Deborah Ann Stirling Gallacher (born 30 November 1970) is an English actress. She appeared in the BBC soap opera Doctors as George Woodson for six years, which earnt her numerous nominations at the British Soap Awards. Gallacher's other notable roles include Jennifer Taylor-Clarke in the BBC comedy The Office, Paula Martin in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and Ffion Morgan in the BBC medical drama Casualty.

Deborah Ann Stirling Gallacher was born on 30 November 1970.^[1][2] She was born and raised in Bowdon, Cheshire.^[2] Gallacher gave birth to her first son in January 2004.^[3] On 20 June 2009, she married her Doctors co-star and on-screen husband, Seán Gleeson.^[4] That same year, Gallacher had another child with Gleeson, who has two other children from a relationship prior to Gallacher.^[5]

After minor appearances in films and television series, Gallacher booked a regular role in Meet Ricky Gervais on Channel 4 in 2000. A year later, she was booked in a main role on the BBC sitcom The Office, co-created by Gervais.^[6] At the time, Gallacher was working in an IT job for the BBC, who allowed her to continue her office job while simultaneously appearing on the series.^[5] Then in 2003, she appeared in Gervais' film Animals.^[6] Later that year, Gallacher was cast as George Woodson in the BBC soap opera Doctors, a role she stayed in until 2009.^[7][8] In 2007, she received the accolade for Best On-Screen Partnership at the British Soap Awards alongside Gleeson, who played her husband, Ronnie Woodson.^[9][10] Also from 2003 to 2005, she appeared in Little Britain in various different roles.^[11]

In 2017, Gallacher appeared in three episodes of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portraying the Mayor of Walford, as well as appearing in an episode of the Tracy Beaker spin-off series The Dumping Ground.^[12] Gallacher joined the cast of Coronation Street in August 2018 as Paula Martin, a love interest for established character Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent).^[13] In February 2020, it was announced that Gallacher had joined medical drama Casualty as police officer Ffion Morgan, the wife of established character Jan Jenning (Di Botcher).^[14] Gallacher confirmed that she would not leave Coronation Street for the new role, but instead would appear in both shows simultaneously.^[15] Gallacher made her Casualty debut on 18 July 2020.^[16] For her role as Ffion, Gallacher stated that she wanted to appear different to her Coronation Street character, so she wears a wig due to having an allergy to hair dye.^[17]

• Stirling Gallacher at IMDb