Tamsin Greig

Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig (/ˈtæmzɪnˈɡrɛɡ/; born 12 July 1966) is a British actress. She is known for both dramatic and comedic roles. She played Fran Katzenjammer in the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books, Dr Caroline Todd in the Channel 4 sitcom Green Wing, Beverly Lincoln in British–American sitcom Episodes and Jackie Goodman in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner. Other roles include Alice Chenery in BBC One's comedy-drama series Love Soup, Debbie Aldridge in BBC Radio 4's soap opera The Archers, Miss Bates in the 2009 BBC version of Jane Austen's Emma, and Beth Hardiment in the 2010 film version of Tamara Drewe. In 2020, Greig starred as Anne Trenchard in Julian Fellowes' ITV series Belgravia.

Greig is also a stage actress: she won a Laurence Olivier Award in 2007 for Much Ado About Nothing and received nominations in 2011 and 2015 for her roles in The Little Dog Laughed and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

Early life

Greig was born in Maidstone, Kent,^{[citation needed]} the second of three sisters. Her father, Eric (1906–1998), worked as a colour chemist creating dyes, and her mother, Ann (1933–2001), was enthusiastic about amateur dramatics.^[1] There was a 27-year age gap between her parents, with her father being 60 years old when Greig was born.^[2][3][4] The family moved to Kilburn when she was three.

She went to Malorees Junior School, followed by Camden School for Girls, and obtained a first-class BA (hons) in Drama and Theatre Arts from the University of Birmingham in 1988.^[5][6] After graduating she worked at the Family Planning Association and continued temporary work until 1996.^[6] She also spent some time at a secretarial college.^[7]

Career

Radio

Greig has had a long-running part as Debbie Aldridge in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers since 1991. As her other work increased, her appearances in the show decreased and her character spends most of her time living and working in Hungary.^[8][9]

Her other radio work includes narrating the Radio 4 comedy Warhorses of Letters,^[10] and guest-starring in five episodes of the second series of the radio version of Absolute Power, playing Charles Prentiss's former lover Gayle Shand, who now runs a rival firm.

Television

Greig appeared in supporting parts, notably as Lamia in Neverwhere (1996) and The Mother in an episode of People Like Us (2000).^[11] Her first major role was Fran Katzenjammer in the sitcom Black Books, which ran for three series from 2000. Fran was a friend of the main character, Bernard, and originally owned a gift shop called "Nifty Gifty" next door to his bookshop.^[12]

In 2004 she played continually embarrassed surgical registrar Dr Caroline Todd, the lead character in the Channel 4 comedy drama series Green Wing. Her performance won her "Best Comedy Performance" in the 2005 Royal Television Society Awards.^[13] She also appeared as Caroline in an appearance at The Secret Policeman's Ball.

She starred in the BBC comedy drama series Love Soup (2005), as Alice Chenery, a lovelorn woman working on a department store perfume counter, in a role specifically written for her by David Renwick, whom she met in 2003 when she appeared in an episode of Jonathan Creek.^[14] In May 2005 she also appeared as a nurse in an episode of the BBC series Doctor Who, entitled "The Long Game".

Greig appeared in the role of Edith Frank in the BBC's January 2009 production of The Diary of Anne Frank.^[15] Also in 2009, she appeared as Miss Bates in the BBC serial Jane Austen's Emma. In 2010, she played Sacharissa Cripslock in the two part mini-series Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.^[16]

In 2011, she starred in the BBC/Showtime sitcom Episodes, alongside Matt LeBlanc and Green Wing co-star Stephen Mangan.^[17] Greig and Mangan play a husband-and-wife writing duo who travel to America to work on an adaptation of their successful series. Greig also stars in the Channel 4 sitcom, Friday Night Dinner, as Jackie Goodman, the mother of a North London Jewish family.

She played Beth in the 2012 BBC series White Heat. She is also the lead in The Guilty in the three-part series on ITV in 2013, playing DCI Maggie Brand who investigates the death of a young child who went missing five years previously. ^[18] In 2014, she played Sally in the Inside No. 9 episode "Last Gasp".

In 2015 the fourth season of Episodes was aired, and in 2016 a seven-episode fifth season, still starring Greig alongside Stephen Mangan and Matt LeBlanc, was filmed in London.^[19]

Greig narrated the sixth series of The Secret Life of the Zoo, taking over from Olivia Colman, in 2018.

Greig has received three BAFTA nominations for her TV work. She was nominated for Best Comedy Performance for Green Wing in 2005, and for Best Female Comedy Performance for Friday Night Dinner in 2012 and Episodes in 2015.

Theatre

During 2006 and early 2007, Greig played Beatrice in a much acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing for which she won a Laurence Olivier Award,^[20] and Constance in King John, as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Complete Works season. Whilst the win itself was a surprise,^[21] her acceptance speech was received very well as being highly entertaining,^[22] claiming that she was so excited that she had wet her dress. The speech was apparently completely improvised. Backstage, when told not to tell her mother about her wetting her dress, she told the host that her mum was dead before dedicating her award to her "dead mum".^[23] She also won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for "Best Shakespearean Performance" in Much Ado About Nothing, becoming the first woman to win the award,^[24] and was nominated for "The FRANCO'S Best Actress in a Play" in the Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Awards.^[25][26]

At the Gielgud Theatre in March 2008, she co-starred with Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott in the UK premiere of Yasmina Reza's The God of Carnage (Le Dieu du carnage) translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Matthew Warchus.^[27][28] The play won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2009.^[29] In 2008, she co-starred in the surreal sci-fi film Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth.

In November 2008 she made her National Theatre debut in Gethsemane, a new play by David Hare which toured the UK.^[30] Greig starred in The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane at the Garrick Theatre in London, which ran a limited season until 10 April 2010. She starred alongside Rupert Friend, Gemma Arterton and Harry Lloyd, and the play was directed by Jamie Lloyd. She won the 2011 WhatsOnStage Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a play for her portrayal.^[31] Her performance as Diane in The Little Dog Laughed garnered her a second Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress.^[32] In October 2011 she was Hilary, the central character, in Jumpy at the Royal Court, London.,^[33] which later transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End. In March 2013 she played Varia in Longing, a new play by William Boyd based on two short stories by Chekhov, at the Hampstead Theatre. Greig previously performed in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at the Playhouse Theatre, London, until May 2015. In March 2015, she received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

In October 2016 she returned to the Hampstead Theatre to play Empty in The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures by Tony Kushner. In February 2017 she returned to the Royal National Theatre to play Malvolia in a new production of Twelfth Night at the Olivier Theatre.^[34] As a Labour constituency agent spanning a period of 27 years, she gave a "polished ... magnificent" performance in James Graham's Labour of Love at the Noël Coward Theatre, London, in October 2017.^[35]

Film

Greig made a cameo appearance in the 2004 comedy Shaun of the Dead. She starred with Richard E. Grant in the 2009 film Cuckoo^[36] and with Roger Allam and Gemma Arterton in Tamara Drewe (2010). The last role earned Greig a British Independent Film Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She co-starred in 2015's comedy-drama The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and in the 2016 release of Breaking the Bank, opposite Kelsey Grammer.

Personal life

As of 2011 Greig lived in a flat in Kensal Green, having moved back to the area in 1996 to be with her dying father. Raised as an atheist, she became a Christian at this time.^[9] She has Jewish ancestry.^[37] Greig is also a vegetarian.^[38]

Since 1997 she has been married to actor Richard Leaf, whom she met at a wrap party of Neil Gaiman's 1996 miniseries Neverwhere,^[3] and has three children: Jakob, Nathanael and Roxie, born in 1999, 2000 and 2004 respectively. ^[39][40]

She gave her backing to a rally organised by pro-NHS protest group NHS Together.^[41] She also supports more practical teaching of Shakespeare in British schools, supporting the RSC's "Stand Up For Shakespeare" manifesto.^[42] Greig was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to the 2014 referendum on that issue.^[43]

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Audio

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ Appleyard, Bryan. "Leading light"
2. ^ Smith, Julia Llewellyn. "Tamsin Greig: 'I'm 51, but I feel like an idiot teenager'"
3. ^ Mountford, Fiona (12 August 2012). "'Intriguing isn't it?': Tamsin Greig mulls over life's mysteries". The Independent on Sunday. Archived 26 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
4. ^ "Crowded flats (Sunday Times)". bryanappleyard.com. 21 December 2014. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
5. ^ "Celebrities tell us about their first year at university". The Guardian. 14 August 2008.
6. ^ Sale, Jonathan (8 January 2009). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of the actress Tamsin Greig". The Independent. Archived 26 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
7. ^ Seriously funny, an interview with The Telegraph with Tamsin Greig. Written by Jasper Rees, 29 July 2006. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
8. ^ "Debbie Aldridge Played by Tamsin Greig". The Archers. BBC. 8 February 2010. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
9. ^ Saner, Emine (3 March 2011). "Tamsin Greig: 'I always think I'll never work again'". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
10. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Warhorses of Letters". BBC
11. ^ "BBC Two – People Like Us, Series 2, the Mother". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
12. ^ 'Cooking The Books', Black Books episode 1, series 1
13. ^ RTS Winners and Nominations list 2005 Archived 22 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 June 2007.
14. ^ Woman's Hour Interview with Tamsin Greig in February 2005. Retrieved 17 June 2007
15. ^ "Anne Frank TV drama heads to BBC". BBC. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2007.
16. ^ "Terry Pratchett's Going Postal". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
17. ^ "Showtime Plans a Trio of Premieres for January". The Wrap. 22 September 2010. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
18. ^ "The Guilty". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014.
19. ^ "Episodes – Official Series Site – SHOWTIME". 9 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
20. ^ BBC News (18 February 2007) "Sondheim show wins theatre awards". Retrieved 18 February 2007
21. ^ "Spamalot actress attacks Olivier awards snub" 19 February 2007, This Is London
22. ^ "Sondheim show wins theatre awards". BBC News. 19 February 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
23. ^ "IN DEPTH: Tamsin Greig talks to us" Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine 26 February 2009, Maidenhead Advertiser
24. ^ Critics Circle Awards for 2006 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Albemarle of London. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
25. ^ "WOS Theatregoers' Choice Nominees Announced". What's on Stage. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
26. ^ "Full List: Your Theatregoers' Choice Award Winners". What's on Stage. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
27. ^ Wheatley, Jane (19 March 2008). "Tamsin Greig: from Ambridge to the West End stage in God of Carnage". The Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
28. ^ Paddock, Terri (24 December 2007). "Greig, McTeer & Stott Join Fiennes God of Carnage". What's on Stage. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
29. ^ "2009 Laurence Olivier Awards Winners". The Official London Theatre Guide. Archived from the original on 12 March 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
30. ^ Paddock, Terri (18 August 2008). "Hare Gethsemane Debuts With Greig at NT, 11 Nov". Whatsonstage.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
31. ^ "Full List 2011 Whatsonstage.com Award Winners". What's on Stage. 20 February 2011. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
32. ^ "Full List of 2011 Award Nominees". Olivier Awards. 20 February 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011.
33. ^ Spencer, Charles (19 October 2011). "Jumpy, Royal Court". The Daily Telegraph. Archived 12 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
34. ^ Rustin, Susanna (11 February 2017). "Tamsin Greig as Malvolia is good for equality, and for raising standards in our theatre". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
35. ^ Bano, Tim (4 October 2017). "Labour of Love review at the Noel Coward Theatre, London – 'light, political and nostalgic'". The Stage. Archived 4 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
36. ^ "Star on Yarmouth movie set". Norfolk Daily Evening Press. 12 December 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2007.^{[dead link]}
37. ^ "Friday Night Dinner’s Tamsin Greig says she ‘shouldn’t’ have played a Jewish mother". The Independent. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
38. ^ Nathanson, Hannah & Hunter Johnston, Lucy (8 June 2012). "Tamsin Greig welcomes in the summer". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
39. ^ "Tamsin Greig on Friday Night Dinner series two, going grey and growing up". Retrieved 14 January 2017.
40. ^ Llewellyn Smith, Julia (2 September 2017). "Tamsin Greig: 'I'm 51, but I feel like an idiot teenager'". The Times. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
41. ^ Haynes, Alex (1 November 2007). "Rally backs health service". Harrow Times. Retrieved 1 November 2007.
42. ^ "RSC Stands Up For Shakespeare". Official London Theatre Guide. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 3 March 2008.^{[dead link]}
43. ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories | Politics". The Guardian. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
44. ^ "Riot Women – cast announced for Sally Wainwright's new drama". bbc.com/mediacentre. 28 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.

External links

• Tamsin Greig at IMDb
• tv.com Archived 6 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine Tamsin Greig biography.
• Tamsin Greig – Drama Faces Biography of Tamsin Greig on the BBC Drama Faces website.
• Ms Tamsin Greig at Debrett's People of Today
• 39 Winter 2012 | Arete Magazine Archived 19 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine Extensive interview with Tamsin Greig by Craig Raine and Nina Raine