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Katy Carmichael

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Katy Carmichael
Born
Katy Jane Carmichael

(1970-03-05) 5 March 1970 (age 54)
Liverpool, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationActress • director
Years active1991–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2005)​
Children3

Katy Jane Carmichael (born 5 March 1970) is an English actress, director and producer. She is most known for her roles as Twist Morgan in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, Lucy Barlow in the ITV soap Coronation Street, and Melissa Ryan in Waterloo Road. As a director-producer, her work includes the award-winning Mayday Mayday (Bristol Old Vic and St Ann's Warehouse New York).

Early life

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Born and brought up in Liverpool as the daughter of two architects, Carmichael attended Gateacre Community Comprehensive School. She did her A-levels at Liverpool College, Mossley Hill, Liverpool.[1]

After six seasons with the National Youth Theatre, she studied for a drama, film and television degree, at Bristol University with peers Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, Myfanwy Moore, and had a five-year relationship with the then-unknown drama student David Walliams.[2]

Career

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Her first professional acting role at the age of 18 was Connie in the Liverpool sitcom Bread which she filmed during her university studies. Early in her career, she teamed up with lifelong friend, future Spaced star and writer Jessica Hynes in a comedy double-act called The Liz Hurleys. After leaving university, she began a TV career with the 1950s Liverpool drama And The Beat Goes On (1994), the Galton and Simpson series with Paul Merton, Wing and a Prayer, Death Of A Salesman, and Dennis Potter's Karaoke / Cold Lazarus. She played DC Jo McMullen in Liverpool 1.

Carmichael reunited with Hynes and Pegg to play Twist Morgan in the BAFTA nominated Channel 4 sitcom Spaced. The sitcom lasted for two series. The three also previously appeared together in the short-lived sketch show Six Pairs of Pants (1995).

In 2001, Carmichael starred in her first film, Dead Babies, based on the novel by Martin Amis. She also appeared in Kenneth Branagh's comedy film In the Bleak Midwinter as mad puppetwoman and played the female lead Jane Wells in the period fantasy drama The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells. A variety of roles in comedy and drama followed; Hex, Scarlett, One Foot in the Grave, Clocking Off, Cutting It. In 2002, she landed the role of florist Lucy Richards in Coronation Street and was involved in the award-winning Peter Barlow bigamy storyline for two years. She went on to play Melissa Ryan (sister of headteacher Rachel Mason) school drama Waterloo Road (2007). Carmichael played the mother in Danny Stack's short supernatural thriller Origin (2010). In 2014, she played Helen the down-trodden housewife in Jimmy McGovern's series Moving On for the BBC and was Hayley Blake, Connie Beauchamp's nemesis in Casualty (2014–15). She plays Clarity Winlove in The Living and The Dead (2015).

On stage, she played opposite Steven Berkoff in his 3-hander Sturm and Drang and Brighton Beach Scumbags at the Riverside Studios (1995), Yseult -Whitehands with Kneehigh Theatres's international hit Tristan and Yseult (2005–06) (Sydney Festival, US). Work at other theatres includes seasons at the Royal Exchange Theatre, the Liverpool Everyman, The Gate, and The Bristol Old Vic, where she met her future husband actor Tristan Sturrock in a production of The Beaux Stratagem.

In 2010, they set up Bristol based Theatre Damfino[3] together. She has directed the company's projects to date including Mayday Mayday (Bristol Old Vic 2012) winner of the International Fringe Review award (Edinburgh 2012)[4] and selected to play at St Ann's Warehouse New York and Spoleto Festival USA (2013). Mayday Mayday is a drama documentary (afternoon play Radio 4 TX 1 May 2015[5]). The Radio play won the International Third Coast award (US) was nominated for two BBC Drama awards 2016 - best sound design and finalist for best drama production.

Carmichael collaborated with Bib Gourmand winning chef Matt Williamson and Guardian food writer Claire Thomson[6] to create the food-theatre show The Table Of Delights,[7] which began as a gourmet tasting and performance experience for adults (Bristol Old Vic, 2013-2014). The children's version of the show premiered at The Print Room at The Old Coronet winning the Off West End award for best production for families category (2016).[8][9] Carmichael is creative director of The Table of Delights online a new food entertainment website sponsored by Yeo Valley and Pukka Tea.[10]

She directed singer and songwriter Kate Dimbleby's solo show Songbirds (Tobacco Factory, Bath Ustinov, UK Tour 2017) based on her acclaimed a cappella album.

Personal life

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Carmichael has been married to actor Tristan Sturrock since 2005. They have three children together: a son born in 2004, a daughter born in 2006, and a second daughter born in 2010. One of their daughters, Bronte Carmichael is also an actress, who is known for her role as Madeline Robin in the 2018 Disney film Christopher Robin.

Filmography

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Year Title Roles Notes Refs
1991 Bread Connie S7 E1, 6, 8, 9, 10
1994 Revelations Caroline Thomas Episode: "Team Table"
1994 Sunnyside Farm BBC
1995 Six Pairs of Pants Various Characters S1 E1, 2, 3
1995 Joking Apart Waitress S2 E3
1995 In the Bleak Midwinter Mad Puppet Woman
1996 And the Beat Goes On Cathy Williams S1 E1-8
1996 Karaoke 2nd Hostess Episodes: "Tuesday" and "Friday"
1996 Cold Lazarus C4
1997 Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's... Penny / Sandra Evans Episodes: "The Suit" and "The Clerical Error"
1998-1999 Liverpool 1 DC Jo McMullen S1 E1-6, S2 E1-6
1999–2001 Spaced Twist Morgan
2000 Dead Babies Lucy Littlejohn
2000 One Foot in the Grave Katy Episode: "The Futility of the Fly"
2001 The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells Jane Robins
2002 Bookcruncher Elsa
2002 Casualty Samantha Griffin
2002 Clocking Off Miranda Clarkson Episode: "Mack's Story"
2002–2003 Coronation Street Lucy Richards
2004 Hex Peggy Episode: "The Release" and "Possession"
2005 Cutting It Justine Jenson S4 E4-6
2006 Coming Up Harris Episode: "A Paradise Adventure"
2009 Mistresses Elaine Thompson S2 E2, 3, 4
2009 Waterloo Road Melissa Ryan S4 E1-10, 20
2009 Origin Claire Holmes
2014–2015 Casualty Hailey Blake
2014 Moving On Helen Episode: "The Beneficiary"
2016 The Living and The Dead Clarity Winlove BBC
2016 Three Girls Miss Landale BBC
2017 Safe Rachel Delaney Netflix / Red Productions
2017 The Miniaturist Ana Oortman BBC
2018 Christopher Robin Christopher Robin's Mother (Daphne de Sélincourt) Disney
2019 The Dumping Ground Sarah Reeves BBC

References

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  1. ^ "Charting the 175 year history of Liverpool College". lancashirelife.co.uk. 23 April 2015.
  2. ^ Hastings, Chris (21 February 2009). "Tears of a clown: David Walliams speaks of battle with depression and despair". London: The Daily Telegraph.
  3. ^ "Official website for Theatre Damfino". Theatre Damfino. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  4. ^ "FringeReview". edfringe.com. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  5. ^ "BBC iPlayer". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  6. ^ "The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  7. ^ Baggini, Julian (26 September 2013). "The Table of Delights: a theatrical take on restaurants". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  8. ^ "The Table of Delights | Food For Kids". foodforkids.com. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  9. ^ "The Print Room website". The Print Room. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Table of Delights - Creative food mayhem for hungry kids and silly grown ups". Table of Delights. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
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