Jenny Eclair (born Jenny Clare Hargreaves; 16 March 1960) is a Malaysian-born English comedian, novelist, and actress, best known for her roles in Grumpy Old Women between 2004 and 2007 and in Loose Women in 2011 and 2012.

Early life

Eclair was born to English parents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, where her father, Derek Hargreaves, a major in the British Army, had been posted in 1952. The family lived in Malaysia, Singapore, and Germany before settling in Lancashire. Eclair returned to England when she was two years old, and she started her education at Queen Mary school (now AKS Lytham) in Lytham St Annes.

She is said to have adopted the alternative surname Eclair (later her stage name) in her teens, when she was at a disco in Blackpool and pretended to be French. She studied at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama (now Manchester Metropolitan University) In 1995, Eclair was the first woman to win the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for her show Prozac and Tantrums.

Grumpy Old Women

Eclair helped develop, and appeared on, BBC Two's Grumpy Old Women and its various spin-off shows. In 2006, Eclair starred in the stage show Grumpy Old Women Live! with Dillie Keane and Linda Robson. The show was co-written by Eclair and Judith Holder. The spring saw a sell-out national tour, and June and July a run at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End, and the autumn saw another national tour.

Loose Women

In 2003, Eclair was a panellist on Loose Women and returned from 2011 to 2012. Her last appearance was on 30 May 2012. She was replaced by actress Shobna Gulati.

Empire's Children

In 2007, Eclair was featured in episode 5 of the Channel 4 series Empire's Children, a genealogy research programme which followed British public figures as they rediscovered their heritage and its links to British colonialism. Eclair returned to her birthplace of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to explore the historical background of the Malayan Emergency in which her father had fought. During her childhood, Eclair had discovered photographs of beheaded corpses among her father's belongings. She confronted her father who confirmed that they were real and that collecting severed heads was a common practice by the British military in Malaya.

Eclair's reaction to learning of British war crimes during the Malayan Emergency was poorly perceived by some critics as being dismissive of British atrocities during the war. Her behaviour during the episode was later used as a case study by academics researching the Malayan Emergency and British media culture.

Drawers Off: The Big Naked Painting Challenge

Eclair hosted two seasons of the Channel 4 life drawing competition Drawers Off: The Big Naked Painting Challenge, from 2021 to 2022.

As a contestant

In 2005, Eclair appeared in the reality show Comic Relief Does Fame Academy.

On 18 November 2010, she joined the 2010 series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in third place behind Stacey Solomon and Shaun Ryder.

In August 2012, she appeared in Celebrity MasterChef on BBC One.

She was a contestant in The Great Pottery Throw Downs December 2022 festive celebrity show.

She was a contestant in the fifteenth series of Taskmaster (aired March–June 2023), alongside comedians Frankie Boyle, Mae Martin, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Ivo Graham.

Splash!

On 25 January 2014, Eclair took part in the second series of the ITV celebrity diving show Splash!, appearing in the fourth heat.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; text-align: center;"

|-

!rowspan="2"| Stage

!rowspan="2"| Air date

!rowspan="2"| Dive

!colspan="4"| Judges' scores

!rowspan="2"| Result

|-

!style="width:10%;"| Andy Banks

!style="width:10%;"| Jo Brand

!style="width:10%;"| Leon Taylor

!style="width:10%;"| Total

|-

| Heat 4

| 25 January 2014

| Forward pike fall (5 metre)

| 7.0

| 8.0

| 6.5

| 21.5

| Eliminated

|}

Note* Scores are out of a possible 30 points in total.

In January 2024, she was a contestant on Richard Osman's House of Games

Guest appearances

  • Room 101 (26 October 2005) – Guest
  • That Sunday Night Show (30 January 2011, 2 October 2011, 19 February 2012) – Panellist
  • The Chase: Celebrity Special (5 November 2011) – Contestant
  • Saturday Cookbook (7 July 2012) – Guest
  • Let's Do Lunch with Gino & Mel (19 July 2012) – Guest
  • Pointless Celebrities (12 December 2012) – Contestant
  • Tipping Point: Lucky Stars (30 June 2013) – Contestant
  • Weekend Kitchen with Waitrose (17 May 2014) – Guest
  • Draw It! (19–23 May 2014) – Contestant
  • Celebrity Fifteen to One (23 December 2014) – Contestant
  • Fifty Shades Uncovered (2015) – Contributor
  • QI – Series M, Episode 8 "Merriment" – (25 December 2015) – Panellist
  • Taskmaster – Series 15 (30 March to 1 June 2023)
  • Richard Osman's House of Games - (1 January to 5 January 2024) - Contestant
  • Beat the Chasers - (16 February 2024) - Contestant

Radio

Until April 2008, Eclair hosted a weekend talk show on LBC 97.3. Her other radio credits include appearing on BBC Radio 4 in the Just a Minute quiz and afternoon plays, various comedy shows on BBC 7 and regularly has covered for Sandi Toksvig on LBC's weekday lunchtime chat show (now defunct).

Between 2014 and 2022, Eclair wrote seven series (36 episodes) of Little Lifetimes, short monologues for female actors, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. As well as Eclair herself, actors including Dame Harriet Walter, Haydn Gwynne, Monica Dolan, Vicki Pepperdine, Imelda Staunton, Anita Dobson and Ruth Sheen have been the monologist.

Eclair has also hosted her own show on the London radio station LBC Radio and starred in various stage productions.

Eclair sat in for Danny Baker on BBC London 94.9 from Tuesday 30 August until Friday 2 September 2011.

Other work

Eclair fronts the Food Standards Agency's salt reduction campaign "Salt, is your food full of it?".

Eclair became an Ambassador for audiobook charity Listening Books in 2019.

Eclair appeared at Derby Playhouse in The Killing of Sister George from 13 September 2008 until 18 October 2008.

Eclair now hosts a podcast called Older and Wider Podcast, co-hosted with Judith Holder, whom she had previously met and worked with on Grumpy Old Women.

Books

  • The Book of Bad Behaviour (non-fiction) Virgin, 1994.
  • Camberwell Beauty (novel) Little, Brown, 2000.
  • Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003.
  • Having a Lovely Time (novel) Little, Brown, 2005.
  • Life, Death and Vanilla Slices (novel) Sphere, 2012.
  • Moving (novel), Sphere, 2015. (Italian translation: Le stanze dei ricordi, Sperling & Kupfer, 2017. )
  • Inheritances (novel), Sphere, 2020
  • The Writing on the Wall (novel) Hachette Children's Group, 2022.

Personal life

Eclair is married to Geof Powell . She previously stated that marriages are "naff". She is the mother of the playwright Phoebe Eclair-Powell, Her third year of drama school was interrupted when she was sent home and almost hospitalised. She has said that her anorexia is "something I can joke about now, because I'm overweight."