Deirdre Purcell

Deirdre Purcell (1945–2023) was an Irish actress, award-winning journalist, broadcaster and best-selling novelist. She began her career as an actress at the Abbey Theatre, later worked as a feature writer (winning journalist of the year awards), and became the first female staff newsreader on RTÉ's Nine O'Clock News. Purcell published more than twenty books, including the best-selling Falling for a Dancer, which was adapted for television in 1998.