Editing Tracey Ullman (section)

===Early years===
Ullman began her television career in 1980 playing [[Lynda Bellingham]]'s daughter in the British series ''Mackenzie''. "I really thought I was great when I did a quite serious soap opera for the BBC. I played a nice girl from [[St. John's Wood]]. 'Mummy, I think I'm pregnant. I don't know who's done it.' Then I would fall down a hill or something. 'EEEEE! Oh, no, lost another baby.' It seemed all I ever did was have miscarriages—or make yogurt."<ref>{{cite web|title=Tracey Ullman Is Sitting Pretty as the Queen of Parody and Pops|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20089118,00.html|work=Barbara Graustark|publisher=([[People Magazine]])|access-date=9 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110090524/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20089118,00.html|archive-date=10 January 2014}}</ref>

Ullman appeared in [[Les Blair]]'s [[avant-garde]] ''Four in a Million'', an improvised play about club acts, at London's [[Royal Court Theatre]].<ref name="watchout"/> She won the [[Critics' Circle Theatre Award|London Critics Circle Theatre Award]] as Most Promising New Actress for her performance.<ref>[http://brits.co.uk/show/1984/ The BPI Awards 1984] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403060011/http://brits.co.uk/show/1984/|date=3 April 2007}}. Retrieved 1 April 2007.</ref>

In 1981, she was cast in the [[BBC Scotland]] [[sketch comedy]] programme ''[[A Kick Up the Eighties]]'', which in turn led to her being offered the sketch show ''[[Three of a Kind (1981 TV series)|Three of a Kind]]'', co-starring comedians [[Lenny Henry]] and [[David Copperfield (comedian)|David Copperfield]]. Ullman said, "My first reaction was you must be joking, as women are treated so shoddily in comedy. Big busty barmaids and all those sort of clichés just bore me rigid."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tracey's Papers |url=http://tracey-archives.tumblr.com/post/113163172393/tracey-ullman-the-face-no37 |journal=The Face |pages=69}}</ref> Eventually a deal was struck with a proviso that she would have script approval and could choose her own costumes.<ref>{{cite web|title=1982 Stiff Records press release.|url=http://tracey-archives.tumblr.com/post/113162928508/1982-stiff-records-press-release|work=The Tracey Ullman Archives|publisher=Tumblr.com|access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref> ''Three of a Kind'' premiered in July 1981, running for three series until 1983.<ref>{{cite web|title=BFI Screenonline: Three of a Kind (1981-83)|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/535119/|work=BFI Screenonline|publisher=Screenonline.org.uk|access-date=12 December 2015}}</ref> Throughout the series, Ullman would also sing, performing comical spoofs of well-known artists of the era such as [[Toyah Willcox|Toyah]], [[Bananarama]], [[Jennifer Warnes]], and [[Dollar (band)|Dollar]]. ''Three of a Kind'' led to a brief but successful singing career in 1983, as well as her winning her first [[British Academy Film Awards|BAFTA]] (for "Best Light Entertainment Performance") in 1984.<ref>{{cite web|title=BAFTA Awards|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1984/television/light-entertainment-performance|work=BAFTA|publisher=bafta.org|access-date=14 September 2015}}</ref> By this time, she had become a household name with the British media referring to her as "Our Trace".<ref name="skitcom">{{cite web|title=Queen of the Skitcom: Tracey Ullman Has Lost Her Prized Anonymity, but Her Ratings Have Fox Grinning|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-17-tm-2236-story.html|first=Howard|last=Rosenberg|date=17 April 1988|access-date=10 June 2015|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

In 1985, she signed on to star in the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] sitcom ''[[Girls on Top (British TV series)|Girls on Top]]''. She was cast as the promiscuous golddigger Candice Valentine. The show, co-starring [[Dawn French]], [[Ruby Wax]], and [[Jennifer Saunders]], continued for a second series without Ullman who bowed out after the first.