Barbara Marten was born as Barbara Mason on January 3rd 1947. As a teenager she attended the London School of Music and Dramatic Art but claims that it put her off acting and she worked for two years as a teacher, returning to the stage when she joined a theatre group in Coventry and then a touring company based in Doncaster but travelling Yorkshire putting on contemporary plays. In 1997 she joined the cast of 'Casualty' for possibly her best known television role as straight talking nurse Eve Montgomery and remained with the series for two years. Since then she has appeared in many popular dramas including 'Silent Witness', 'The Bill' and Waking the Dead' and more recently appeared in the period drama 'The Mill' as real-life anti-slavery campaigner Hannah Greg. Barbara married writer Mike Kenny, living with him in Leeds. They have three sons, Billy, Josh and Theo - whose name signifies God's gift, as three years before he was born Barbara suffered an illness which led her to believe she could no longer have children.