Jemma Churchill
Born (1960-11-13) 13 November 1960
Hampstead, London, England
Occupations
  • Stage actress
  • Television actress
Years active1984–present
Parent(s)Donald Churchill
Pauline Yates

Jemma Churchill (born 13 November 1960) is an English television, theatre, film and radio actress, best known for her roles as Nanny Lyons in Upstairs Downstairs,[1] and Ms Fellows in Waterloo Road.

Early life and education

Churchill is the daughter of London-born actor/writer Donald Churchill and Liverpool actress Pauline Yates, best known for her portrayal of Elizabeth Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.[2][3]

Following training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Churchill spent a year singing in pubs and working men's clubs in the East End under the name 'Jemma Churchill – the Cockney Sparrow'.

Career

Television and film

Churchill's first professional job was as a Borstal girl in the film Scrubbers directed by Mai Zetterling and produced by George Harrison. She appeared as herself in the Doctor Who 50th Celebrations in Peter Davisons' The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot for the BBC.[4]

Churchill's first television appearance was in the BBC Sit-Com No Place Like Home with William Gaunt and Martin Clunes. She then went on to play guest parts in John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed as Cissy Bigwell (1986) and Audrey Wystan, Rumpole's niece in Rumpole of the Bailey (1991).

In the 1990s Churchill played Elsie in Poirot in The Adventure of the Cheap Flat; the sister-in-law of Gordon Brittas, Philippa Belmont, in the cult sit-com The Brittas Empire (1994) and Doctor Swain in the comedy series Waiting For God (1994). She has made guest appearances on EastEnders, Footballers Wives, Midsomer Murders, Murder in Mind, Jonathan Creek, The Bill, Kiss Me Kate, Waterloo Road, Red Dwarf and Jekyll.[4] She played Nanny Lyons in the BBC period drama series Upstairs Downstairs, starring Keely Hawes and written by Heidi Thomas.[1]

Churchill appeared in the BAFTA award-winning drama documentary The Plot To Bring Down Britain's Planes for Channel 4. In 2015, she appeared as Freda in the new series of Agatha Raisin for Sky TV, and in the new series of the BBC comedy Still Open All Hours with Sir David Jason.

In a return to film, Jemma played Barnaby's Nanny in the 2018 Christmas film, Nativity ROCKS! The fourth film in Debbie Isitt's Nativity! series.[5]

Churchill set up Two Tree Island Films, and produced and starred in the short film Beached which went on to win the Southend-on-Sea Short Film Fiction award 2011. Then in October 2022, she portrayed Aileen McAllister in the BBC soap opera Doctors.[6]

Stage and radio

In September 2015, Churchill appeared at the Finborough Theatre in Horniman's Choice.[7] Churchill plays a lonely wife and mother in one of the plays in Horniman's Choice, The Old Testament and the New.[8] Churchill also appeared with Janie Dee in 84 Charing Cross Road at Salisbury Playhouse.[9] She has also appeared in The Hoard Festival New Vic Theatre's Appetite, a musical starring Miriam Margolyes and Tamsin Greig; as Belinda in Noises Off at Wolsey Theatre; Polina in The Notebook Of Trigorin; Factors Unforeseen at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond; Barbara in Ayckbourn's Things We Do For Love; and the surgeon in Having A Ball.[10]

Churchill has recorded many radio plays for BBC Radio including The Good Companions, Potting On, Hercule Poirot Series, Vanity Fair, The Idiot, Brideshead Revisited and Brief Lives. She voiced Lady Forleon in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio story Creatures of Beauty with Peter Davison, Safira Valtris in Breaking Bubbles with Colin Baker,[11] and Praska in Signs and Wonders with Sylvester McCoy. She played all 9 female roles in Blake's 7[12] The Liberator Chronicles and played Helena Eidelman in The Judgement Of Sherlock Holmes all for Big Finish.

For Brunel's Bicentenary, Churchill toured along the Great Western Railway route with her site-specific one woman show The Engineer's Corset about Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Engineering and Victorian Women. She played Dorothy Wordsworth in her one-woman show Dolly by Donald Churchill at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.

She starred in Jemma Kennedy's The Gift[13] and Annie Horniman's well-received The Price of Coal and The Old Testament and the New.[14]

In 2022, Churchill returned to Nativity! The Musical at The Birmingham Rep Theatre playing Mrs. Bevan. This is the same role she originated on the 2017 tour and played for a second time in the 2018 touring production of the show.[15]

Coming up, Jemma will tour with I Should Be So Lucky from 1st November 2023 until 4th May 2024 playing Ivy.[16]

Television filmography

References

  1. 1 2 "Staffordshire Hoard Festival: Find out more about Unearthed and The Gift". The Sentinel. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Birkett, Dea (23 January 2015). "Pauline Yates: Actress who was rarely out of work for 40 years and was best known for 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'". The Independent. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Pauline Yates, Actress – Obituary". The Telegraph. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Jemma Churchill". Mandy. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Nativity Rocks! (2018) - IMDb, retrieved 29 October 2022
  6. ↑ Timblick, Simon. "Doctors spoilers: Is Al Haskey to blame for some BAD publicity?". What to Watch. (Future plc). Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  7. ↑ Billington, Michael (30 September 2015). "Horniman's Choice review – luminous quartet of Manchester plays". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Streeten, Lucy (30 September 2015). "Review: Horniman's Choice, Finborough Theatre". A Younger Theatre. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "New Vic Hoard Festival". New Vic Hoard Festival. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Noises Off (Ipswich, New Wolsey Theatre)". 24 February 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  11. ↑ Jones, Tony (28 July 2014). "Review: Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories". Starburst Magazine. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Simpson, Paul. "Blake's 7: Review". Sci-Fi Bulletin. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  13. ↑ Hickling, Alfred (29 June 2015). "Hoard festival review – theatrical gold in the Midlands". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Billington, Michael (30 September 2015). "Horniman's Choice review – luminous quartet of Manchester plays". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Jemma Churchill". Birmingham Rep. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  16. ↑ "I Should Be So Lucky musical confirms complete cast". 18 July 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.

Jemma Churchill at IMDb

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