Sue Holderness, born Susan Joan Holderness, (28 May 1949), is a British actress best known for playing Marlene Boyce in Only Fools and Horses and The Green Green Grass.
She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama after taking her A-levels and began her career acting with the Manchester 69 Theatre Company. Her earliest role on TV was when she played a receptionist in a 1971 episode of Lollipop Loves Mr Mole. The rest of The '70s were nothing but small roles for Holderness, barring Canned Laughter where she played Lorraine, Rowan Atkinson's love interest, and End of Part One, wherein she played various characters.
In 1980, she played Marianne Straker in an episode of The Sandbaggers's second series, before going on to appear in every episode of Series 3 and played Cleopatra IV in two episodes of The Cleopatras. In the fourth series of Only Fools and Horses, Holderness appeared in the episode "Sleeping Dogs Lie", as Marlene, Boycie's previously unseen (and promiscuous) wife. Holderness thought she'd only be asked to do one episode but became a series regular and clocked up twenty appearances by the 2003 finale.
Sticking with Britcoms by John Sullivan, he used her in three episodes of Dear John…. as Maggie, and she and John Challis returned to the characters of Marlene and Boycie for The Green Green Grass, a Spin-Off following the two moving to the countryside to escape the Driscoll brothers, a pair of gangsters.
In later years, she joined the cast of Still Open All Hours in the final two series as Mrs. Rossi, regularly features in Pantomime, and is currently starring in The Madame Blanc Mysteries as Judith Lloyd James.
Works on TV Tropes she appeared in:
Films- Canned Laughter (1979) — Lorraine
- Bless This House, episode "The Bells Are Ringing" (1974) — Pamela Huntley-Johnson
- The New Avengers, episode "Medium Rare" (1977) — Victoria Stanton
- The Sandbaggers, 8 episodesshow list (1980) — Marianne Straker
- The Cleopatras, 2 episodesshow list (1983) — Cleopatra IV
- Minder, episode "A Number of Old Wives Tales" (1984) — Laura
- Only Fools and Horses, 20 episodes (1985-2003) — Marlene Boyce
- Dear John…., 3 episodesshow list (1986-87) — Maggie
- Heartbeat, 2 episodesshow list (1993) — Joan Forrester
- Animated Tales of the World , episode "Shepherd Boy Tumur" (2002) — Official's Wife
- Doctors, 3 episodes:
- "Watching Myself Die" (2004) — Sheila Kelly
- "Light Blue Touch Paper" (2011) — Beryl Mellor
- "Scullery Boy" (2014) — Rose Day
- The Green Green Grass, 32 episodes (2005-09) — Marlene Boyce
- CASUAL+Y, episode "Between the Cracks" (2013) — Alice Sweeney
- Still Open All Hours, 10 episodes (2018-19) — Mrs. Rossi
- Holby City, 1 episode (2020) — Gloria Davidson
- EastEnders, 4 episodes (2021) — Estelle Jones
