Malandra Elizabeth Burrows was born on the 4th of November 1965 in Woolton, Liverpool and her first name, Malandra, is a portmanteau of her parents' names, Malcolm and Sandra. She attended King David High School in Childwall and her mother encouraged her at an early age to begin dancing, so she initially trained under Billy Pierce's mother Jean. Having appeared on Yorkshire Television's 'Junior Showtime' at the age of six, in 1974 she appeared as a singer on 'New Faces' aged of nine, using the name Malandra Newman, and became the series' youngest ever winner and then appeared on the same 'all-winners" show' with Les Dennis and Victoria Wood. Her interest in music continued throughout her early adolescence, and at age 13 she won the 1978 BBC Merseyside Songwriter of the Year award. After deciding that she wanted to be a performer, she joined the Everyman Youth Theatre in Liverpool, did classes at Liverpool Theatre School and also did productions with a local amateur dramatics company at St Peter's in Woolton, whilst continuing to perform musically. After leaving school with eleven O-levels, she enrolled in the Liverpool Drama School, where she remained for two years learning her future trade of acting and changing her surname to Burrows for registration with Equity, the British actors' union. Even before leaving drama school, she played several roles on television, appearing in 'The Practice' and 'Fell Tiger,' as well as taking two parts in the soap opera 'Brookside' (1983) - firstly as Lucy Collins' schoolfriend, Sue, and then as Lisa Morrissey, the girlfriend of Pat Hancock.
It was in 1985 that she joined Emmerdale Farm, (renamed Emmerdale in 1989), having auditioned for the role just a matter of months after leaving drama school. She made her first appearance in November 1985 and during her 16-year stint on the soap, Kathy Bates/Merrick/Tate/Glover/Humperdinck had a few marriages and had a near-death experience when she was hit by Steve Marchant's car after he had been carrying out a robbery leaving Kathy for dead. Her first husband Jackie Merrick accidentally shot himself in 1988; her second marriage to wheelchair-bound Chris Tate ended in 1994 when he admitted to an affair; in 1996 Kathy’s third husband Dave Glover died saving a baby he thought to be his own from a house fire as he was about to elope with his mistress Kim Tate. Poor Kathy was even dumped at the altar by her fourth fiancee Biff in 1999. Kathy was also kidnapped by a diamond thieving lord, knocked down by a horse-stealing conman, targeted by a double wife murderer who tried to drive her over a cliff, trapped in the wreckage of a bus hit by a lorry, and imprisoned for protesting against the local haulage company.
In 1996, Malandra was engaged to graphic designer Jonathan Armstead who she met at a football match where they got on like a house on fire. Jonathan whisked Malandra, 29, away for a romantic break in Portugal and the young lovers had the time of their life. However in 1998 she admitted that the previous two years claims that her marriage plans were 'on hold' were not true. The wedding to Jonathan Armstead, originally set for summer 1996, had been postponed supposedly because of her "hectic working schedule. In fact, the couple had split up permanently and the split had nothing to do with her work. Malandra blamed a brutal sex attack she suffered as a teenager and the trauma of her parents' divorce for her failure to find lasting love. "Since I was attacked at 16 I've been frightened of being in a close relationship. It's very hard for a partner to ever understand that," said 31 year old Malandra. She still suffers terrifying nightmares in which she relives the horrific assault which she revealed to The Mirror. "I need my creative space behind closed doors," she explained. "I can't write songs or practise when anyone else is around. So, inevitably, Jon and I went our separate ways. It was a difficult decision to stop living together, but not living together was better than destroying each other."
Malandra has also had some success in the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 11 with the song. 'Just This Side of Love' (1990). She released a self-penned single 'Summernight Love' (1996) which resulted in a recording contract with Warner Bros. and two more singles 'Carnival in Heaven' and 'Don't Leave Me' also hit the UK charts (albeit the lower reaches: No. 49 and No. 54, respectively).
During her career Malandra has played many parts in theatre as well, particularly in 1989 when she starred as Nancy in Oliver Twist at the Civic Theatre. She spent a year presenting a show called 'Soap Addicts' (2002) for a year on satellite, and then a year in the stage comedy 'Just Desserts' (2005) touring the UK. Also she appeared on a few games and reality shows including in 2006 when she appeared on Channel 5's 'The All Star Talent Show', coming fifth as a Fire Eater and entered late into the 2006 series of 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' on day seven. She starred as the Fairy during Christmas 2007, in 'Sleeping Beauty' at the Pavillion Theatre, Bournemouth. However, following her appearance in 'I'm A Celebrity', Malandra remained away from the spotlight for a number of years - until she came forward to talk about her battle with cancer. The 56-year-old was diagnosed in February, 2022, after finding a lump in her left breast a month earlier. She chose to share her story to encourage other women to get checked out.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/05/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-gary.html
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