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Lindsey Coulson (born in London, 1960) is an English actress, best known for her role as Carol Jackson in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Coulson was a hairdresser for six years, before studying acting at Mountview. She went on to appear in such works as an experimental production of Hamlet, in which she played a 33-weeks pregnant Ophelia.^[1]

Her TV debut was in A Bear Behind (1989), a children's series in which she and a puppet bear called Boz adventured round the country in their horse-drawn caravan and lived on a houseboat.

Her big television break came in 1993, when she won the part of Carol, the feisty battleaxe of the Jackson family, in the successful BBC serial drama EastEnders. Here, Coulson became a household name as her gutsy character weathered relationship break-ups, child kidnapping and abortion. She remained in the role for four years, but a desire to try her hand at other roles prompted her to quit the role in 1997.

Coulson went on to star in Out of Hours alongside John McArdle, but after the medical drama failed to get commissioned for a second series, she rejoined EastEnders for a 3-month stint to help facilitate the exit of Patsy Palmer, who played her on-screen daughter Bianca Jackson.

Coulson in BBC's Clocking Off

Since quitting EastEnders for a second time Coulson's career has taken off, she's had successful roles in Clocking Off, Judge John Deed, Paradise Heights, Manchild, The Stretford Wives, Dalziel and Pascoe, Murder Investigation Team, The Last Detective, Urban Gothic and Where the Heart Is among others. She also appeared in a critically-acclaimed film, AKA, which was shown at Robert Redford's Sundance film festival in 2003.

On stage, Coulson has appeared in Snake at the Hampstead Theatre and has played Ophelia in Hamlet. She also starred in Lucky Heather on BBC Radio 4.

In 2006, Coulson played Ann Peterson in the Jimmy McGovern drama The Street. Each episode of the drama focused on the stories of the people living in a particular house in the street. Coulson's on-screen husband Brian, a school teacher, was played by Neil Dudgeon.

Her latest project was playing the role of Hester Reed in the ITV police drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: The Chinese Walls (2006).

Coulson has been married twice. Her first husband was the showbusiness agent Philip Chard and the couple have a daughter named Molly, who was born in 1993. In 1996, the Sunday Mirror ran a story claiming that Chard had uncovered an alleged affair between Coulson and her EastEnders co-star, Michael French, who played David Wicks.^[2] In addition, it was alleged that French, who was outed as a bisexual by The Mirror that same year, claimed to have been involved in a homosexual relationship with Coulson's husband in 1983. Chard denies the affair and believes that French made up the allegation to deliberately wreck his marriage after he rejected his homosexual advances.^[3][2] Coulson and Chard divorced and were subsequently involved in a legal battle regarding access to their daughter Molly.^[4]

Following her split from Chard in 1996, Coulson dated French for several months before splitting with him to begin dating Harry Harris, the brother of Patsy Palmer, who played her daughter Bianca in EastEnders.^[5] Coulson and Harris married in 2002 and have a daughter together named Grace, who was born in 1999.

• Lindsey Coulson IMDB Entry