Former Brookside actress Anna Norbury dies aged 26

Former Brookside actress Anna Norbury dies aged 26 as her mother pays tribute to her ‘beautiful and innocent humanity’

  • Anna Norbury is best known for playing Alice Farnham in Channel 4’s Brookside 
  • The 26-year-old actress died on September 7, her family have shared 
  • Her mother Maria paid tribute to her ‘warmth, wit, clarity and forthrightness’ 

Former Brookside actress Anna Norbury has died at the age of 26, with her mother paying tribute to her ‘beautiful and innocent humanity’.

Anna was best known for playing Alice Farnham in the Channel 4 soap.

She died on September 7, her family have shared today.

Anna’s mother Maria wrote in an obituary published in The Telegraph, which read: ‘She will be remembered for her warmth, her wit, her clarity, her forthrightness, and above all for her beautiful and innocent humanity.

Former Brookside co-star Michael Starke and Anna’s aunt Katharine Norbury shared moving tribute to the actress

‘Anna may have been born with special needs, but she was so special and unique in herself that we were the ones who needed her.

‘Her smile shone a bright light into the world of everyone who was lucky enough to meet her. Our loss is greater than we can ever say.’ 

Former co-star Michael Starke tweeted yesterday: ‘Today we say farewell to Anna Norbury. 

‘She was ‘Baby Alice Farnham’ in Brookside. 

‘She was one of the most treasured and beautiful young cast members. Love and strength to her wonderful family.’

Fellow Brookside and Coronation Street actress Gabrielle Glaister said she was ‘sending love,’ after hearing the news. 

Anna spent three years on Channel 4 soap Brookside, joining in 1994. 

A day after her death, Anna’s aunt Katharine Norbury tweeted: ‘Anna Kate Norbury who won the hearts of millions as Alice Farnham in Brookside and more recently in ⁦⁦the ⁦Channel 4 documentary Home Free with her boyfriend Joe, with whom she was on the cusp of beginning independent living has died aged 26. 

‘Dearly dearly dearly loved.’

Anna starred in Home Free on Channel 4 last year, a documentary which followed a group of young people with learning disabilities who were leaving home for the first time and moving into supported living apartments that offer up the chance of independent living.

Fans have remembered Anna after hearing the tragic news.

Helen Crompton wrote: ‘Sad news, I remember Alice being born, such a lovely little actress. 

‘May she rest eternally in peace, thoughts are with her family and those who knew and worked with her.’