Denise Black

Denise Black is an English actress known for her long-running soap roles and for Queer as Folk. Born in Emsworth, Hampshire, she began on stage with a role as a cat in Miniatures at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and earned her Equity card in 1980. After touring Shakespeare with the Actors' Touring Company, she formed the jazz group Denise Black & the Kray Sisters with Kate McKenzie and Josie Lawrence, and appeared with Lawrence in Saturday Live and Josie. From 1992 to 1997 she played Denise Osbourne in Coronation Street, with brief returns in 2007 and 2017, and she played Hazel Tyler in all ten episodes of Queer as Folk, later reviving the role in Cucumber. She joined Emmerdale in 2013 as Joanie Wright, became a regular in 2015, and left in 2017. She also appeared in The Lady of Heaven (2021) as Bibi and played Mrs. Hudson in The Irregulars.