BBC Only Fools star Sue Holderness’ life off-screen including near-death experience

Sue Holderness, a prominent British actress, is best known for her role as Marlene in Only Fools and Horses. She played the beloved wife of second-hand car dealer Boycie, portrayed by the late John Challis.

The TV star has also featured in several acclaimed productions such as The Sandbaggers, It Takes a Worried Man, Calendar Girls, ITV’s Cold Feet and the Only Fools and Horses spin-off show, The Green Green Grass. Born in London, Sue has been an actress all her life, inspired by one of her teachers to pursue acting and abandon her parents’ university aspirations.

Despite always seeming to land on her feet work-wise, the television icon has faced tough times. At one point, Sue had to quit acting and take up an administrative role to support her family.

Along with the challenges that come with the acting world – where paychecks are never guaranteed for long – Sue has also experienced significant loss in her life. The actress has previously spoken about her parents’ disapproval of her career choice – acting.

They believed that the chances of making money on stage were very much against Sue, especially after she passed up the opportunity to study at university to follow her dream instead, reports Wales Online.

Despite her parents’ initial reservations about her career choice, Sue has always acknowledged them as her biggest cheerleaders, stating that they attended every single one of her performances. In a previous interview with the Express, she shared: “As a teenager, I loved dancing and horse riding, and I assumed that I was destined to become a performer. When I was 16, my drama teacher asked me to play the title role in Antigone and then encouraged me to apply for drama school rather than go to university.”

“My parents were initially horrified because acting is so unpredictable and the odds of me getting into drama school were slim. But I did, and they totally supported me – always turning out to see me perform.”

Sue met husband Mark Piper in 1981 and had a minor hiccup over a Valentine’s card during their first year of dating but went on to marry in 1989, and their relationship remains strong to this day.

In 2014, the famous pair appeared on the ITV programme Mr and Mrs, where Mark confessed he hadn’t been a fan of Valentine’s Day until he met his wife. Discussing the blunder that could have cost him their romance, he revealed: “Our first valentines together I had not sent her a card. Sue chimed in, adding the conversation she had with him at the time, she said: “Can you honestly tell me that you haven’t got me a card?,” but was left stunned by his respons as Mark told her: “Why’d you want a card I’m here.”

He stated: “I wasn’t a fan of Valentine’s Day I regarded it all as a lot of tosh. Sue explained: “Any way he came back with a card and if he hadn’t of come back with a card, he wouldn’t have come back.”

Making light of his initial slip up, Mark joked: “I got the card to make sure we could be doing this show together.” Sue lives with her husband Mark Piper, former executive director of the Theatre Royal, Windsor live, in Berkshire.

They share two children together, with their family expanding in 2018 when they welcomed their first grandchild Max into the world. Their two children decided to take very different career pathways to their parents, with daughter Harriet, now a yoga teacher and Freddie, also taking up an education role as head of history at a school in West Sussex.

In a chat with the Express, Sue opened up on how she was spotted for Only Fools and Horses and how a play that caused her nightmares and significant weight issues played a key part in her getting noticed.

She explained: “After doing a TV thriller called If It’s A Man, Hang Up, by The Avengers writer Brian Clemens, he wrote a one-woman play for me called Our Kid about Myra Hindley. I found it difficult to leave that role behind each night and lost two stone in weight, but it got me noticed and rewarded me with work for the next 10 years.”

Sue revealed: “It led to playing Marlene in Only Fools And Horses without having to audition. I first appeared when Boycie (John Challis) gave Marlene a dog so he could whisk her away for Christmas. I think she was only expected to feature in one episode, but the writer, John Sullivan, phoned to say, ‘Marlene will be back’.”

In 1996, Sue, who had always relied on her husband’s salary during her acting career, faced financial difficulties when Mark’s job was at risk.

They’d always had the safety net of his steady income when acting jobs were scarce, and there was a period where Sue had to take up an acting role just to keep her family afloat.

Speaking with The Telegraph, the actress explained: “There was a period of uncertainty when it looked like the Theatre Royal Windsor, where Mark worked, was going to close. I quit acting for a while and worked as a secretary at the local hospital to bring in extra income and help with a campaign to save the theatre.”

“Luckily, we achieved our goal, thanks to Bill Kenwright, who took over the management of the venue. Mark remained theatre director until he retired when I was offered The Green Green Grass.”

Like many stars of Only Fools and Horses, Sue has suffered many losses over the years with the passing of the show’s creator John Sullivan, in 2011, after he’d been taken ill with viral pneumonia and passed away at the age of 64.

Sue faced grief in quick succession when she lost Roger Lloyd-Pack to pancreatic cancer at the age of 69. However, her sadness reached its peak in 2021 with the passing of her cherished on-screen husband, John Challis, also from cancer, at 79 years old.

Reflecting on their 36-year bond during an emotive appearance on ITV’s Lorraine, she shared: “How lucky was I that John Challis came to be the other husband in my life?”

She continued, recounting their close friendship: “We were friends from the word go. Just five weeks ago, we were having lunch together and in fact, less than four weeks before he died, John and I were filming together all day and he was fine. He was as much fun as usual, got a bit tired towards the end of the day. So the end came very quickly.”

During the same heartfelt interview, she brought up both Johns associated with her time on Only Fools and Horses, adding sentimentally, “John [Challis] will be remembered forever and loved by so many people, and I don’t think he’s gone. I don’t really believe he’s gone. I don’t believe John Sullivan [who wrote Only Fools and Horses] has gone and he died in 2011.”

From 1985 to 2003, Sue Holderness graced our screens as the iconic Marlene Boyce. She revealed a harrowing incident that occurred while filming the series on the docu-series ‘Only Fools and Horses: Secrets and Scandals’ aired on Channel 5, where she recounted a near-death experience involving an alligator.

Recalling the terrifying moment, Sue explained, “The idea was that the alligator would walk up behind Del and Rodney, they’d run off and the alligator would run towards them and there was a bowl of food.”

Sue had the shock of her life when what was meant to be a controlled encounter with a wild alligator turned into a heart-stopping moment. Recalling the terrifying incident, Sue said: “Then the alligator headed towards the camera to the bowl of food and didn’t stop at the bowl of food.”

She went on with palpable fear in her voice, “Well, the boys were at the other end of the forest by then. I’d lost the alligator in my camera and it was about two feet from me! Shaun, the chap who was supposed to be in charge had leapt on its tail, grabbed its jaws shut and was wrapping this thing around it.”

Describing the terror she felt, she stated emphatically, “I nearly died of fear. In fact, I nearly died not only of fear… I could’ve been eaten by an alligator.”