Jenny Eclair is an English comedian, novelist and actress, best known for her roles in Grumpy Old Women between 2004 and 2007 and in Loose Women in 2011 and 2012.
Early life
Eclair was born to English parents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where her father, Derek Hargreaves, MBE, a major in the British Army, was serving in the Royal Marines, Parachute Regiment, Green Howards, Trucial Oman Scouts, and BRIXMIS, had been posted in 1952. Eclair returned to England when she was two years old, and she started her education at Queen Mary school in Lytham St Annes. She is said to have adopted the alternative surname Eclair in her teens, when she was at a in Blackpool and pretended to be French. She studied at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama and joined a cabaret group variously referred to as Kathy Lacreme and the Rum Babas, and Cathy La Crème and the Rum Babies. After moving to London, Eclair's first job was at Camberwell Arts College as a life model which she did for about two terms. She then saw an advert in The Stage looking for novelty acts and found work doing punk poems. In 1989, when she was named the Time Out Cabaret Award winner, she said it "was nice because it's the first time I've ever won without having to run 100 metres balancing an egg on a spoon." In 1995, Eclair was the first woman to win the coveted Perrier Award, now known as The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Television
After an early appearance as a German hotel worker in Auf Wiedersehen Pet Eclair starred in the ITV drama The Bill and appeared in the early 1990s Channel 4 comedy series Packet of Three with Frank Skinner, as well as the follow-up series Packing Them In. In 1995, she became the first female solo winner of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's Perrier Comedy Award. In 1997, she played "Josie" in the stage play Steaming by Nell Dunn. In 2001, she published her first novel Camberwell Beauty.
''Grumpy Old Women''
Eclair helped develop and appeared in the show Grumpy Old Women as well as a variety of successful spin-offs. Eclair has appeared on BBC Two's Grumpy Old Women and its various spin-off shows. In 2006, Eclair starred in the stage-show Grumpy Old Women Live! with Dillie Keane and Linda Robson. The show was co-written by Eclair and Judith Holder. The spring saw a sell out national tour, June and July a run at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End and the autumn will see another national tour.
''Loose Women''
From 2011 to 2012, Eclair returned as a panellist on Loose Women, a show she was a panellist on in 2003. On 30 May 2012, she appeared on her last Loose Women show and was replaced by actress Shobna Gulati.
As a contestant
In 2005, Eclair appeared in the reality show Comic Relief Does Fame Academy.. On 18 November 2010, she joined the 2010 series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in third place behind Stacey Solomon and Shaun Ryder. In August 2012, Eclair appeared in Celebrity MasterChef on BBC One.
''Splash!''
On 25 January 2014, Eclair took part in the second series of the ITV celebrity diving show Splash!, appearing in the fourth heat. Note* Scores are out of a possible 30 points in total.
QI – Series M, Episode 8 "Merriment" - - Panellist
Radio
Until April 2008, Eclair hosted a weekend talk show on LBC 97.3. Her other radio credits include appearing on BBC Radio 4 in the Just a Minute quiz and afternoon plays, various comedy shows on BBC 7 and regularly has covered for Sandi Toksvig on LBC's weekday lunchtime chat show. She has also hosted her own show on the London radio station LBC Radio and starred in various stage productions. Eclair sat in for Danny Baker on BBC London 94.9 from Tuesday 30 August until Friday 2 September 2011.
Other work
Eclair fronts the Food Standards Agency's salt reduction campaign "Salt, is your food full of it?". Eclair became an Ambassador for audiobook charity in 2019 Eclair appeared at Derby Playhouse in The Killing of Sister George from 13 September 2008 until 18 October 2008.
