Elizabeth Heery: The Liverpool Actress, Writer and Novelist Behind a Remarkable Creative Career
Elizabeth Heery is a British actress, screenwriter and novelist from Liverpool. She is professionally known as Elizabeth Morton and Eliza Morton, names she has used across acting and publishing. Her career covers television, theatre, film, radio, short fiction and historical novels. She is known for playing Madeline Bassett in Jeeves and Wooster and Lucinda in the Liverpool sitcom Watching. Beyond acting, she has built a strong reputation as a writer, with work for BBC Radio 4, Channel 4, ITV, BBC Films and television.
Elizabeth Heery lives in London and has strong roots in Liverpool, a city that has shaped much of her writing. Her novels often draw on family, community, hardship, resilience and the emotional life of working-class Liverpool.
Elizabeth Heery Early Life in Liverpool
Elizabeth Heery was born and brought up in Liverpool. Her early life in the city became an important influence on her later creative work. Liverpool’s humour, history, speech patterns and social character appear strongly in her writing, especially in her saga novels.
She attended Seafield Convent, also referred to as Seafield Grammar School in Crosby. During her younger years, she spent weekends playing the piano accordion in Northern working men’s clubs. This unusual early experience gave her direct contact with live entertainment, performance and ordinary audiences long before her professional acting career began.
Elizabeth Heery Education and Training
Elizabeth Heery trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, one of the UK’s respected drama schools. Her acting training gave her the foundation for work in television, theatre and film. She also trained as a writer with The Royal Court Young Writers’ Group, where she was mentored by Dominic Cooke. This helped her move from acting into writing for stage, radio, screen and fiction.
Elizabeth Heery Acting Career
Before becoming widely recognised as a novelist, Elizabeth Heery worked as an actress. She appeared in television, theatre and film, building a career through character roles and comedy-drama performances. Her best-known acting role is Madeline Bassett in the ITV series Jeeves and Wooster. She is also remembered for playing Lucinda in the Liverpool sitcom Watching. These roles connected her to two very different areas of British television: classic literary comedy and popular regional sitcom.
Elizabeth Heery in Jeeves and Wooster
In Jeeves and Wooster, Elizabeth Heery played Madeline Bassett, a character from the world of P. G. Wodehouse. The series is known for its elegant humour, period setting and highly stylised performances. Her role in the programme remains one of the most recognisable parts of her acting career.
Elizabeth Heery in Watching
Her role as Lucinda in Watching connected her to a sitcom rooted in Merseyside life. The series had a strong Liverpool identity, which suited her background and voice as a performer. This credit remains important because it links her acting career to the city that later became central to her novels.
Elizabeth Heery Writing Career
Elizabeth began writing after winning first prize for her short story Salsa in The London Writer’s Competition, sponsored by Time Out. Two years later, she won first prize again, this time in the playwriting category of the same competition. This made her a double winner and gave strong early proof of her talent as a writer. She has written for television, film, theatre, radio and magazines. Her work includes Stir It Up, a film for Channel 4, and Ted, a BBC film mentored by Andrew Davies. She has also written episodes for CBeebies, BBC One and BBC Radio 4.
Elizabeth Heery and BBC Radio 4
One of her notable radio credits is as an episode writer for the legal drama series Brief Lives on BBC Radio 4. She worked on the series from November 2010 to November 2012. Radio drama requires strong dialogue, structure and character voice, all of which are also important features in her fiction.
Elizabeth Heery at the National Theatre
Elizabeth has also worked on attachment at The Royal National Theatre in 2010 and 2011. This shows her connection to serious theatre writing and development. Her background in both acting and writing gives her a strong understanding of character, performance and dramatic structure.
Elizabeth Heery Theatre Work
Elizabeth Heery’s theatre work includes acting, writing and live performance. In January 2014, she worked as writer and actor at Everyman Studio Theatre in Cheltenham. Her play The Good Mother was staged there. When the lead actress dropped out four days before opening, she stepped into the role herself after 12 years away from the stage. The part included nearly 15 pages of monologue, performed with Sophie Ellerby and directed by Katy Rudd. This moment reflects her confidence, discipline and deep theatre experience.
Elizabeth Heery as Elizabeth Morton and Eliza Morton
As an author, Elizabeth Heery publishes under the names Elizabeth Morton and Eliza Morton. These names appear across her book career and professional writing identity. She secured a two-book deal with Ebury Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in 2018. Her novel A Liverpool Girl was published in 2019, followed by A Last Dance in Liverpool in August 2020. Both books performed strongly, reaching Number 1 and Number 3 respectively in The Bookseller’s Heatseekers Charts.
Elizabeth Heery Liverpool Saga Novels
Her novels are strongly connected to Liverpool and often focus on women, families and survival through difficult times. Her books include:
A Liverpool Girl
A Liverpool Girl was published in 2019 and became an important step in her career as a novelist. The book helped establish her as a writer of Liverpool-set historical saga fiction.
A Last Dance in Liverpool
A Last Dance in Liverpool followed in 2020 and continued her success. The novel reached Number 3 in The Bookseller’s Heatseekers Charts.
Angel of Liverpool
After securing a further book deal with Pan Macmillan, she published Angel of Liverpool in 2021. The book became a Number 3 Heatseeker, received a People’s Friend recommendation and reached the Top 10 WHSmith bestsellers. In 2022, it was shortlisted for the RoNA Best Saga Award.
The Girl From Liverpool
The Girl From Liverpool was published in July 2022. It also made The Bookseller’s Heatseekers Chart and reached Number 5 in Amazon’s Historical Romance bestsellers.
Elizabeth Heery and Pan Macmillan
Elizabeth Heery later became associated with Pan Macmillan as an author. In August 2022, she received a three-book deal from Pan for her Orphans of the Living trilogy. This marked another major stage in her publishing career. She also narrates her books for audio, adding another performance element to her writing career. Her acting background likely gives her an advantage in narration, allowing her to bring characters and dialogue to life with emotional detail.
Elizabeth Heery Age
Elizabeth Heery was born in August 1961 in Liverpool, England. She is a British actress, screenwriter and novelist whose career spans television, theatre, radio and bestselling historical fiction.
Elizabeth Heery Husband and Family
Elizabeth Heery is married to actor Peter Davison, whose real name is Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett. They married in 2003 and live in Middlesex. She is the mother of Louis Davison and Joel Moffett, and she is also connected to Georgia Tennant as part of the wider family. Her family has strong links to British acting, writing and television. Her son Louis Davison is an actor known for roles in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Poldark, Find Me in Paris and Vikings: Valhalla.
Her mother is Valerie McCarren, whom Elizabeth has celebrated publicly in Liverpool family posts. Elizabeth and Peter have two sons, Louis Claude Peter Moffett, professionally known as Louis Davison, and Joel Moffett. She is also the stepmother of Georgia Tennant, making Georgia Tennant Elizabeth Heery’s stepdaughter.
Elizabeth Heery Company and Professional Roles
Elizabeth Anne Heery is listed as a British director and secretary of Heery Davison Limited, appointed on 19 May 2006. The company is active, and she is connected to it alongside Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett. This reflects the professional business side of her creative career and family work. Since 2016, she has also been an ambassador for the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, showing her continued support for theatre and the arts.
Elizabeth Heery Social Media and Public Presence
Elizabeth uses her author identity in public-facing book activity. Her likely author account, under the name Eliza Morton, focuses on books, writing and reader engagement. She has shared updates about finishing new work, thanking readers, libraries, bookshops and fellow writers. Her public presence reflects someone deeply connected to literature, theatre and Liverpool heritage, while also maintaining a warm relationship with readers.
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Final Thoughts
Elizabeth Heery has built a rich and varied creative life. She began as a Liverpool-born actress, trained at Guildhall, performed in well-known British television series and then developed into an award-winning writer and successful novelist.
Her work spans stage, screen, radio and publishing. Whether known as Elizabeth Heery, Elizabeth Morton or Eliza Morton, she has shown talent across many forms of storytelling. Her Liverpool novels, acting career, theatre work and writing achievements make her an important figure in modern British creative life.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Elizabeth Heery?
Elizabeth Heery is a British actress, screenwriter and novelist from Liverpool. Professionally known as Elizabeth Morton and Eliza Morton, she is known for Jeeves and Wooster, Watching and bestselling Liverpool saga novels.
How old is Elizabeth Heery?
Elizabeth Heery was born in August 1961 in Liverpool, England, making her 64 years old.
Is Elizabeth Heery married?
Yes, Elizabeth Heery is married to actor Peter Davison, whose real name is Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett. They married in 2003.
What books has Elizabeth Heery written?
Elizabeth Heery, writing as Elizabeth Morton or Eliza Morton, has written A Liverpool Girl, A Last Dance in Liverpool, Angel of Liverpool and The Girl From Liverpool.
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