Deena Payne

 ( 1954 Births ) 

Diane Margaret " Deena" Payne (born 29 August 1954) is an English actress and former singer. She is best known for playing Viv Hope in the long-running ITV soap opera Emmerdale.

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Life and career Payne was born in Orpington, Kent. She used to tour with ex-The Animals keyboard player Alan Price as a backing singer and she was a member of the novelty girl band Cats U.K., who scored a UK top 30 hit with "Luton Airport" in October 1979. She was also one of the dancers in Rock Follies of '77. Before Emmerdale, Payne had acted in episodes of Tales of Sherwood Forest and The Bill. She has also appeared in Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.

Her Emmerdale character was written out of the series in 2011 after 18 years, dying in her sleep during a fire, as the bosses felt the character had run its course. Since leaving Emmerdale, Deena has returned to the stage, appearing in Calendar Girls and various pantomimes. Most recently, she featured on the television show True Crime as the character Irene. In 2020, she appeared in an episode of the BBC One soap opera Doctors as Patricia Taymount.

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Filmography

1977	Rock Follies	Dancer	Episodes: "The Band That Wouldn't Die" and "Empire"
1989	Tales of Sherwood Forest	Louise	Episode: "Stag Night"
1991	The Bill	Diana Corbin	Episode: "Inside Job"
1993–2011	Emmerdale	Viv Hope (later Hope)	1,328 episodes
2012	Crime Stories	Irene Harper	Series 1, episode 8
2020	Doctors	Patricia Taymount	Episode: "Targeted Individual"

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Awards and nominations

2003	The British Soap Awards	Best Actress
2005	The British Soap Awards	Best Comedy Performance
2006	The British Soap Awards	Best On-Screen Partnership (shared with Tony Audenshaw)
2007	Inside Soap Awards	Best Couple (shared with Audenshaw)
2008	Digital Spy	Best On-Screen Partnership (shared with Audenshaw)

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External links

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