Alison Pargeter is an English actress who played the roles of stalker Sarah Cairns in the BBCsoap operaEastEnders, Mary Slessor in an 11-part television series of Mary Slessor, the Nag's Head barmaid called Val in the BBC Only Fools and Horses prequel Rock & Chips, and Margaret Campbell in the third series of Outlander.
Career
Television appearances
Pargeter has made several guest appearances over the years, she has appeared in the Channel 5 Horror series Urban Gothic, the long-running ITVpolice drama series The Bill, Strange, Dalziel and Pascoe, and Holby City. Between that time In 2004, she played a recurring role which was Martin Fowler's stalker Sarah Cairns in EastEnders, who appeared in 21 episodes, She was a barmaid who worked in Angie's Den club, and tried to split Martin Fowler up from his wife Sonia following a drunken night together. She exited the series following a fight where she accidentally stabbed Martin and got committed to a mental institution. Sinces leaving EastEnders she moved back, and returned to doing guest appearances again, including The Courtroom, Love Soup, Channel 4 comedy series Green Wing, and returned for a second guest appearance in The Bill. In 2008, Pargeter played another major the role called Mary Slessor in the Mary Slessor an 11-part television series. Since then, she went back to doing guest appearances onces again, such as the Channel 4 comedy series Pete Versus Life, Rock & Chips, The Crimson Petal and the White, inciding three guest roles in Doctors, Crashing, Outlander, The Dumping Ground, four guest roles in Casualty, Vanity Fair, Chernobyl, Catch-22 and most recently she appeared in Father Brown. In 2004 she appeared in the television advertisement for John Smith's bitter "Annie, I'm not your Daddy" which starred Peter Kay. Also in 2012 she appeared in a television advertisement for Miracle Whip: Village. Most recently she played a role as a house wife for TV commercial Volvic Juicy drink.
Films
Pargeter has appeared in seven films such as Calendar Girls, Mad George, Angel, Reuniting the Rubins, The National Union of Space People, The Little Stranger and Shafted which is currently still in pre-production.
Theatre
Pargeter was a member of the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where she was directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn in a trilogy of plays known collectively as Damsels in Distress, which subsequently transferred to the West End. For this, she won Best Newcomer in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and was nominated for an Evening Standard award, Manchester Evening News Award and a Whatsonstage Award. Later parts include Sugar Daddies, again written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn; She Stoops to Conquer at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, for which she was nominated for a second Manchester Evening News award; and the title role of Effie Gray in The Countess, playing opposite Nick Moran at the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly in June 2005. She also spent a year touring in the musical Grease playing the role of Jan who was one of the Pink Ladies in 1999. In 2008 she recorded the voice of 'Wendy Darling' in a musical adaptation of Peter Pan with the music lyrics by Dallison/Wherry and was also narrated by Joe Parquale as 'Smee'. Pargeter has starred in several Christmas Pantomimes for children over the years, she appeared in Alice In Wonderland, Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella. In July 2011 Pargeter played the role of Gertrude Riall at the Manchester International Festival in a Victoria Wood's play called That Day We Sang''. Between February and June 2013, Pargeter went on A National Tour and played the role of Eliante in the Roger McGough's play called The Misanthrope and on 10 March 2013 The Misanthrope also went live from the Everyman Playhouse and English Touring Theatre on BBC Radio 3. Between 2013 and 2016, she appeared in two more stage plays including Sex Cells and her more recent was All My Sons.
