Alison King

Alison Rosamund King (born 3 March 1973) is an English actress and model. She is known for her roles as Lynda Block in the Sky One drama series Dream Team (1998–2003, 2005–2007), and Carla Connor in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2006–present). She won Best Actress at the 2012 British Soap Awards.

Early life Alison King was born at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. She is the youngest of three daughters and a son born to nurses Alex and June King. She grew up in Markfield, Leicestershire where she attended South Charnwood High School, where she first took an interest in acting. She continued to act while attending Groby Community College, where a teacher would offer drama and dance classes to students in their free time. At the age of 18, King moved to Newquay, Cornwall, where she worked at Fat Willys Surf Shack. She surfed in her spare time, and spent four years as a dental nurse. When she was 22, she enrolled at the North Cheshire Theatre School.

King was raised as a Christadelphian.

Career During her time at theatre school, King landed her first television role playing Helen, a hair salon crimper, in two episodes of Brookside. Before the conclusion of her three-year diploma, she was cast in the major role of Lynda Block in Sky One's, Dream Team. She appeared on the show for three years and left when the character was sent to prison. She reprised the role some years later.

King made a guest appearance in the final episode of Mile High, playing the wife of Captain Nigel Croker, and was featured in Coupling in the episode "The Man with Two Legs", as Chrissy with whom Jeff Murdock becomes infatuated on his morning train ride. She appeared in Holby City as the distressed wife of a hospital patient, and made a brief appearance as a receptionist in the film, Fat Slags. She played prominent roles for two independent films, Save Angel Hope (2006) and Back in Business (2007). She went on maternity leave in 2009. King's role in the soap involved high-profile storylines. In 2010, she was involved in the death of Tony Gordon storyline, in which she had to be kidnapped in the Underworld factory. In 2011, King's character was raped by her boyfriend, Frank Foster. King later said there was an 800% increase in calls to support organisations after the storyline had aired, and that people had contacted her about their real-life experiences, some of whom she kept in communication with. Her performance in the rape storyline led to a Best Actress award at the 2012 British Soap Awards.

In May 2015, it was announced that King would be taking an extended break from Coronation Street to pursue other projects. However, in January 2016, it was confirmed that the departure would be permanent. She spoke to Radio Times of her reason to leave: "I've probably only ever done about 20 pickups or drop offs in all the time my daughter's been at school, which is quite sad. And creatively, I miss being other people. It's what I went to drama school for. I love playing diverse characters and meeting new people. And, truthfully, I also want to be able to get my voiceover career going again. There's all sorts of things that I used to do, which I can't do while I'm on Coronation Street. So, those are the reasons, really." Her departure aired on 26 May 2016. She later said that she blames Coronation Street for "destroying her feet and shattering her vocal cords", regretting that she agreed to portray Carla Connor for 10 years with a gravelly voice and high heels. She said "Coronation Street ruined my body."

In late 2016/early 2017, King greeted fans in a virtual reality video during Coronation Street tour. She spoke of filming the video for the tour: "It is surreal because is the original set and I know how many scenes I've filmed in there. But as an actress, no matter how long you have off, being back on set you still feel like you've never left. This is obviously a bit different because I'm being Ali and not Carla. I keep looking round for them to shout action. It has been my home for 10 years so I am quite at home being on set." In August 2017, it was announced that King would reprise her role as Carla in December that year. Her return aired on 22 December 2017. Since her return, King has been nominated for a British Soap Award for 'Best Female'.

Other ventures King was the face of Boddingtons beer in 2004. She made appearances in a series of recurring television adverts for Daz titled "Cleaner Close", a parody of soap operas.

Personal life In 2014, it was reported that King had requested extra security from ITV bosses after it emerged she had a female stalker. Despite formal requests to stay away after being found lurking outside of her house, the woman approached her at a public event, Southport Flower Show, resulting in a distressed King leaving the event earlier than intended.

King had a five-year relationship with former Coronation Street actor Philip Middlemiss (who played Des Barnes). In 2006, she became engaged to fellow actor Jim Alexander who co-starred in several series of Dream Team with her, as well as the Daz adverts. However, the pair split in early 2007. She briefly dated fellow soap actor Louis Emerick following the split. The actress dated Adam Huckett, a Coronation Street sound technician from April 2007. She gave birth to their daughter on 11 February 2009. King became engaged to Huckett in September 2011 while on a trip to Paris, however, on 16 October 2012 it was reported that the engagement was off as they had split up.

In 2016, King had been dating Hollyoaks assistant director Paul Slavin. She said of the relationship: "I'm seeing somebody. It's very early days so I don't want to say anything more, but I'm happy." However, in November 2018, she was pictured with a new "mystery" man and in August 2019, it was reported that they were engaged. In an OK Magazine cover and interview in September 2019, King posed for photos with her new fiancé, David Stuckley, and announced their engagement. In May 2022, the couple split and called off their engagement.

Filmography +FilmYearTitleRoleNotes 2000 Scooter Mum Imelda Short film 2003 Shanghai Knights Prostitute 2004 Fat Slags Receptionist 2005 Submerged Damita Direct-to-video 2006 Lara 2007 Back in Business Covington Save Angel Hope Jacqui Lydon 2008 All Day Breakfast Short film 2010 Judith in the Tent of Holofernes Judith

+TelevisionYearTitleRoleNotes 1998 Brookside Helen Episode: "Noisy Stuff" 1998–2003, 2005–2007 Dream Team Lynda Block Series regular; 234 episodes 2000 Cold Feet Girlpower Season 3: Episode 5 2001 Coupling Chrissie Episode: "The Man with Two Legs" Urban Gothic Stella McDonald Episode: "The End" 2002 Cutting It Georgie Cates Season 1: Episode 2 Celeb Zoe Episode: "The Infatuation" 2003 Holby City Becky Roper Episode: "...As the Day is Long" Murphy's Law Ang Episode: "Reunion" Doctors Lisa Durrel Episode: "Survival of the Fittest" 2004 Auf Wiedersehen, Pet Erica Trasker Episode: "Our Men in Havana" Coronation Street Mrs Fanshaw Episode #1.5718 2005 Help Rebecca Main cast; 5 episodes Mile High Denise Croker Season 2: Episode 26 2006–present Coronation Street Carla Connor Series regular 2008 Last Chance Helen Television film 2012 Fragments Kitty Unknown episodes 2018 Sick Note Chief Superintendent Christine Henchy Supporting role; 4 episodes

Awards and nominations