Lorna Laidlaw is best known to television viewers as Mrs Tembe (she has a Christian name, Winifred but would never allow her colleagues to use it), the strait-laced, straight-haired Botswanan born receptionist in daytime soap 'Doctors'. Lorna however is a native Brummie, born on February 1 1963 - unusually for a baby with teeth. Brought up in Ladywood, Birmingham she joined a local youth theatre at the age of 15 and went on to train as a social worker but decided it was a thankless job and turned to acting instead, spending several years with Birmingham Rep. She made her television debut in the 1990s but became a regular in children's shows 'Tikkabilla' and 'Grandpa in my Pocket in the 2000s before joining 'Doctors' in 2009 for one episode as a character called Gloria Dixon and from 2011 as the redoubtable Mrs Tembe for which role, in 2012, she was named best actress by the Royal Televis…
