Charlotte Lucas

London, England

Biography

Charlotte Lucas (born 29 May 1979) is an English actress and painter. Born into an acting family, Lucas is the granddaughter of Linden Travers, who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and Guy Leon. Charlotte is the great niece of Bill Travers who appeared in Born Free. Charlotte's mother is Susan Travers who starred in Peeping Tom. Lucas is the second cousin of actresses Penelope Wilton, Bill Travers' son Will, Richard Morant and Anna Massey. Her first cousin is BBC newsreader, Alice Bhandhukravi. She is best known for her role as Selena Geeson in Bad Girls. She also starred in the 2003 film Oh Marbella!, as well as a number of other TV roles including EastEnders, Midsomer Murders, Doctors, Not Going Out, and an episode of Adventure Inc. when filming transferred to the UK for four episodes. Lucas played the role of Mrs Bassat in BBC One's recent adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's, Jamaica Inn. Lucas attended Drama and Theatre Studies at Birmingham University, before concluding her studies at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Lucas' theatre credits include Red Velvet (Tricycle), Posh (West End and Royal Court Theatre), The Changeling (Young Vic), Yes, Prime Minister (West End), Fast Labour (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Hampstead), World’s End (Trafalgar Studios), Called to Account, Darfur – How Long is Never? and Fabulation (Tricycle), Habeas Corpus (Royal Theatre Northampton), A Thought in Three Parts (BAC) and Sharp Relief and Fen (Salisbury Playhouse).

Movies

Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.

More info
Judge John Deed
2001