Lisa Maxwell is an English actress who was born in November 1963, in the Elephant and Castle area of London, England. Lisa always had in her heart to be an actress, her mother encouraged her by enrolling her in drama classes at weekends. She trained at the Italia Conti School.

At age 11 she stared in the theatre production of Annie in London. In 1974 she starred in BBC's Ballet shoes. In the early 80's she beat over 3000 contenders to become the co-presenter of youth programme No Limits. Following this she had a stint of being a children's presenter in Splash. In 1981 she participated in BBC TV's A Song for Europe, as a member of the group Unity. She finished in last place with the song For Only a Day.

Her first role was in Remembrance (1982), and in the same year she voiced Kira in the Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal. In the early 90's Lisa go her own weekly entertainment series the Lisa Maxwell Show on BBC television in 1991. After this short lived series, in 1993, Lisa went to America. She was picked to play Daphne in Frasier, but she had some problems with the script and missed out. While in the US she appeared in numerous series including Acapulco H.E.A.T. and Murder She Wrote.

Then when she came back to England she appeared in Boogie Nights alongside Shane Richie who stared in and wrote it. During this she also appeared in BBC series In Deep 2001.She currently plays Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon in the ITV1 police drama/soap The Bill since 2002.

Lisa is engaged to Paul Jessup (a sculptor/interior designer). She has a little girl called Beau who was born in 1999.

Samantha Nixon is fiercely intelligent – she has gained two degrees; a first in psychology after 5 years of Open University and a 2:1 in Criminology after that.

Prior to joining Sun Hill, she trained in criminal profiling but failed to be accepted into the MET’s profiling team despite being one of the most capable of candidates. She suspects she was the victim of sexual discrimination.

Her actions both professionally and emotionally are always considered and she is obsessed with understanding the world around her (so she can control it). Taken from TheBill.com

Sam Nixon first arrived on the 27th August 2002, she quickly filled DI Cullen's shoes becoming Acting Detective Inspector. She lost out on the permanent position to Neil Manson.

In 2007 she was promoted to DI and now works alongside Neil.

Sam has a daughter called Abi who has featured in a couple of storylines. Abi gave birth to a baby and moved away.

Sam's storylines that are memorable and popular have been: Phil and Sam's on-going romance Sam's daughter being kidnapped Sam acting D.I, and trying to solve the serial murder case If you would like to add anything to this Biography please email