (2 May 2023). "The British Soap Awards 2023: shortlist nominations, categories, how to vote and all we know". (Future plc). Retrieved 3 May 2023.
24. "The Inside Soap Awards 2023 - cast your vote now!". Inside Soap. 4–10 July 2023.

External links

• Jan Pearson at IMDb