Mandana Jones

Jane Mandana Jones (born 26 February 1967) is a British-Iranian actress. She is known for her role as prisoner Nikki Wade in the series Bad Girls.

Early life From West London, Jones was born on 26 February 1967 to a Welsh father and an Iranian mother. She is the youngest of three, having two older brothers. She graduated from the Drama Centre London.

Career Jones's TV work includes the regional soap London Bridge (shown in certain ITV regions in the UK in the mid-1990s) and the BBC daytime soap Doctors as Ria Ford. For her role as Ria, she received a nomination for Villain of the Year at the 2005 British Soap Awards. Probably her most high-profile role is as lesbian lifer Nikki Wade on Bad Girls, in which her on-screen love interest, Helen Stewart, was played by another former cast member of London Bridge, Simone Lahbib.

Her second largest role was in the 2004 BBC TV children's show Powers, where she played Dr. Mary Holland for the duration of the 13-episode series.

Between Bad Girls and Powers, she had a small role in the short, Occasional, Strong (2002). Other work during this time includes the aforementioned Doctors, where she played Sandra Underwood (2003), BBC's Afternoon Play, Coming Up For Air (2003), Holby City (1 episode, 2003), Born and Bred (1 episode, 2004). She returned to Doctors in 2005, playing a different character (Ria Ford, 6 episodes), for which she was nominated for Villain of the Year at the British Soap Awards. She then had a small stint as a marriage counsellor Anna Price in EastEnders.

Jones also played a character named Nancy Randall in The Bill during December 2008.

She played a character named Charlotte Thornhill in Casualty on 7 November 2010.

In 2012, she played Dr Broadwood in an episode of Silent Witness.

In April 2016, Jones worked on Emmerdale as Aaron's solicitor in a case against Aaron's father.

Personal life Jones has a son, Enzo (born 27 October 2005).

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes 1996 London Bridge Sam Haynes (13 episodes) 1997 The New Adventures of Robin Hood Woman Henchbeast Season 1 (guest, “A Price on His Soul”) 1999–2001 Bad Girls Nikki Wade Season 1–3 (main, 33 episodes) 2002 Occasional, Strong Cathy Short film 2003 The Afternoon Play Sarah Season 1 (guest, “Coming Up for Air”) 2003 Doctors Sandra Underwood Season 5 (guest, “Loose Ends”) 2003 Holby City Geri Sanders Season 5 (guest, “House of Cards”) 2004 Born and Bred Janet Gough Season 3 (guest, “A Small Flourish”) 2004 Powers Dr Mary Holland Season 1 (main, all 13 episodes) 2005 Doctors Ria Ford Season 6–7 (recurring, 6 episodes) 2006 Random Quest BBC Newsreader TV movie 2007 EastEnders Anna Price (Guest, 2 episodes) 2008 The Bill Nancy Randall Season 24 (guest, “Too Hot to Handle” Parts 1–3) 2010 Casualty Charlotte Thornhill Season 25 (guest, “Hands On”) 2012 Silent Witness Dr. Broadwood Season 15 (guest, “Fear” Parts 1 & 2) 2014 Law & Order: UK Dr. Antonia Carey Season 8 (guest, “Safe from Harm”) 2016 Emmerdale Prosecution Barrister (Guest, 2 episodes) 2016 Line of Duty Summers Season 3 (guest, “The List”) 2016 New Blood Nasreen Sayyad Season 1 (recurring, 4 episodes) 2017 Liar Dr. Rachael Kyle Season 1 (guest, “Check Mate”) 2018 Doctors Linda Klute Season 19 (guest, “A Happy Medium”) 2020 Strike Dr. Kamila Muhammad Season 4 (guest, “Lethal White” Parts 3 & 4)