Maggie Cronin
Maggie Cronin is an Irish actress and playwright. The short film "The Shore" directed by Terry George, in which she appears with Ciarán Hinds, Conleth Hill and Kerry Condon, won the Academy award in the Short Film, Live Action category at 84th Academy Awards in February 2012. She appeared in "Doctors" (BBC1 TV) from 2000–2004 playing the role of Kate McGuire for over 600 episodes. In 2006 she briefly returned when Christopher Timothy's character Brendan "Mac" McGuire left the series. She appeared in "My Mother and Other Strangers" and "The Frankenstein Chronicles". Background. She trained at the  Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, which was absorbed into the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2006. Writing. Her first one-woman show, "A Most Notorious Woman" directed by Paddy Scully, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1989 and subsequently toured, over a number of years, through the UK, Ireland and the US, garnering much critical acclaim: "Cronin is clearly a writer. Her play is intelligent, inventive, playful and blessed with the Irish gift for vividly descriptive language."- Damien Jaques, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. January 1999; "A brave, bold, free spirited show of enormous dramatic power."- Lyn Gardner , City Limits; "Cronin has fashioned a play that is delicate, funny and richly textured…With a few simple props – a battered suitcase, a white silk sheet which doubles as a table cloth, a wedding dress and a billowing ship’s sail – Grace’s free spirit is evoked." – Helen Meany, Irish Times September 1998 The script won The Stewart Parker Trust/BBC Radio Drama Award for 1995 and was published by Lagan Press in 2004. Her second one-woman show "Greenstick Boy" directed by Sarah Tipple, previewed at the Brian Friel Theatre in Belfast in March 2008, and the Assembly Rooms , at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in August 2008. It has been performed at Belfast’s Black Box Theatre (in the Out to Lunch Festival 2010) and Bewley’s Cafe Theatre in Dublin in 2010 in the ABSOLUT Fringe festival. "Lyrical brilliance... Maggie Cronin paints a deeply poignant picture of a wild love and the throbbing nostalgic pains that survive it.… a lesson in storytelling" **** Junta Sekimori – Fest magazine, Edinburgh. "Beautifully written and wonderfully performed, this one-woman show was very, very good...This well structured play is funny, fresh, sad and a real delight to watch." THREE WEEKS review Edinburgh  Maggie Cronin's monologue gets right under the skin of what it was like to be young in London in the days of punk and its aftermath. Thom Dibdin, THE STAGE She co -wrote, with actress Carol Moore, a dramatised history of the Ulster Suffragettes entitled "Shrieking Sisters" Maggie has been performing the show, with Carol Moore and Laura Hughes, since February 2013. Theatre and radio/audio. Radio. Maire Nic Shiublaigh, THE WOMEN WHO STAGED THE RISING, BBC Radio 3, Dir: Conor Garrett Therapist, DEAR BABY MINE, BBC radio 4 Dir: Heather Larmour Rosamond Lehmann, BOWEN AND BETJEMAN, BBC Radio  4, Dir: Gemma McMullan Narration, THE BOOK PROGRAMME- BANNED IRISH BOOKS, Radio 4, Dir: Regina Gallen Narrator/ Helen Waddell, ULSTER'S FORGOTTEN DARLING, BBC Radio 4, Dir: Regina Gallen Bridget, LOVE'S WORST DAY, BBC Radio 4, Dir: Gemma McMullan Black/Judge, "Kicking The Air" BBC Radio 4 Dir: Heather Larmour (Zebbie award Winner) Bertha Mulvihill, "Titanic Letters," BBC Northern Ireland/Radio 4, Dir: Ian Dougan Narrator, "The Book Programme," BBC Radio Ulster Megan/Susan, "Some Secluded Glade," BBC Radio 4, Dir: Eoin O'Callaghan Reader, "The Fairy's Curse", BBC Radio 3, Dir: Marie-Claire Doris Judith, "Girl from Mars ," BBC Radio 4, Dir: Heather Larmour (Zebbie award winner) Reader, "One by One In the Darkness," BBC Radio 4, Dir: Sara Johnson Audio/voiceover work. Narrator, "Talking to Billy," BBC NI TV, Dir: Clare Delargy Narrator, "Atlantis: The Evidence", BBC Worldwide, Dir: Detlef Siebert Narrator, "Quitting Crime," Crawford McCann for BBC NI, Dir: Kelda Crawford McCann Narrator, "The House on The Hill," Doubleband for BBC Northern Ireland, Dir: Laura Doherty Series Narrator, "The Choirboys," BBC Northern Ireland, Dir: Natalie Maynes Series Narrator, "The Last Resort," Tern TV for BBC NI, Dir: Matt Marsters Narrator, "When the Pope Came to Ireland ," BBC1 NI, Dir: Tony Curry Narrator, "Show me the Mummy," BBC1 NI, Dir: Ian Dougan Series Narrator, "Life Inside," BBC1 NI, Dir: Denise O'Connor Amelia, "The Crown Jewel," BBC1 NI, Dir: Clare Delargy Audio, Narrator, "All For You" by Sheila O'Flanagan, RNIB Talking Books Audio, Narrator, "Ellis Island" by Kate Kerrigan, RNIB Talking Books Audio, Narrator, "Always with you" by Gloria Hunniford, RNIB Talking Books Audio, Narrator, "Close to you" by Gloria Hunniford, RNIB Talking Books Audio, Narrator, "Veronica Guerin: The Life and Death of a Crime Reporter," by Emily O'Reilly, RNIB Talking Books Film. Landlady (Mrs Thompson), SHOOTING FOR  SOCRATES, New Black, James Erskine Sinead in A Belfast Story Director: Nathan Todd Susan in To Lose Control; Directed by Marty Stalker Alice Weller in 2011's Whole Lotta Sole known as Stand Off in USA Directed by Terry George Mary in The Shore, directed by Terry George. It won the Academy Award in the 'Short Film, Live Action' Category at 84th Academy Awards in February 2012. Television. Section::::"Doctors" (2000–2004 and 2006). She is perhaps best known for her role as Practice Manager Kate McGuire in BBC One's flagship daytime serial, "Doctors," produced by Mal Young. She was a  member of the original cast at the 2000 launch of the programme, and remained as a main character until her leaving on 26 May 2006. As the wife of Mac (played by Christopher Timothy, of the TV series"All Creatures Great and Small" fame), the character was partly responsible for setting up the original practice around which the drama revolved – Riverside Surgery. As Practice Manager, she was involved regularly with the storylines of both patients and the other doctors, and is featured in the majority of the early episodes. During her time in Letherbridge, Kate endured countless trials including a miscarriage , Mac's trial for a patient's murder, an affair with a priest (played by Richard Standing), and the abduction of her and Mac's son, Ciaran. Other work. Sandra, "A Year of Greater Love", BBC Northern Ireland, Dir: Michael McDowell, to be shown 2012 Laura Cross, "Marú," Stirling Films for TG4, Dir: Lawrence Gough Doris Curran, "Scapegoat," Waddell Media/BBC NI, Dir: Michael McDowell Emer O'Callaghan, "The Clinic," RTÉ, Dir:Liam Cunningham Bel Ferris, "Holby City," BBC1 TV, Dir: James Strong Sarah, "That's Not Me," BBC NI, Dir: Peter Lawrence Mrs McGinley, "United," BBC NI, Dir: Michael McGowan  (Children's BAFTA winner) "The Bill," Dir: David Attwood