Hollyoaks Norma star's life - real name, rival soap fame and co-star romances

dailystar.co.uk:

Hollyoaks viewers have already seen that The Undertaker aka Norma Crow (Glynis Barber) is not to be messed with.Village bad boy Ethan Williams (Matthew Bailey) was shocked by the arrival of a woman in a hearse earlier this year.Events spiralled out of control, with the glamorous gangster threatening the lives of Ethan and his associates Ste (Kieron Richardson) and Sienna (Anna Passey).READ MORE: Hollyoaks viewers emotional as 'unexpected' double wedding bombshell rocks villageHowever, Norma then shot and killed her lover Asher (Joe Mallalieu), before revealing to the shocked trio that, wanting out of the criminal business, Asher had secretly become a police informant in exchange for his freedom.As The Undertaker is set to cause more chaos around the village, Daily Star has taken a look at actress Glynis Barber's life away from the Channel 4 soap.Born Glynis van der Riet in Durban, South Africa, she moved to Johannesburg aged 5 with her mother after her parents divorced.Glynis was a shy child but wanted to be an actress ever since seeing Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap when she was aged 5.

Sadly, when Glynis was 17 her mother died. The following year she moved to London to study drama and stayed after graduating.

Stage work, including for the Royal Shakespeare Company, was followed by TV roles in cult sci-fi hit Blake's 7 and the light-hearted series Jane, based on the popular wartime comic strip.Her big break came in 1984 when she was cast as the cop, Makepeace, in a major British and American co-production of the series 'Dempsey & Makepeace'.The cops 'n' robbers show was a worldwide hit, being shown in over thirty countries and running for three series.Her co-star was American actor Michael Brandon, and he and Glynis.