Sophie Willan (born 21 October 1987) is an English actress, narrator, writer and comedian.

Early life

Sophie Willan was born on 21 October 1987, in Bolton where she grew up, and spent time in care as a child, as her mother was a

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

addict. She later worked as an escort to fund her arts career.

Theatre and stand-up comedy

Willan began her arts career in theatre, founding feminist theatre/cabaret group Eggs Collective. Willan's stand up takes inspiration from her unusual life experiences. In 2015 she won the '' Magners New Comedian of the Year'' award. In 2016 she took her debut stand-up series ''On Record'', based on her experiences of growing up in and out of the care system, to the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. A nationwide tour followed in 2017, including 10 dates at London's Soho Theatre and a commission to adapt the show into a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

series, with a second series being greenlit. Her second show ''Branded'' was an exploration of the labels applied to Willan by other people. In the show she addressed her past as a sex worker. The show received a positive review in ''The'' ''Guardian.'' Willan performed the show at the

2017, receiving a Herald Angel Award and a nomination for Best Show.

Television

Willan is the narrator of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

’s '' The Circle'' and joined the cast of ''

Still Open All Hours ''Still Open All Hours'' is a British sitcom created for the BBC by Roy Clarke, and starring David Jason and James Baxter. It is the sequel to the sitcom ''Open All Hours'', which both Clarke and Jason worked on throughout its 26-episode run f ...

'' (

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

) and ''

Click & Collect ''Click & Collect'' is a British comedy television film directed by Ben Palmer, written by Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf, and starring Asim Chaudhry and Stephen Merchant. Plot Uptight Andrew Bennett lives in a semi-detached house in Bedford. When h ...

'' (

). She portrayed Carol in Series 4 of sketch show '' Class Dismissed'' (

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

) and has performed comedy on ''Live from The Comedy Store'' (

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

) ''

As Yet Untitled ''Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled '' is a British television programme that was first broadcast on Dave and hosted by comedian Alan Davies. In each episode Davies holds an unscripted roundtable discussion with four guests. The guests include stand ...

'' (

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

) and '' The Last Leg Correspondents'' ( C4). She has also been nominated as a

Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the ...

Best Newcomer, honoured on the BBC New Talent Hot List and became the first recipient of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

’s Caroline Aherne Comedy Bursary. She was a South Bank Sky Arts Award Best Breakthrough Nominee in 2018. In 2020 Willan's sitcom ''

Alma's Not Normal ''Alma's Not Normal'' is a British sitcom first broadcast as a pilot episode on BBC Two in April 2020. The series follows the eponymous Alma, from Bolton, as she tries to give her life meaning and the "fabulous" outcome she has always dreamed of ...

'' was commissioned for a full series by

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, to be released in 2021, following the success of the pilot. '' The Mirror'' called it ‘''

Phoenix Nights ''Phoenix Nights'' is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In the Club" episode of the spoof documentary series ''That Pete ...

'' meets '' Fleabag'', guided by the spirit of

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...

’; ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' said, ‘Willan's writing is skilled and clearly very personal...uplifting and strangely enchanting’.

Awards

Willan won a Television Craft Award for Best Writer: Comedy for the pilot of ''Alma's Not Normal''. In the

2022 British Academy Television Awards The 2022 British Academy Television Awards were held on 8 May 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, to recognise the excellence in British television of 2021. The nominations were announced on 30 March 2022 alongside the nominations for the ...

, Willan was awarded the Best Female Comedy Performance for her performance in the series, which was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy. In 2022, Willan received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton for her contribution to television and comedy.

Care work

In 2015, Willan secured funding of over £100,000 to create the multi-platform literary project '' Stories of Care'', creating and curating short stories written by fellow care leavers. The project recruited care leavers across the

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

to take part in the creation of a published children's anthology for looked-after children.

References

External links

*
UTC Artist Management website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willan, Sophie 1987 births Living people English women comedians Actors from Bolton Comedians from Greater Manchester English television actresses English stand-up comedians BAFTA winners (people)