Sarah Alexander
Encyclopedia
Sarah Alexander is an English
actress, known for her roles in various British comedy series such as Armstrong and Miller, Smack the Pony
, Coupling
, The Worst Week of My Life
and Green Wing
.
, London
, England. Her father, Frank Smith, was a television producer
and director
who worked on factual programmes such as Panorama
, allowing her to be brought up in a television environment. She attended the Godolphin and Latymer School
in Hammersmith. At 19, she left home after her A-levels and travelled to the Edinburgh Festival
in the hope of getting her start in acting
. Her parents were opposed and wanted her to continue onto university
. Sarah turned down a place at Manchester University
to take up her first professional acting job.
. In 1994, she played Nicky, Damien's risk-addicted weather reporter girlfriend in Drop the Dead Donkey
. In 1996, she played Beatrice in the British premiere of Octavio Paz
's only play, Rappaccini's Daughter
, at the Gate Theatre Studio
. In the mid-1990s she met Ben Miller
when they filmed an advertisement for disposable cameras together, and through him Alexander Armstrong
. Miller and Armstrong became friends and collaborators, and Sarah went on to appear on their Armstrong and Miller sketch show (1997–2001).
Sarah began to move into comedic acting, in which she has specialised ever since. Other work on sketch-shows included Smith and Jones
(1997–98) and Smack the Pony
(1999–2003), also writing material for the latter. In the British science-fiction comedy series Red Dwarf
, Sarah played a French Queen in the episode "Stoke Me a Clipper
". She also appeared in Midsomer Murders
"The Garden of Death", as Fliss Inkpen-Thomas, who was hit over the head with a shovel.
In 2000, she appeared in the comedy The Strangerers
, as well as becoming co-host of the current-affairs satire
The 11 O'Clock Show, alongside Jon Holmes
. She made her debut as Susan Walker, perhaps her best-known role, in the BBC
sitcom Coupling
, which ran for four series from 2000 to 2004. Other British TV roles have been Mel in The Worst Week of My Life
, again alongside Ben Miller, and Dr Angela Hunter
in the hospital comedy Green Wing
, created by Smack The Pony creator Victoria Pile
.
Sarah appeared in the USA as Alice Fletcher in the NBC
's short-lived remake of the British comedy series Teachers
, before accepting roles in the movies I Could Never Be Your Woman
and Stardust (both released in 2007). Her previous film credits include Seaview Knights (1994) and Going Off Big Time, (2000).
Sarah also stars in the 2008 BBC dramedy Mutual Friends
, again alongside Armstrong, and plays the character of Layla Barton in the BBC drama, All The Small Things
, which debuted on March 31, 2009.
in a parody of Popstars
, in 2003 as Liza Goddard
in a spoof of the game show
Blankety Blank
and in 2005 in a celebrity version of University Challenge
hosted by Angus Deayton
.
, with whom she has a son, Sam, born in March 2007. They also have a daughter named Phoebe. She has appeared in both series of Look Around You
which Serafinowicz co-created and stars in, as well as his internet-only E!
News spoof, O!News.
She speaks French and Spanish fluently, and her brother works as an ESOL teacher. Her interests include horse riding, tennis
, swimming, karate
and singing.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actress, known for her roles in various British comedy series such as Armstrong and Miller, Smack the Pony
Smack the Pony
Smack the Pony is a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4. Its title was intended to sound like a euphemism for female masturbation; the working title was Spot the Pony. The main performers and writers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips...
, Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
, The Worst Week of My Life
The Worst Week of My Life
The Worst Week of My Life is a British comedy television series, first broadcast on BBC One between March and April 2004. A second series was aired between November and December 2005 and a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life was shown during December 2006...
and Green Wing
Green Wing
Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
.
Early life
Sarah Alexander was born in HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England. Her father, Frank Smith, was a television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
who worked on factual programmes such as Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
, allowing her to be brought up in a television environment. She attended the Godolphin and Latymer School
Godolphin and Latymer School
The Godolphin and Latymer School is an independent school for 700 girls aged eleven to eighteen in London. Ms Margaret Rudland was the head mistress of the school for over 20 years before being succeeded by Ms Ruth Mercer.-History:...
in Hammersmith. At 19, she left home after her A-levels and travelled to the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in the hope of getting her start in acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
. Her parents were opposed and wanted her to continue onto university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. Sarah turned down a place at Manchester University
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
to take up her first professional acting job.
Career
In 1993, she played Muriel in an episode of the BBC comedy-drama LovejoyLovejoy
Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...
. In 1994, she played Nicky, Damien's risk-addicted weather reporter girlfriend in Drop the Dead Donkey
Drop the Dead Donkey
- Major characters :* Gus Hedges — The unctuous Chief Executive of the company, and yes-man to Sir Roysten Merchant. A management stereotype, complete with clichés and clumsy metaphors, he swiftly transforms GlobeLink from a serious news network to a ratings-chasing tabloid channel...
. In 1996, she played Beatrice in the British premiere of Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...
's only play, Rappaccini's Daughter
Rappaccini's Daughter
"Rappaccini's Daughter" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1844 concerning a medical researcher in medieval Padua. It was published in the collection Mosses from an Old Manse.-Plot summary:...
, at the Gate Theatre Studio
Gate Theatre Studio
The history of London's Gate Theatre Studio, often referred to as simply the Gate Theatre, is typical of many small independent theatres of the period....
. In the mid-1990s she met Ben Miller
Ben Miller
Bennet Evan "Ben" Miller is an English comedian, actor and director. He is perhaps best known as one half of comedy double act Armstrong and Miller, along with Alexander Armstrong. Together the pair wrote and starred in Channel 4 sketch show Armstrong and Miller, and the more recent BBC television...
when they filmed an advertisement for disposable cameras together, and through him Alexander Armstrong
Alexander Armstrong (comedian)
Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong is a British comedian, actor and television presenter.-Early life and career:Armstrong was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, the youngest of three children, to Henry Angus Armstrong and his wife Emma Virginia Peronnet Thompson-McCausland, daughter of Lucius...
. Miller and Armstrong became friends and collaborators, and Sarah went on to appear on their Armstrong and Miller sketch show (1997–2001).
Sarah began to move into comedic acting, in which she has specialised ever since. Other work on sketch-shows included Smith and Jones
Alas Smith and Jones
Alas Smith and Jones is a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1984 to 1998...
(1997–98) and Smack the Pony
Smack the Pony
Smack the Pony is a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4. Its title was intended to sound like a euphemism for female masturbation; the working title was Spot the Pony. The main performers and writers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips...
(1999–2003), also writing material for the latter. In the British science-fiction comedy series Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
, Sarah played a French Queen in the episode "Stoke Me a Clipper
Stoke Me a Clipper
"Stoke Me a Clipper" is the second episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series VII and the 38th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 24 January 1997. Written by Paul Alexander & Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye...
". She also appeared in Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
"The Garden of Death", as Fliss Inkpen-Thomas, who was hit over the head with a shovel.
In 2000, she appeared in the comedy The Strangerers
The Strangerers
The Strangerers is a British television science fiction comedy drama serial written by Rob Grant and was broadcast on Sky One between February and April 2000....
, as well as becoming co-host of the current-affairs satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
The 11 O'Clock Show, alongside Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes is a seven time Sony award-winning and double Bafta winning British writer, comedian and broadcaster.-Early life:...
. She made her debut as Susan Walker, perhaps her best-known role, in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
, which ran for four series from 2000 to 2004. Other British TV roles have been Mel in The Worst Week of My Life
The Worst Week of My Life
The Worst Week of My Life is a British comedy television series, first broadcast on BBC One between March and April 2004. A second series was aired between November and December 2005 and a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life was shown during December 2006...
, again alongside Ben Miller, and Dr Angela Hunter
Angela Hunter
Angela Hunter is a character in the British sitcom Green Wing played by Sarah Alexander.- History :Angela was the senior registrar in paediatrics at East Hampton Hospital Trust....
in the hospital comedy Green Wing
Green Wing
Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
, created by Smack The Pony creator Victoria Pile
Victoria Pile
Victoria Pile, also known as Vicky Pile, is a British comedy writer, director and producer, most noted as the creator of two Channel 4 comedy programmes, the sketch show Smack the Pony and the sitcom Green Wing.- Writer :...
.
Sarah appeared in the USA as Alice Fletcher in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's short-lived remake of the British comedy series Teachers
Teachers (US TV series)
Teachers is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC. The show ran for six episodes until its cancellation on May 2, 2006. Loosely based upon a UK series of the same name, it was developed by Matt Tarses, co-executive producer of the medical comedy Scrubs.-Characters:Set in New Jersey,...
, before accepting roles in the movies I Could Never Be Your Woman
I Could Never Be Your Woman
I Could Never Be Your Woman is a 2007 American romantic comedy film directed and written by Amy Heckerling and starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd. The film was released on May 11 in Spain, July 18 in Belgium, September 14 in Brazil, September 20 in Greece and October 19 in Taiwan...
and Stardust (both released in 2007). Her previous film credits include Seaview Knights (1994) and Going Off Big Time, (2000).
Sarah also stars in the 2008 BBC dramedy Mutual Friends
Mutual Friends
Mutual Friends is a British comedy drama television series broadcast in six episodes on BBC One in 2008. The series starred Marc Warren, Alexander Armstrong, Keeley Hawes, Sarah Alexander, Claire Rushbrook, Emily Joyce, Naomi Bentley and Joshua Sarphie as a group of old friends whose lives are...
, again alongside Armstrong, and plays the character of Layla Barton in the BBC drama, All The Small Things
All the Small Things (TV series)
All the Small Things is a British television programme, produced by the BBC and created and developed by Debbie Horsfield. Following the lives and ambitions of a church choir and its members, the programme began airing on 31 March 2009 and ran for six episodes. The programme frequently features...
, which debuted on March 31, 2009.
Other work
Sarah is a regular contributor to the biennial BBC charity telethon Comic Relief, appearing in 2001 as a judge based on Nicki ChapmanNicki Chapman
Nicki Chapman is an English television presenter who also works in the British pop music industry. She was also a judge on the ITV reality shows Popstars, with Nigel Lythgoe and Paul Adam, and Pop Idol, along with Simon Cowell, Pete Waterman and Neil Fox...
in a parody of Popstars
Popstars
Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...
, in 2003 as Liza Goddard
Liza Goddard
Liza Goddard is an English television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:Goddard was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England...
in a spoof of the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Blankety Blank
Blankety Blank
Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1978 Australian game show Blankety Blanks ....
and in 2005 in a celebrity version of University Challenge
University Challenge
University Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
hosted by Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton
Gordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
.
Personal life
Sarah is married to the writer and actor Peter SerafinowiczPeter Serafinowicz
Peter Szymon Serafinowicz is an English actor, comedian, writer, composer, voice artist and occasional director.-Early life:Serafinowicz was born in Liverpool, England. He attended Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Primary School and St Francis Xavier Secondary School...
, with whom she has a son, Sam, born in March 2007. They also have a daughter named Phoebe. She has appeared in both series of Look Around You
Look Around You
Look Around You is a British television comedy series devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and, in the first series, narrated by Nigel Lambert...
which Serafinowicz co-created and stars in, as well as his internet-only E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
News spoof, O!News.
She speaks French and Spanish fluently, and her brother works as an ESOL teacher. Her interests include horse riding, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, swimming, karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
and singing.