Janice Connolly

English actress and comedian

Janice Connolly (born 7 August 1953) is an English actress, comedian and artistic director. She runs the Birmingham based group Women and Theatre and performs stand up comedy as her character Mrs Barbara Nice. Connolly has also appeared in Coronation Street, That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights, Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere, Thin Ice and Dead Man Weds. In 2017, Connolly was awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Years Honours list for services to community arts in the West Midlands. In 2022, she began appearing in the BBC soap opera Doctors as Rosie Colton.

Connolly was born in Stockport on 7 August 1953. She left to study drama at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University).

Connolly was part of the Birmingham independent music scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She performed with the Surprises and the Evereadies regularly in Moseley at the Fighting Cocks. Singles championed by John Peel included "Jeremy Thorpe is Innocent" and "Martian Girlfriend". Her act is heavily reliant on interaction with the audience, for example, acting as an agony aunt to the audience. She played Holy Mary in Phoenix Nights, a part Dave Spikey claimed he wrote with her in mind and which was reprised in Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere written by Kay and Paddy McGuinness. In October 2015, Connolly recorded a pilot for BBC Radio 2's Comedy Showcase series, which was made available on the BBC iPlayer in November before being broadcast later that month. The BBC said: "Barbara is worried she and Ken (played by John Henshaw) are at risk of adding to the numbers of silver splitters they have nothing in common; Ken's idea of retirement involves a marathon session of Pointless and that doesn't fit with Barbara's idea of a well spent golden age." In October 2015, Connolly appeared in the stage adaptation of Meera Syal's novel Anita and Me at the Birmingham Rep, for which she was acclaimed for her "comic talent". Further stage appearances have included Birmingham Comedy Festival's Lost Hancocks: Vacant Lot (2017 2018). and Prime Time (2019). In September 2016, Connolly performed at the Keep Corbyn rally in Brighton in support of Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. On 20 April 2019, Connolly auditioned in the character of Barbara Nice on the television programme Britain's Got Talent. She made it to the live shows, however, she was later eliminated in the fifth semi final. In 2022, Connolly began portraying receptionist Rosie Colton in the BBC soap opera Doctors.

Connolly is married with two children and lives in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Connolly is the artistic director and founder member of the Birmingham based Women and Theatre. She ran the Laughing for a Change project, funded by Time to Change, which encouraged comedians and audiences to talk about mental health; this culminated in a stand up tour in 2014 featuring Seymour Mace, Rob Deering and others. In 2017, she appeared in the New Years Honours list in recognition of her contribution to community arts through her work with Women and Theatre. She was awarded a British Empire Medal.