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Nicola is best-known for starring in EastEnders and Family Affairs

Nicola Duffett - Biography



Nicola Duffett smiling British Soap Awards© Shutterstock
Phoebe Tatham
Phoebe TathamNews and Features Writer
Updated: July 13, 2023
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English actress Nicola Duffett, born in Portsmouth in 1963, is best-known for starring as Debbie Bates on EastEnders and Cat MacKenzie on Family Affairs. 

On stage, meanwhile, Nicola has portrayed Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Helen of Troy in Troilus and Cressida. 

Elsewhere, Nicola has taken part in reality series Celebrity Fit Club, an episode of Torchwood and BBC Two drama Collateral. Most recently, Nicola played Geraldine in the Amazon Prime series Agatha Raisin.

Personal Life 

While not much is known about Nicola's life off-screen, she has been married before and is a proud mother to two daughters.

In 2009, Nicola spoke candidly about her money woes, telling the Croydon Advertiser: "I have gone from not caring about how much stuff costs to checking the prices of absolutely everything." But I love it – picking up a bargain – it is so much more satisfying than going out every night to posh restaurants and just paying the bill."

She added: "I wish I had learned to save, but we actors and actresses we just are not very business-minded. I just went into a bad place when they axed Family Affairs."

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