{{short description|British actress (born 1961)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|13 December 1961}} | birth_place = | occupation = Actress | nationality = | education = Anna Scher Theatre | alma_mater = | known_for = Founding member of the BiBi Crew | television = ''No Problem!'' (1983–85)<br>''EastEnders'' (1986–89)<br>''The Real McCoy'' (1991) | notable_works = ''Carmel Roberts'' in ''EastEnders'' | awards = }} '''Judith Jacob''' (born 13 December 1961) is a British actress best known for her role as the health visitor Carmel Roberts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', a role she played from 1986 to 1989.<ref name=WGazette>[http://www.wgazette.com/spr06-carmel.html Larry Jaffee, "Judith Jacob Looks Back on Carmel", ''Walford Gazette'' interview with Judith Jacob] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518123439/http://www.wgazette.com/spr06-carmel.html |date=18 May 2011 }}, Spring 2006.</ref> During her period in Albert Square, her character suffered from severe marital abuse and her husband's attempted murder and eventual separation. She was a founding member of BiBi Crew, Britain's first comedy troupe made up entirely of Black actresses, founded in 1991. She also launched at the Hackney Empire the live talk show ''Judith Jacob Yabba Yabbas With Friends''.
==Career== Jacob attended London's Anna Scher Theatre, first going there at the age of 12,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bemaartsdotcom.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/yabba-yabba-with-judith-jacob/|title=yabba yabba with judith jacob|website=BEMA Arts|date=20 July 2014|access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref> and making her first appearance on television at the age of 13 in the BBC series ''Play for Today''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/advice/actor-judith-jacob-my-first-job-at-13-was-for-the-bbc-in-jumping-bean-bag|title=Actor Judith Jacob: My first job, at 13, was for the BBC in Jumping Bean Bag|first=John|last=Byrne|website=The Stage|date=10 March 2020|access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref> Two of her drama school classmates were also future ''EastEnders'' actors, Susan Tully (who played Michelle Fowler) and Phil Daniels (as Kevin Wicks). Before landing her role on ''EastEnders'', Jacob was a founding member of the Black Theatre Co-operative (BTC), a London collective that developed opportunities for actors, writers and directors to reflect a multi-cultural Britain through both stage work and television.<ref>{{cite web |title=About |url=http://www.nitrobeat.co.uk/about/ |website=Nitrobeat |access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref><ref name="Judith Is The Real McCoy">{{cite news|url= https://archive.voice-online.co.uk/article/judith-real-mccoy|title=Judith Is The Real McCoy|first=Davina|last=Hamilton|newspaper=The Voice|date=25 February 2016|access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref>
Before her role in ''EastEnders'', Jacob had been a regular cast member in the hospital drama ''Angels'' (1979–81) and the Channel 4 sitcom ''No Problem!'' (1983–85). Her other television credits include roles in the comedy sketch-show ''The Real McCoy'' (1991); ''The Queen's Nose'' (1995); ''Holby City'' (2003); ''Doctors'' (2003); and ''My Family'' (2004).
In 1991, she was a founding member of BiBi Crew, Britain's first comedy troupe made up entirely of Black actresses.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=|first=|title=Black British Women's Theatre|chapter=Theatre of Black Women|date=2020|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51459-4_2|work=Black British Women's Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics|pages=23–84|editor-last=Abram|editor-first=Nicola|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-51459-4_2|isbn=978-3-030-51459-4|s2cid=226651462|access-date=28 October 2020}}</ref>
She featured as a prison guard in the 2006 drama ''Provoked'' (2006), which told the true story of a Punjabi woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who left India to marry a London-based man, only to be badly abused, subsequently ending up in prison for murdering her abusive husband.
In May–June 2009, Jacob hosted ''Judith Jacob Yabba Yabbas with Friends'' in the Marie Lloyd Bar at the Hackney Empire, interviewing performing friends "to find out what makes them tick".<ref>[http://www.hackneyempire.co.uk/?lid=1011 "What's On"], Hackney Empire.</ref> The singers, actors and comedians participating included Felix Dexter, Janet Kay, Curtis Walker, Wayne Marshall, Victor Romero Evans, Tameka Empson and Noel McKoy. Explaining her reason for launching the show, Jacob has said: "I wanted to find out the backstories of some of the people that I admired. People tend to see success, but they rarely get to see the work that people put in that enabled them to get to where they are."<ref name="Judith Is The Real McCoy" />
Her recent stage credits include joining the cast of Barry Reckord's play ''White Witch'', at the Bloomsbury Theatre in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Judith-Jacob-Joins-The-Cast-Of-WHITE-WITCH-at-The-Bloomsbury-Theatre-20210819|title=Judith Jacob Joins The Cast Of WHITE WITCH at The Bloomsbury Theatre|website=Broadway World|first=Stephi|last= Wild|date=19 August 2021|access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/sep/10/white-witch-review-barry-reckord|title=White Witch review|first=Arifa|last=Akbar|newspaper=The Guardian|date=10 September 2021}}</ref>
Jacob's daughter Aisha worked with her mother on ''EastEnders'' during her time on the series in the 1980s, playing her young niece Aisha Roberts. She followed her mother's career path by also becoming an actress,<ref name=WGazette /> and is now known as Aisha Jacob Williams.
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7fSdyghDvA "Judith Jacob Interview"], YouTube * {{IMDb name|id=0414213|name=Judith Jacob}} * Larry Jaffee, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110518123439/http://www.wgazette.com/spr06-carmel.html "Judith Jacob Looks Back on Carmel"], ''Walford Gazette'', Issue 53, Spring 2006 * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDDPjpM84AM Amarsh Productions, "Beating The Odds - Judith Jacob Part 1"], YouTube
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Judith}} Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century British actresses Category:21st-century British actresses Category:Alumni of the Anna Scher Theatre School Category:Black British actresses Category:British soap opera actresses Category:British television actresses Category:English people of Sierra Leonean descent