Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including '' The Pillars of the Earth'', '' Peak Practice'', '' Hearts and Bones'', ''

Cutting It ''Cutting It'' is a BBC television drama series set in Manchester, England, focusing on the lives and loves of the team running a hairdressing salon. It ran for four series between 2002 and 2005. The show features a number of actors who subsequ ...

'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', '' Mistresses'', ''

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

'', ''

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

'', ''

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

'', HBO's ''

Industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

'', '' Stay Close'', '' Trollied,'' '' W1A'' and, as the titular character, '' Bancroft.''

Early life

Parish was born in

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, to Bill and Thelma Parish; she has a sister, Julie, and a brother, musician

John Parish John Parish (born 11 April 1959) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. Parish is best known for his work with singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. He has also worked with such artists as Eels, Aldous Harding, Tracy Chapm ...

. She was educated at the local Preston School and Yeovil College. She began acting at an early age and believes her first stage appearance was aged two in a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

in the village of Tintinhull in Somerset, playing the pearl in an

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

. She later attended Yeovil Youth Theatre.Sarah Parish interview
at

Western Daily Press The ''Western Daily Press'' is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England, mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Mon ...

19 April 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2015

Career

After training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London, her appearance in a cult advert for

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

-based Boddingtons bitter in 1994 (as Vera, who likes nothing better than "a good rub down with chip fat"), led to a series of roles as Northern women, including Dawn Rudge in ''Peak Practice'' (1993), Allie Henshall in ''Cutting It'' (2002), Annie Naylor in '' Trust'' and Natalie Holden in ''

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

'' (2004). She starred alongside

Debra Messing Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing starred in the television series ''Ned and Stacey'' on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox (1995–1997) an ...

in the movie '' The Wedding Date'', had a small role in '' The Holiday'', which starred

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He began his career in theatre before landing small roles in various British television productions and feature films. Law gained international recognition for his role in An ...

, and appeared as the Empress of the Racnoss in the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

2006 ''

'' episode " The Runaway Bride". Parish appeared in the one-off drama '' Recovery''. She also starred in the BBC series '' ShakespeaRe-Told'' in which she played Beatrice. She returned as GP Katie Roden in series two and three of '' Mistresses'', which debuted on BBC One in February 2009. She played Lady Catrina in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television series ''

''. In 2011, Parish co-starred in ITV's medical drama ''

'', alongside James Nesbitt. From 2013 to 2015, she appeared in the BBC TV series ''

'', playing one of the main characters, Pasiphaë. From 2014 to 2017, she played the role of Anna Rampton in three series of the BBC TV comedy '' W1A''. Since November 2015, Parish has portrayed Cheryl Fairweather in

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

sitcom '' Trollied''. In December 2017, she played Supt Elizabeth Bancroft in the ITV miniseries '' Bancroft''. The second series was broadcast in January 2020. In December 2019, she appeared in '' The Cockfields'' as Melissa, girlfriend of Nigel Havers' character, Larry. From 2020 to 2024, she has appeared in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

drama ''

''. In December 2021, Parish appeared in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

original '' Stay Close'' as Lorraine.

Co-stars

She has frequently co-starred opposite

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

— in the 2004 musical serial ''

''; the Tony Marchant drama '' Recovery''; the 2006 ''

'' Christmas special episode, " The Runaway Bride"; in the third series of the ITV crime drama ''

Broadchurch ''Broadchurch'' is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV for three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote all 24 episodes; it was produced by Kudos in a ...

''; and in the 2017 film You, Me and Him. She has joked: "We're like George and Mildred – in 20 years' time we'll probably be doing a ropey old sitcom in a terraced house in Preston."

Personal life

Parish married James Murray on 15 December 2007 in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. It was announced in January 2008 that she was pregnant with their first child, due on Parish's 40th birthday. Their daughter Ella-Jayne was born with Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome and died in 2009. In her memory, Parish and Murray raise funds for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Southampton General Hospital. As of December 2019, they had raised £5.2 million towards the PICU. Their second daughter, Nell, was born on 21 November 2009. When asked about her hobbies and interests, Parish cites her

vegetable garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

. On 2 March 2018, Parish sustained an accident, breaking her leg when sledging in the snow. She commented: "Note to self: cheap plastic sledges are for sitting in and gently trundling down primary slopes – NOT a substitute for a stand-up snowboard".

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Sarah Parish stars in ''Doctor Who'': "The Runaway Bride"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Sarah Living people 1968 births 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Somerset Alumni of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts English film actresses English television actresses Actors from Yeovil