Writing

Andrea Gibb

Gibb was born in Greenock, Scotland. She studied drama and sociology at Glasgow University and then did a post-graduate teaching degree at Manchester Polytechnic before going on to do an acting course at the Drama Studio London. She acted regularly in theatre and television before she started writing. Her most high-profile role was as Deirdre, Calum Buchanan's girlfriend in All Creatures Great and Small. "When I was doing All Creatures, I had absolutely no desire, no intention, no belief that I could write," recalled Gibb in 2016. "It never occurred to me, and it was never something I imagined myself doing in the future. My writing career just happened, almost accidentally, and now I don't act very much at all. Occasionally I'll do the odd short film for a friend. I did a theatre job about three years ago that I absolutely loved. I miss actors and I miss that sense of camaraderie. You become a family." "I had just moved from London up to Liverpool because my partner at the time was made the associate director of the Everyman Theatre, so I moved with him. I was doing a fair bit of acting in the North West around Liverpool, including at the Everyman, but I still had a London agent, so I was going down for auditions all the time. She rang me and asked if I'd be interested in going up for All Creatures Great and Small because they were looking for a Scottish character. At first I thought it was to play a vet and I was really excited, then I read the script and, of course, it transpired that Deirdre worked at the Ministry of Agriculture." Gibb was also a regular presenter on the children's television programme Let's Pretend.[citation needed]