Lorna Laidlaw

Laidlaw began her television career in 1994, with various guest appearances in series such as Blue Heaven, Playing the Field, Emmerdale and The Afternoon Play.^[1] In 2009, Laidlaw began portraying the recurring role of Miss Smiley in the CBeebies series Grandpa in My Pocket.^[2][3] Laidlaw left the series in 2014.^[4] Alongside these acting roles, she was also a co-presenter on the BBC children's series Tikkabilla from 2002 to 2007.^[5] From 2011 to 2019, Laidlaw portrayed the role of Mrs Tembe in the BBC soap opera Doctors. She was nominated for several awards for this role; including Best Actress for three years at The British Soap Awards.^[1] She also won the Royal Television Society award for Best Actress in 2012,^[6] as well as the award for Best Daytime Star at the Inside Soap Awards in 2017.^[7] In 2016, Laidlaw made her directorial debut when she directed three episodes of Doctors. On 8 January 2019, it was announced that she had left the role of Mrs Tembe. She explained: "the character was just fantastic but I think I'd done as much as I possibly could with her at that moment".^[8][9] In April 2019, it was announced that Laidlaw would be joining the cast of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.^[10] She made her first appearance as Aggie Bailey on 12 June 2019.^[11][12] Her character made an unannounced final appearance in 2023, with Laidlaw confirming a year later that she had quit the role.^[13]