Tracey Wilkinson
Plays
Di Barker
Tracey sees her new role of Di Barker as a “dizzy, kind natured, but gullible officer. She wants to be able to get on with the prisoners and believes that everyone is equal. She’s not very bright but is very committed to her job, which she just loves”.
“She works hard and keeps a friendly manner with her fellow officers and prisoners. Di is very keen on one of her co workers, Dominic McAllister…”
We discover that Di lives at home with her very sick and demanding mother who suffers from altzheimers. When thinking about this difficult home situation “I drew on my own step-mother’s experiences. She had lived with her mother who had altzheimers for three years. For Di, I see that her prison is when she’s at home rather than when she’s at work – her escape is coming in to work and home is her real prison”.
Tracey Wilkinson is a true Geordie, coming from Eastbolden just outside Newcastle. She now lives in London’s East End and is hard at work with the DIY in her flat. Her roof terrace is thriving, living so near to Columbia Road Garden Market, “where I hang out and buy my plants”.
Her high profile television work includes: the critically acclaimed Hillsborough playing Jan Spearitt - “it was a very important piece of work and I still keep in contact with the Spearitts”; Elaine Craig/Cox in the epic saga Our Friends in the North and Stephen Tompkinson’s wife Karen, in two series of Grafters.
Recent stage work includes Guiding Star at the Royal National Theatre and several productions in Newcastle. She has just finished playing Kevin Whately’s wife in a new film with a working title Season Ticket, due out this year.