Tina Bursill

Tina Bursill was born on 24 July 1951, in Sydney.^{[citation needed]}

Bursill's father, Keith, worked as an apprentice marine engineer on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour from the age of 15, and joined the merchant marines when Bursill was a baby, travelling for about 14 years. He was diagnosed with asbestosis in the 1980s.^[1] Her mother was a talented coloratura soprano, but did not follow her dreams. She had a love of painting, film and theatre and frequently took Bursill to see live shows from a very young age.^[2]

During the school holidays, Bursill would visit her paternal grandfather, who was a builder, in Forster, on the mid-north New South Wales coast.^[1]

Bursill met her first boyfriend when she was 15 and they were together for several years. She thought it would lead to marriage and babies, but it was not to be.^[1]

Initially, Bursill intended to pursue a career in anthropology, however, she set her sights on becoming an actress.^{[citation needed]} She was initially rejected from National Institute of Dramatic Art,^[1] but later studied there.^[2]

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

Bursill started her career in musicals and stand-up comedy, including stagings of Grease (1972) and Godspell (1972–1973), before being cast in more serious theatre productions, such as Zastrozzi (1982) and On Golden Pond (1992). She also starred in Macbeth as Lady Macbeth for Sydney's Ensemble Theatre.^[3][4]

More recently, Bursill was in a 2022 production of Cinderella with Opera Australia and a 2024 staging of The Children with STCSA.^[3][4]

Bursill made her television debut in 1973, appearing in the lead role of short-lived comedy series The People Next Door,^[5] as Meg Penrose.^[4] She was a regular character alongside Michele Fawdon and Tony Sheldon in daily soap opera The Unisexers which was launched in 1975 on the Nine Network, however the program's low ratings led to its cancellation and removal from broadcast after only three weeks.^[6][7]

Following this were several guest appearances, before she received the role of ambitious assistant airport manager Louise Carter in Seven Network drama series Skyways, for which she appeared in 109 episodes from 1979^[8][5] to 1981. During this period, Bursill also had a recurring role on police drama series, King's Men between 1976 and 1980, as undercover policewoman, 'Jaybee' Giddings. However, low ratings ensured the series was axed after only 13 episodes.^[9]

In 1982, Bursill appeared in ten-part ABC drama miniseries Winner Take All, as Liz Bell, mistress of the main character Dick Coleman’s mistress, mining company employee.^[10] The following year, she was cast in the role of Sonia Stevens on Network Ten's cult classic prison drama series Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H), in which she was introduced in the fifth season as a devious ice queen, imprisoned for heroin trafficking. She remained in the series until 1984.^{[citation needed]} After departing Prisoner, Bursill appeared in recurring roles in A Country Practice as Bianca Forbes-Hamilton (1981) and Cecily Day (1985)^[4] and Hey Dad..! as Det. Sgt. Anne Burke (1987).^[4]

Bursill had a recurring role on the Seven Network soap opera Home and Away in 1992, as schoolteacher Lois Crawford. She later also played the recurring role Stella Patterson from 2001 to 2002.^[11] In 1997, she landed a role in Heartbreak High from season five, portraying Hilary Scheppers^[12] (the mother of characters Ryan and Anita),^[13] after having previously appeared in the series a year earlier as TV news reporter, Trish Ferro.^[14]

Bursill portrayed Moody family matriarch, Maree, in the 2011 miniseries A Moody Christmas.^[11] She then reprised her role as Maree in the series follow-up, The Moodys, in 2014.^[4] Also in 2014, she had a recurring guest role in drama series The Time of Our Lives, as Lenore,^[8] the alcoholic mother of Herb (Stephen Curry).^[15] That same year, during its thirtieth season, Bursill appeared in long-running soap opera Neighbours, in the recurring role of Kathy Carpenter,^[16] mother of Lauren Turner (Kate Kendall) and ex-wife of Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver). She had previously appeared opposite Oliver in King's Men.^[17]

Bursill took a brief hiatus from acting, to care full time for her ailing father. Six weeks after he died, she auditioned for drama series Doctor Doctor^[2] landing the role of Meryl Knight, mayor and mother of disgraced surgeon Hugh Knight (Rodger Corser), in 2016.^[8] Steve Bisley played the role of her husband.^[1] She portrayed Meryl for seasons one to five.^[4] The role saw her nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 2017. The following year she was nominated once more, this time for Best Actress in a Leading Role.^[18][4]

Almost 40 years after appearing in Prisoner, Bursill featured in the 2021 final season of the show's reimagining, Wentworth, in the role of murderer Eve Wilder, a role originated by Lynda Stoner in the original series.^[19][20] Bursill's original Prisoner role of Sonia Stevens had been reimagined by Sigrid Thornton, not long prior.^[20]

In 2023, Bursill had a recurring role in six-part mystery drama series One Night, as Helen Owen, the estranged mother of Tess, played by English actress Jodie Whittaker.^[21][22] She then appeared in Foxtel/Binge drama Strife, also returning for the second season.^[23] In 2023, Bursill also had a role in Stan post-war series Ten Pound Poms, playing Mrs Walker, mother of JJ, played by Stephen Curry (making it the second series in which she played Curry's mother). She reprised the role in the show's second season in 2025.^[24][25]

2026 saw Bursill appear in her first children's series Caper Crew, for ABC, playing stylishly dressed grandmother, Queenie.^[26] On 27 March 2026, she was named in the extended cast for the third season of Return to Paradise, the Australian spin-off of British crime series Death in Paradise.^[27]

Bursill made her feature film debut in 1975 when she was cast in The Great Macarthy, a football-based comedy with John Jarratt and Barry Humphries.^[28][1] Her next film role came in 1984, when she appeared in Melvin, Son of Alvin (the second sequel to the 1973 comedy, Alvin Purple), as 60 Minutes-style reporter, Dee Tanner.^[29] In 1987, she starred in Jilted,^[30] which earned her an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.^[31]

Further film credits include Afraid to Dance (1988), Spider and Rose (1994), Billy's Holiday (1995), The Goddess of 1967 (2000), Son of the Mask (2005), Three Blind Mice (2007), Wish You Were Here (2012) and The Flip Side (2018).^[4][32]

She has also had roles in several made-for-television films, including biopic Never Tell Me Never (1998) alongside Claudia Karvan and Michael Caton,^[33] Aftershocks (1998), a docudrama about the 1989 Newcastle earthquake with Jeremy Sims, Susie Porter and Lynette Curran,^[34] and Heroes' Mountain (2002), retelling the true story of the 1997 Thredbo landslide and the plight of Stuart Diver (as played by Craig McLachlan).^[35] In 2013, she played the role of Pat in the TV film Jack Irish: Dead Point, opposite Guy Pearce in the title role. This also reunited her with her The Great Macarthy co-star Barry Humphries.^[1][4]

Bursill was in an on-and-off relationship with Australian singer Shirley Strachan, while she was working on the series Skyways and during Strachan's tenure on Shirl's Neighbourhood. The pair also did several charity junkets together during that time.^[5] Bursill has never been married but her most significant relationship lasted 14 years and she is on good terms with both him and his two daughters.^[1]

Bursill's father had a stroke in the late 1990s and then a mini-stroke in 2015, so she moved in with him to care for him in the final year of his life. Her mother died of dementia in 2013.^[1]

Year	Title	Role	Type	Ref.
1973	Solomon		TV film	[36]
1975	The Great Macarthy	Miss Deevil	Feature film	[28][1][4]
1978	A Good Thing Going	Jeanette	TV film	[4]
1984	Melvin, Son of Alvin	Reporter Dee Tanner	Feature film	[29][4]
1985	Robbery	Suzy	TV film
1986	The Three Musketeers	Voice	Animated TV film
	A Single Life	Billie Russell	TV film
1987	Jilted	Paula	Feature film	[30][4]
1989	Afraid to Dance	Driving Woman	Feature film	[4]
1991	Dusty Hearts		Short film	[37]
1992	The Distant Home	Dr. Rosen	TV film	[4]
1994	Spider and Rose	Sister Abbott	Feature film	[4]
1995	Billy's Holiday	Louise	Feature film	[4]
1997	Entertaining Angels	Dr Crystal Stein	Short film	[38][4]
1998	Never Tell Me Never	Virginia	TV film	[33]
	Aftershocks	Kerri Ingram	TV film	[34][4]
2000	The Goddess of 1967	Esther	Feature film	[4]
	Cheek to Cheek	Julie	Short film	[39][4]
2002	Heroes' Mountain	Margy Donald	TV film	[35][4]
2003	Saturn's Return	Sheila	Short film (also part of the French anthology film Courts mais GAY: Tome 5	[40][4]
	BlackJack	Carmen Seaton	TV film	[4]
	The Hit		Short film	[41]
2004	Small Claims	Rhonda	TV film	[42]
	Plains Empty	Bar Woman	Short film	[43][4][4]
2005	Son of the Mask	Network Executive	Feature film	[4]
2007	Shuffle	Denise	Short film	[44][4]
	One of the Lucky Ones	Additional Voice (voice)	Short film
	Pleasance	Marie	Short film	[45][4]
2008	Three Blind Mice	Candy	Feature film	[4]
2011	Random 8	Narrator / Investigator	Short film	[46]
2012	Wish You Were Here	Margie McKinney	Feature film	[4]
2013	Bloody Henry	Jane	Short film	[47]
2014	Jack Irish: Dead Point	Pat	TV film	[4]
2015	Going Down		Short film	[48][4]
2018	The Flip Side	Iris	Feature film	[49][4]
	Julia	Helen	Short film	[4]

Year	Title	Role	Type	Ref
1973	The People Next Door	Meg Penrose	20 episodes	[5][4]
1974	Silent Number	Annette	1 episode
	A Touch of Reverence		Miniseries
1975	The Unisexers	Felicity	16 episodes	[6][7]
	Matlock Police	Jennifer Craig	1 episode
	The Dave Allen Show in Australia	Various characters
1976	Alvin Purple	Bernice	Episode 9: "The Rhythm Method"	[4][50]
	King's Men	Policewoman Jaybee Giddings	13 episodes	[9]
	The Emigrants	Nurse Watson	Episode 3: "13,000 Miles Away"
1978	Chopper Squad	Mother	Season 1, episode 12: "Dangerous Weapon"	[51]
1979	The Oracle		1 episode
1979–1980	Skyways	Louise Carter	136 episodes	[5]
1981	Holiday Island	Elizabeth	Episode 27: "Never Too Old"
1981; 1986	A Country Practice	Bianca Forbes-Hamilton / Cecily Day	2 episodes / 14 episodes	[4]
1982	Winner Take All	Liz Bell	Miniseries, 10 episodes	[10]
1983–1984	Prisoner	Sonia Stevens	54 episodes
1984	Special Squad	Meredith	Episode 25: "The Bribe"
1985	The Fast Lane	Felicity	1 episode	[52]
1987	Australian Traineeship System	Herself	Documentary
	Willing and Abel	Margaret Hill	3 episodes
	Hey Dad...!	Det. Sgt. Anne Burke	6 episodes	[4]
1987–1988	Rafferty's Rules	Erica Jamison	2 episodes	[53][54]
1989	This Man... This Woman	Liz Maddocks	Miniseries, 2 episodes	[4][55]
1990	Jackaroo	Martha Logan	Miniseries, 2 episodes	[4]
	The Flying Doctors	Billie Sorensen	Season 7, episode 15: "Billie and Pete"	[4][56]
1991; 1995	G.P.	Caroline Lalor / Adele Meyer	2 episodes	[4]
1991; 2002	Home and Away	Lois Crawford / Stella Patterson	31 episodes	[11]
1992	Bony	Peta	Episode 6: "Surf, Sun... and Murder"	[4]
	EEO Free For All Forum	Narrator	Documentary
1993	Cluedo		1 episode
1994	Mother and Son	Carmen	1 episode	[57]
	Under The Skin	Julie	Episode 9: "Long Way Round"
	The Ferals	White Ant (voice)	Season 1, episode 10: "Exam Fever"	[58]
1995	Over the Hill		1 episode
1996; 1997	Heartbreak High	Trish Ferra / Hilary Scheppers	1 episode / 36 episodes	[12][13][14][4]
1996	Pacific Drive		1 episode
1998	Murder Call	Lori Magnus	Season 2, episode 3	[4][59]
1999; 2008	All Saints	Robyn Simms / Helen Fahey / Margaret Evans	3 episodes
2000	Farscape	Empress Novia	3 episodes	[4]
2001; 2002	BackBerner	Jennie Turk / Naomi Kennedy	2 episodes	[4]
2001	Corridors of Power	Petra	1 episode
2002	MDA	Dr. Ruth McIntyre	1 episode	[4][60]
2003	Grass Roots	Ariadne Totos	Season 2, 1 episode	[4][61]
	Always Greener	Lucy Buckingham	2 episodes	[4]
	White Collar Blue	Carole	1 episode	[4]
2004	Out There	Jean Filson	Season 2, episode 10	[4][62]
2005	Blue Water High	Katrina	1 episode	[63]
	Dramatically Black		1 episode	[64]
2011	Offspring	Marilyn	2 episodes	[4]
	Crownies	Magistrate Ellen Hansby	1 episode	[4][65]
2012	Rake	Miriam	Season 2, 1 episode	[4][66]
	A Moody Christmas	Maree Moody	6 episodes	[11][4]
2013–2014	The Time of Our Lives	Lenore	3 episodes	[8][4]
2014	The Moodys	Maree Moody	8 episodes	[67][4]
2014; 2016	Neighbours	Kathy Carpenter	21 episodes	[68][16][4]
2016–2021	Doctor Doctor	Meryl Knight	48 episodes	[69][8][4]
2017	Drop Dead Weird	Tweedy Lady	1 episode	[4][70]
2019	Harrow	Alice Hobson	Season 2, 1 episode	[71]
	Sarah's Channel	Mole Person	Web series	[4][72]
2021	Wentworth	Eve Wilder	Season 8, 3 episodes	[19][20][4]
	Frayed	Cathy	1 episode	[73]
2023	One Night	Helen	4 episodes	[74][21][22][4]
2023–2025	Strife	Ginny	Season 2, 16 episodes	[75][23][4]
2023–2025	Ten Pound Poms	Mrs. Walker	9 episodes	[24][25][4]
2026	Caper Crew	Queenie	TV series	[76][26][4]
	Return to Paradise	TBA	TV series	[27]

Year	Title	Role	Type
1976	Celebrity Squares	Contestant	1 episode
1985	Blankety Blanks	Contestant	2 episodes
1987	Have A Go	Judge	3 episodes
1991	The Main Event	Contestant	1 episode
2019	Talkin' Bout Your Generation	Contestant	1 episode

Year	Title	Role	Type	Ref.
1971	Theatre In Education
	Hippolytus		UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney	[3]
	Lady Windemere's Fan	Lady Windemere	NIDA Theatre, Sydney	[3]
1972	Grease	Marty	Metro Theatre, Melbourne with Harry M. Miller	[3][4]
	Great Banana Split		Twelfth Night Theatre, Brisbane	[77]
1972–1973	Godspell		Richbroke Theatre	[4]
1974	Scandals of '74		Macleay Theatre, Sydney	[3]
1975	The Jockey Club Stakes		Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide & Princess Theatre Melbourne	[3]
1977	Son of Naked Vicar		The Speakeasy, Sydney	[3]
	The Big Bang Show			[3]
	Mothers and Fathers		UNSW Parade Theatre, Sydney	[3]
1977–1978, 1983	Beyond Mozambique	Rita	Nimrod Theatre Company, Sydney	[3]
1978	2001 – A Postcode		Kinselas, Sydney	[3]
1981	Catch a Rising Star		Melbourne Theatre Restaurant	[3]
1982	Zastrozzi	Matilda	Seymour Centre, Sydney	[3]
1985	Tomfoolery	Various roles	Seymour Centre, Sydney for Festival of Sydney	[3][4]
1986; 1990	Rough Crossing	Natasha Navratilova	Playhouse Adelaide, Sydney Opera House, Playhouse Canberra	[3][4]
1988	Manning Clark's History of Australia – The Musical	Elizabeth Macarthur, St Peter, Caroline Chisholm, Kate Kelly, Lady Carrington.	Princess Theatre, Melbourne	[3][4]
1989	Top Silk	Jane Fredericks	Australian tour with Kinsella Productions	[3][4][78]
1992	On Golden Pond	Chelsea Thayer	Marian St Theatre, Sydney	[3][4]
	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney	[3][4]
1993	The Sugar Mother	Cecilia Page	Bridge Theatre, Sydney & Sydney Opera House	[3][4]
1994	Don't Dress for Dinner	Susanne	Regal Theatre, Perth, Canberra Theatre, Newcastle Civic Theatre with Ginmar Productions	[3][4]
1998	Blinded by the Sun	Ghislane	Sydney Opera House	[3][4]
1999	23 Blooms on My Great Grandmother's Rosebush	Sarah	Iland Robinson Productions	[4]
2001	Up for Grabs	Dawn Grey	NSW/VIC/ACT tour	[3][4][79]
2003	Purgatory Down Under		Sydney Opera House	[3]
2004	The Vagina Monologues		University of Sydney	[3]
2005	Flatfoot	Cleostrata	Australian national tour with Ensemble Theatre	[3][4]
2006	Double Act	Alexandra	Australian regional tour with Hit Productions	[3][4]
2007	ALP Arts Election Launch		Riverside Theatres Parramatta	[3]
2008	Small Metal Objects	Carolyn	USA, Europe & Asia tour with Back to Back Theatre	[3][4]
2010	The Swimming Club	Laura	Southbank Theatre, Melbourne, Playhouse Perth with Black Swan Theatre, Geelong Westfield with MTC	[3][4]
	Vita & Virginia	Vita	Actors Forum	[4]
	Maralinga	Various	Alphaville	[4]
2015	The Man's Bitch (reading)	Angela Carter / Angelica Green	STC	[80][4]
	Boys Will Be Boys	Arthur	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[3][4]
2017	Me and My Girl	The Duchess of Dene	Hayes Theatre Co	[3][4]
2018	The Feather in the Web	Various	Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company	[3][4]
2022	Love Letters	Melissa Gardner	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney with Les Currie Productions	[3][4]
	Cinderella	Madame (Stepmother)	Sydney Lyric Theatre, Regent Theatre, Melbourne with Opera Australia	[3][81][4]
2024	The Children	Rose	Dunstan Playhouse with STCSA	[3][4]

Year	Title	Role	Type	Ref.
2015	A Thoroughly Wet Mess	Claire Delacroix	ABC Radio National	[4][82]