Television EastEnders Coulson's big television break came in 1993, when she became a household name after being cast in the part of Carol, the feisty matriarch of the Jackson family, in the successful BBC serial drama
EastEnders. She remained in the role for four years, but a desire to try her hand at other roles prompted her to quit the role in 1997. She returned to the show for six months in 1999 and won the 2000
British Soap Award for Best Dramatic Performance. Despite saying in 2008 she would never return to
EastEnders, it was announced on 25 October 2009 Coulson would reprise her role as
Carol Jackson in
EastEnders in 2010 with her on-screen family
Natalie Cassidy, who played
Sonia Fowler,
Dean Gaffney, who played
Robbie Jackson, and the character of
Billie Jackson played by
Devon Anderson. The Jackson family have now reunited with
Patsy Palmer, who rejoined the soap in 2008 in her role of
Bianca Jackson. Coulson made her onscreen comeback in February 2010 before leaving once again in October 2015.
Further roles Her TV debut was in
A Bear Behind, a 1989 children's series in which she and a puppet bear called Boz adventured around the country in their horse-drawn
caravan and lived on a
houseboat. Following
EastEnders, Coulson went on to star in
Out of Hours alongside John McArdle, but, after the medical drama failed to get commissioned for a second series, she rejoined
EastEnders for a three-month stint to help facilitate the exit of
Patsy Palmer, who played her on-screen daughter
Bianca Jackson. During this spell, Coulson received the best dramatic performance at
The British Soap Awards. Coulson went on to have roles in
Clocking Off,
Judge John Deed,
Paradise Heights,
Manchild,
The Stretford Wives,
Dalziel and Pascoe,
Murder Investigation Team,
The Last Detective,
Urban Gothic and
Where the Heart Is among others. She later starred in the 2004 TV film ''
She's Gone opposite Ray Winstone and the 2005 TV film The Stepfather'' opposite
Philip Glenister. In 2006, Coulson played Ann Peterson in the
Jimmy McGovern drama
The Street. Each episode focused on the stories of the people living in a particular house in the street. Coulson's on-screen husband Brian, a school teacher, was played by
Neil Dudgeon. In 2007, Coulson starred in an episode of BBC
New Tricks series 4 episode 4 "Nine Lives". Her character name was Caroline Baker. She played the role of Hester Reed in the BBC police drama
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: The Chinese Walls (2006), and she also appeared in the series four episode of
Doctor Who entitled "
Midnight", in June 2008. She has since appeared in the
ITV drama series
The Level and
The Bay. She has appeared in
BBC One series
Waterloo Road as Dame Stella Drake since 2025.
Theatre On stage, Coulson has appeared in
Snake at the
Hampstead Theatre and has played
Ophelia in
Hamlet. She later starred in
Three More Sleepless Nights at the
National Theatre in 2009. The show ended on 27 August 2009.
Radio Coulson starred in comedy series
Lucky Heather on
BBC Radio 4 in 2000.
Film She has also appeared in a critically acclaimed film,
AKA, which was shown at
Robert Redford's
Sundance Film Festival in 2003. Coulson appeared as Funny Cow Mum in the 2017 comedy-drama film
Funny Cow, alongside
Maxine Peake. The film had its world premiere on 9 October 2017 in the United Kingdom at the
London Film Festival. and was released theatrically in the UK by eOne on 20 April 2018. == Personal life ==