Frances Barber

Life and career

Barber was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. Her parents are S. W. Brookes and Gladys Simpson; Barber is the fourth of six children. She attended the Wolverhampton Municipal Grammar School.

Barber studied drama at Bangor University, in Wales where she was a contemporary of director Danny Boyle, who became her boyfriend.

With the Pet Shop Boys, she appeared in their musical Closer to Heaven in 2001 as well as guest singer for the song "Friendly Fire" on their 2006 live concert at the Mermaid Theatre. She also appeared alongside Ian McKellen and Roger Allam in the Old Vic's pantomime production of Aladdin in the 2005–06 Christmas season. She again starred with Ian McKellen in 2007 playing Goneril in Trevor Nunn's production of King Lear and as Arkadina in Chekhov's The Seagull with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon followed by a world tour throughout the year. They again performed the two plays in repertory at the New London Theatre on Drury Lane, opening in November 2007 and closing mid-January 2008.

In 2011, she guest-starred in the Doctor Who episodes A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song (and 5 other episodes, sometimes uncredited) as Madame Kovarian. She also played alongside then Doctor Who star Karen Gillan in the television film We'll Take Manhattan as Diana Vreeland.

In 2006, she received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Wolverhampton.

Political views

In May 2017, Barber endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 UK general election.