Susannah Doyle

Susannah Doyle (born 5 July 1966) is an English actress, playwright and film director, best known for her roles in situation comedies Drop The Dead Donkey (as Joy Merryweather), and Ballykissangel (as Avril Burke).

The daughter of Irish actor Tony Doyle, she realised that she wished to follow in his footsteps when, aged about five or six, she was taken to see him work, often in tiny theatres with audience and actors close together. One of three children, she had a magical childhood, tempered by her parents' separation when their relationship cooled, when she was eleven years old. Between sixteen and seventeen years old she went through a wildly promiscuous stage, but "It ended as quickly as it began."

Her big TV break came in 1991 with the role of Joy, the intelligent, acid-tongued secretary and foil to her corporate-speak boss, in the Channel 4 comedy Drop The Dead Donkey. Other TV roles followed, including two episodes of A Touch of Frost in 1997. When her father died in 2000, the producers of Ballykissangel asked whether she would take on the role of his daughter. She had reservations over her ability to cope emotionally but took on the part of Avril Burke, saying of her father, "He would have kicked my bum if I hadn't." Fitting in with ease, already knowing many of the cast through previous visits and having co-starred with Stephen Tompkinson in Drop The Dead Donkey, she completed the final season. In 2001, she also appeared in an episode of Cold Feet and one of Pie in the Sky. In 2012 she appeared in an episode of police comedy Vexed.

Since 2001, she has been pursuing parallel careers of scriptwriting and acting.