Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate
Tate at the 2019 GalaxyCon Raleigh
Born
Catherine Jane Ford

(1969-12-05) 5 December 1969 (age 53)
Bloomsbury, London, England
Education
Occupations
  • Actress
  • comedian
  • writer
Years active1991–present
Partners
  • Twig Clark (2002–2011)
  • Jeff Gutheim (2019–present; engaged)
Children1
Signature

Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show (2004–2007), as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTAs. Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of Doctor Who, and later reprised her role for the fourth series in 2008, and 60th anniversary episodes in 2023.

Following the success of The Catherine Tate Show, Tate starred as Joanie Taylor ("Nan") in the BBC One comedy series Catherine Tate's Nan (2009–2015) and in the film The Nan Movie (2022). In 2011, she began a recurring role as Nellie Bertram in the U.S. version of The Office, and was a regular until the series ended. She also played the role of Miss Sarah Postern in the BBC One sitcom Big School (2013–2014) and voiced Magica De Spell in the animated series DuckTales (2017–2021). In the early 2020s, she created and starred in two sitcoms, Netflix's Hard Cell which she also co-directed, and BBC One's Queen of Oz.

Tate has appeared in films, including Love and Other Disasters, Starter for 10 (both 2006), Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007), Gulliver's Travels (2010), Monte Carlo (2011), and SuperBob (2015).

Early life

Tate was born in Bloomsbury, London, on 5 December 1969 and was raised in the Brunswick Centre. Her mother, Josephine, was a florist. Tate has said that the character of Margaret in The Catherine Tate Show, who shrieks at the slightest of disturbances, is based largely on her mother. Tate never knew her father as he left very early on in her life and, consequently, she was brought up in a female-dominated environment, being cared for by her mother, grandmother, and godparents. As a child, Tate suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and was obsessed with word association. For example, she was not able to leave a jumper on the floor because it might have brought misfortune to her mother, whose name began with the letter "J" like "jumper".

Tate attended St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School in Holborn, and Notre Dame High School, a convent secondary school for girls in Southwark. By the time she was a teenager, she knew she wanted a professional acting career; following the abolition of the sixth form at her secondary school, she was sent to a boys' Roman Catholic school, Salesian College in Battersea, at the age of 16, as it had the necessary facilities for drama. She left school without sitting her A levels. She then tried for four years to get a place in the Central School of Speech and Drama, succeeding on her fourth attempt. She studied there for three years. Prior to getting a place there, Tate went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School, but left after a week, later stating, "Even at that age, I realised I wasn't Bonnie Langford. It was very competitive." She was also a member of the National Youth Theatre.

Born Catherine Ford, she changed her name when she got her Equity card as an actress. She chose her new surname after the character of Jessica Tate, played by Katherine Helmond, from the American sitcom television series Soap.

Career

1988–2003: Early acting and stand-up career

From 1988 to 1990 Tate toured with the National Youth Theatre production of Blood Wedding, which also starred Daniel Craig and Jessica Hynes. In 1994, she got the part of Lydia Lubey in the Oxford Stage Company production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. She then worked at the Royal National Theatre, playing small roles in The Way of the World (1995) and The Prince's Play (1996). Tate also performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company during its 10-month tour across the UK, Australia and the US with Lee Hall's adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters (2000–2001).

Her television acting career began with roles in serial dramas such as The Bill and London's Burning. Her debut happened in an episode of the sitcom Surgical Spirit in 1991. She was offered an audition for the part by the casting director who also owned a sandwich shop Tate used to go in and knew she was about to go to drama college. On the set, she got to work with actor Duncan Preston, of whom she was a big fan.

"[I] did a lot of stage work. I'd always wanted to do comedy, but it was the '90s and they were closing a lot of the repertory theatres. The closest thing I saw to stage work was stand-up, so I took the stand-up route and went to the Edinburgh Festival and did things like that. My journey through stand-up was quite quick, though, 'cause then I started doing sketch humor, and then I got my own TV show. In the middle, though, I did films and TV, too, so I've been very lucky to be able to mix it all up."

— Tate about her early career, February 2012

In 1996 Tate began performing stand-up comedy. Soon after, she co-wrote and starred in Barking (1998), a late-night sketch show broadcast on Channel 4 featuring a host of performers who included David Walliams, Peter Kay and Mackenzie Crook. In 2000, she became involved with Lee Mack's Perrier Comedy Award-nominated New Bits show at the Edinburgh Film Festival and appeared in television sketch shows such as The Harry Hill Show and That Peter Kay Thing. The next year, she returned to the festival with her own sell-out one-woman show, which was followed by roles in comedy series Big Train, Attention Scum, Charlie Brooker's TVGoHome and several BBC Radio productions.

After being spotted at Edinburgh by the casting director Tracey Gillham, she was given her first major television role as Angela in the comedy Wild West (2002–2004) set in the small Cornish town. Tate became pregnant before filming the first series and had to wear a lot of baggy clothes as Angela. The show also starred Dawn French as her lesbian partner and local shop and post office co-owner Mary, who commented, "Catherine Tate is far too talented and she must be destroyed."

2004–2005: Breakthrough with The Catherine Tate Show

Tate was approached at a post-show party at the Edinburgh Festival by then-BBC controller of comedy Geoffrey Perkins, who encouraged Tate to develop her character ideas, especially to push the boundaries with her teenage character Lauren Cooper. Undertaking Perkins's advice, after a live show, Tate found the audience walking out of the show repeating the character's catchphrase "Am I bovvered?".

Tate in 2005

Produced by Perkins at Tiger Aspect, Tate was given her own programme on BBC Two in 2004, which she co-wrote and starred in with Derren Litten, entitled The Catherine Tate Show, which ran for three series. Two of the show's well-known characters are teenager Lauren Cooper and Joanie "Nan" Taylor, the cockney grandmother. Tate's inspiration for the grandmother character came from visits to old people's homes when she was at drama college. Tate won a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Newcomer for her work on the first series of The Catherine Tate Show, and with the first series becoming a success, in March 2005, Tate made a guest appearance during the BBC's Red Nose Day as the character of Lauren, alongside boy band McFly, which gained her further exposure.

In November 2005 Tate appeared in another charity sketch as part of the BBC's annual Children in Need telethon. The segment was a crossover between EastEnders and The Catherine Tate Show, featuring EastEnders characters Peggy Mitchell, Little Mo Mitchell and Stacey Slater, whilst Tate appeared as Lauren. Also at that time, she was a guest star at the 77th Royal Variety Performance, appearing again in the guise of Lauren Cooper. During the sketch, Tate looked up at the Royal Box and asked the Queen, "Is one bovvered? Is one's face bovvered?", while her co-star Niky Wardley (in character as Liese) remarked: "That old man sitting next to her has fallen asleep." Prince Philip then reportedly complained to the show's executive producer, saying he had been insulted. Tate later won a British Comedy Award for Best British Comedy Actress for her work in the second series of The Catherine Tate Show.

In January 2005, Tate appeared as Mitzi Kosinki in the ITV adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel A Murder Is Announced, starring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple. Towards the end of the year, Tate played the part of Kate in the unaired pilot episode of Lee Mack's sitcom Not Going Out and Mrs Chadband in an episode of the BBC television adaptation of Bleak House.

Tate returned to the stage for the first time since working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, to play a role in the original West End production of Some Girl(s) (2005), alongside Sara Powell, Lesley Manville, Saffron Burrows and Friends star David Schwimmer. In an interview, Tate commented that she could not look Schwimmer in the eye during her time with him, leading to speculation that the pair did not get on. Tate immediately denied the rumours, explaining that she was joking about her attempts to act "cool" around Schwimmer, whom she described as "a very funny, personable man, and easy to get along with".

2006–2010: Doctor Who and films

The third series of The Catherine Tate Show aired in 2006, going on to win the National Television Award for most popular comedy as voted for by the public, and Tate's catchphrase "bovvered", used by her character Lauren Cooper, became so influential in popular culture that it was named Word of the Year and was even poised to enter the Oxford English Dictionary. Tate also played the role of Donna Noble in Doctor Who, a temp worker from Chiswick who suddenly appears in the TARDIS at the end of the episode "Doomsday". The following episode, the Christmas special entitled "The Runaway Bride", saw Tate's character in a major role, where she was temporarily the Doctor's companion. On her appearance in the series, Tate commented, "I'm honoured and delighted to be joining David Tennant aboard the TARDIS. I was holding out for a summer season at Wigan rep but as a summer job, this'll do."

Tate with her Doctor Who co-star David Tennant in 2011

Tate had roles in three films in 2006, these included Starter for 10 starring James McAvoy, Sixty Six starring Helena Bonham Carter and Eddie Marsan, and Scenes of a Sexual Nature, a debut feature screenplay from The Catherine Tate Show co-writer Aschlin Ditta. She later appeared in the films Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution, in which she played the title character opposite Iain Glen, and Love and Other Disasters. In the television adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name, The Bad Mother's Handbook, she played the dramatic lead role and co-starred with Anne Reid, Holliday Grainger and Robert Pattinson.

On 16 March 2007 Tate appeared for a second time on the Red Nose Day telethon as some of her well-known characters from The Catherine Tate Show. She acted in sketches with David Tennant, her fellow National Youth Theatre alumni Daniel Craig, Lenny Henry and the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, who used the show's famous catchphrase, "Am I bovvered?". Tate also appeared as Nan in an episode of Deal or No Deal, hosted by Noel Edmonds.

She has been nominated for four BAFTA Awards for her work on The Catherine Tate Show, including Best Comedy Performance. Despite speculation that the third series of the show would be the last, Tate and the BBC have not ruled out further episodes. She later filmed a one-off special episode which aired on Christmas Day 2007. The episode was subject to criticism when 42 viewers complained about the amount of swearing, and accused Tate of bigotry over the depiction of a family from Northern Ireland as terrorists, whose Christmas presents included a balaclava and a pair of knuckle dusters, in reference to the Troubles. After the complaints were made, an Ofcom report later concluded that the show was not offensive and did not violate broadcasting regulations. An extract from the Ofcom report read: "Overall this episode was typical of The Catherine Tate Show and would not have gone beyond the expectations of its usual audience. For those not familiar with the show, the information given at the start was adequate."

In summer 2008, Tate starred as Michelle, a promiscuous mathematics teacher, in David Eldridge's Under the Blue Sky at the Duke of York's Theatre, alongside Francesca Annis and Nigel Lindsay. The first preview performance was canceled after she injured her ankle during the final dress rehearsal. Tate, however, returned to the stage the next day and performed preview shows with the aid of a crutch. Earlier that year, she returned to Doctor Who to reprise the role of the Doctor's companion throughout the fourth series, which was shown on BBC One starting on 5 April for a 13-week run. Producer Russell T Davies said, "We are delighted that one of Britain's greatest talents has agreed to join us for the fourth series." Tate added, "I am delighted to be returning to Doctor Who. I had a blast last Christmas and look forward to travelling again through time and space with that nice man from Gallifrey."

"For one brief moment I was the most important woman in the whole of the universe. Oh gosh, I can't thank Russell [T Davies] enough for just making that possible. For many people, I'm sure, what a gamble to take on someone like me who is known, by the vast majority of people, for wearing wigs and comedy teeth."

— Tate on her Doctor Who role, July 2008

At the 2008 TV Quick Awards and SFX Awards, Tate was voted best actress for her dramatic Doctor Who performance. She also earned a nomination at the 14th National Television Awards. A year and a half after the heartbreaking finale of the fourth series, she returned as Donna in the first part of the show's festive special "The End of Time", which was broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 and became the final story for both David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Russell T Davies as showrunner. Later that day, Nan's Christmas Carol premiered, a one-off special spin-off to The Catherine Tate Show focused on Nan, who gets visited by three ghosts (played by David Tennant, Ben Miller and Roger Lloyd-Pack) in her council flat. The next day, Tate and Tennant guest hosted Jonathan Ross's BBC Radio 2 show, having already done so on 11 April and later appearing on the show once again on 30 January 2010.

In March 2010, Tate took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London. She went on to make her directorial debut in Sky One's series of short comedy films called Little Crackers. The autobiographical short film My First Nativity (2010), also written by and starring Tate as her mother Josephine, showed the young Catherine performing an impression of Gary Glitter in her school nativity play. It received a nomination for the Best Comedy Programme at the 2011 British Academy Television Awards.

On Christmas Day 2010 Tate appeared as Queen Isabelle of Lilliput in the film adaptation of Gulliver's Travels starring Jack Black in the title role. She then starred opposite Selena Gomez in another American comedy film, Monte Carlo (2011).

2011–present: Further television and stage work

Tate at the stage door of the 2011 Wyndham's Theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing

In March 2011, the video for Take That's new single "Happy Now" was debuted on Comic Relief. The video showed Tate alongside comedians Alan Carr, James Corden, John Bishop and David Walliams, all auditioning to become Take That's ultimate tribute band, Fake That. In December, she presented Channel 4's two-hour documentary Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties, in which she met Carr, Walliams, Noel Fielding, Rob Brydon and her Doctor Who co-star David Tennant to discuss the comedy highlights of the 2000s. It was soon after she served as a guest host on the comedy shows The Sunday Night Project (2009) and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (2010).

From May to September 2011, Tate appeared alongside Tennant in the Shakespeare comedy Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham's Theatre. The production was recorded by Digital Theatre and is available to watch on their website. For her performance as Beatrice, Tate won the BroadwayWorld UK Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play, while her reunion with Tennant won the WhatsOnStage Award for the Theatre Event of the Year. At the same ceremony, she received an award in the Best Supporting Actress category for the Royal National Theatre production of Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings (2010–2011), in which she played Belinda.

Tate guest starred in the two-part seventh season finale of the American mockumentary sitcom The Office, which aired on 19 May 2011. She portrayed Nellie Bertram, who was interviewed for the Regional Manager position of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch, the position that Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) held for the majority of the series. She was reportedly the top choice to replace Carell, but was unable to join the filming, due to her commitment to Much Ado About Nothing. However, in January 2012 Tate returned to The Office as a series regular for the second half of season eight, reprising her role as Nellie, who was hired as a "misguided special projects manager". She continued in the role for the ninth and final season.

In May 2013, she starred alongside Lee Mack in the unaired BBC One pilot for Everybody Loves Raymond remake, titled The Smiths. Two promotional photos were released in August but the project was eventually scrapped, with Mack concentrating more on his sitcom Not Going Out. Coincidentally, Tate played Kate in the original 2005 pilot of the show, which was also never broadcast. Around the same time in 2013, she joined David Walliams and Philip Glenister in the BBC One sitcom Big School (2013–2014), playing the main role of French teacher Sarah Postern in both series of the show. Tate later appeared as a nun alongside Walliams as Lou Todd in a Red Nose Day 2015 sketch, featuring Stephen Hawking in the Andy Pipkin role.

Tate at Raleigh Supercon in 2018

In 2013, she accepted the role in the low-budget superhero comedy film SuperBob (2015) written by and starring Brett Goldstein as the title character, which led to a number of collaborations with Goldstein. Three episodes of her sitcom Catherine Tate's Nan, co-written with Goldstein, aired in January 2014 and December 2015 on BBC One. The role of Joanie Taylor earned her a nomination at the 2015 British Academy Television Awards for Best Female Comedy Performance. Tate calls Nan "the one [character] that's got the legs to carry on" and her favourite to play: "It's the one character I can look at on screen and not find myself in. It's a very good transformation. In lots of the others it's clear that it's me. I just enjoy playing that character mainly because you get the privilege of age where you can swear and people laugh. Old people swearing is funny." She reprised the role several times between 2009 and 2018 on Graham Norton, Michael McIntyre, Paul O'Grady and Alan Carr's television shows and performed Bonnie Tyler's song "Holding Out for a Hero" in character for Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief (2017).

Tate portrayed both Eva Braun and Édith Piaf in the pilot episode of the Sky Arts sketch show Psychobitches (2012). In autumn 2014, she was cast as another real-life person in her first musical production, the Menier Chocolate Factory revival of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins (2014–2015). Her character was Sara Jane Moore, a woman who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. She went on to play alongside Mark Gatiss and Judi Dench in The Vote, a James Graham play set in a fictitious London polling station, which was broadcast live on More4 on election night 2015. In spring 2016, Tate appeared as fashion designer Myrna in another musical comedy, Miss Atomic Bomb, at the St. James Theatre. Benjamin McDonald, writing in Gay Times, praised Tate's performance, saying she "proves she has the strong vocal ability to match her impeccable comic timing". The show itself received much poorer reviews, including a one-star review from The Stage.

Tate at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019

On New Year's Day 2016, Tate played the role of hand model Sapphire Diamond in the television adaptation of David Walliams's children's book Billionaire Boy. She appeared in Bruce's Hall of Fame with Alexander Armstrong the following day with a musical tribute to her childhood hero Victoria Wood, calling her the first woman she had seen being funny on television. She then chose Wood as her inspirational female figure when promoting Leading Lady Parts (2018), a short film inspired by the Time's Up movement and starring Tate as a casting director auditioning several A-list actresses for a leading lady role.

In October 2016, Tate began touring British theatres with The Catherine Tate Show Live, guest starring Brett Goldstein (who also co-wrote the show with Tate) and her long-time collaborators Mathew Horne and Niky Wardley. Most of the main characters from the original television show, such as Nan, Lauren, nurse Bernie, Geordie Georgie and Derek Faye, all featured in the show. Some pre-recorded sketches, including cameos by Nick Grimshaw and Billy Connolly, were shown during each of the many changes of Tate's costumes and wigs. In late 2018, she brought the show to Australia and New Zealand with the help of two new cast members, David O'Reilly and Alex Carter, before finishing her tour at London's Wyndham's Theatre in January 2019. Around the same time, she hosted the 2018 Laurence Olivier Awards. An edited version of the ceremony was broadcast on ITV. It was also covered live on Magic Radio, where listeners heard Tate hilariously going back on fluffed lines multiple times, occasionally swearing. She later apologised after it was pointed out the event was going out live.

Tate with David Tennant at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019

In 2016 and 2019, Tate and David Tennant reprised their Doctor Who roles in two volumes of the full-cast audio series The Tenth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish Productions. Talking about his frequent colleague during the recording session, Tennant said: "I love working with Catherine because of the life that she brings to something and the way that she can turn the most mundane line into something glorious and sparkling. I love Catherine for what she is most famous for, and that's being funny and brilliant and witty and quick, but I love the fact that she's a great and proper actress." In October 2017, Tate was revealed to be part of the cast of Disney XD's DuckTales reboot, providing the voice of the villainous sorceress Magica De Spell following the death of the character's long-time voice actor, June Foray, in July of the same year. Tennant provided the voice of the show's protagonist, Scrooge McDuck.

In April 2020, Tate revived her popular character Lauren Cooper for The Big Night In, a telethon held during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a skit that had her being schooled remotely by a teacher played again by Tennant. Another popular character from The Catherine Tate Show, Nan, made a return the next year in a Comic Relief sketch starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, followed by the feature film The Nan Movie (2022).

In April 2022, she starred as six different characters in Hard Cell, a Netflix original mockumentary sitcom set in a women's prison. She co-wrote the series with Niky Wardley and Alex Carter and co-directed all six episodes with James Kayler. In May, it was announced Tate would reprise her role as Donna Noble, alongside David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor, for the 60th anniversary specials of Doctor Who. In August, the BBC commissioned Queen of Oz, a sitcom written by and starring Tate as a disgraced member of a fictional British Royal Family sent to rule Australia, which aired in June 2023.

In May 2023, Tate was the UK's jury spokesperson in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in which she announced the UK's jury points directly from the Liverpool Arena, where the event was held.

Personal life

Tate was formerly in a relationship with stage manager Twig Clark, with whom she has a daughter, Erin, who was born at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in January 2003 and was delivered following an emergency surgery.

Tate suffered from post-natal depression, from which she only recovered after the filming of the second series of The Catherine Tate Show. She also suffers from occasional panic attacks. Regarding her personal outlook, Tate has said, "I'm an incredibly negative person, so any form of success is only ever going to be a relief to me and set my default position back to neutral."

It was announced in early 2019 that Tate had become engaged to American screenwriter Jeff Gutheim.

Charity work

Tate at the Joe Glover Trust charity event in 2010

Tate is a patron of the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust, supporting the charity since 2006. Since then, she has hosted a fundraising auction, filmed a five-minute film featuring herself and David Tennant on the set of Doctor Who for the charity's annual ball and taken part in its 2011 calendar with the Huddersfield Giants. She is also the current patron of the Addie Brady Foundation, raising funds for research into high-grade paediatric brain tumours and supporting families with Li–Fraumeni Syndrome, and was a patron of the children's cancer charity the Joe Glover Trust for a number of years since its launching in 2007.

Since 2005, Tate has been a frequent supporter of two BBC telethon charities, Children in Need and Comic Relief. For the latter, she so far has starred in eleven sketches and a music video. She also appeared as Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show live on stage during the Red Nose Day 2005 and 2017 events, and as Nan in 2009.

In August 2017, after being asked at the Wizard World Chicago convention about what her career would look like if she hadn't become an actress and comedian, Tate said: "I'd definitely work with animals. In fact, sometimes I do feel, 'Oh, am I sort of wasting my time doing [acting] when I should be doing sort of like stuff with animals in need?' because I'm a big animal welfare kind of person, animal rights person." She has supported the animal rescue centre Battersea Dogs & Cats Home on multiple occasions and adopted cats from there. In 2018, she presented the BBC One hour-long documentary Saving the British Bulldog about the health issues affecting one of the most popular dog breeds in the UK. In 2020, she featured in a video aimed to raise funds for the Zoological Society of London after it was badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2006 Love and Other Disasters Tallulah Riggs-Wentworth
Scenes of a Sexual Nature Sara Williams
Sixty Six Aunt Lila
Starter for 10 Julie Jackson
2007 Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution Dorothy Ratcliffe
2010 Gulliver's Travels Queen of Lilliput
2011 Monte Carlo Alicia Winthrop-Scott
2013 Khumba Nora the Sheep (voice)
2014 Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?! Sophie Ford
Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods Dulcia (voice) UK dub
2015 Not Sophie's Choice Mummy Short film
Unity Narrator (voice) Documentary
SuperBob Theresa Ford
2017 Perfect Roast Potatoes Tamara Short film
Monster Family Baba Yaga (voice)
2021 Monster Family 2
2022 The Nan Movie Joanie Taylor Also writer and executive producer
2023 Rally Road Racers Juni (voice)

Television

Acting credits

Key
Denotes productions that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1991 Surgical Spirit Girlfriend Episode: "The Holiday Job"
1993, 1994, 1997 The Bill Various characters 3 episodes
1994 Men Behaving Badly Potential Buyer Episode: "Casualties"
Milner Jesson's P.A. TV film
1994, 1998 London's Burning Molly / Ginnie Readman 2 episodes
1998 Barking Various characters 6 episodes; also writer
2000 That Peter Kay Thing Valerie Sharples Episode: "Leonard"
Harry Hill Various characters 4 episodes
2001 Attention Scum Various characters 2 episodes; also writer of additional material
TV Go Home Various characters 6 episodes
2002 Big Train Various characters 6 episodes; also writer of additional material
2002–2004 Wild West Angela Phillips Main role, 12 episodes
2004–2007 The Catherine Tate Show Various characters Lead role, 20 episodes; also writer
2005 Agatha Christie's Marple Mitzi Kosinki Episode: "A Murder Is Announced"
Twisted Tales Wendy Midwich Episode: "The Patter of Tiny Feet"
Not Going Out Kate Unaired pilot
Bleak House Mrs. Chadband Episode 4
2006, 2008–2010, 2023 Doctor Who Donna Temple-Noble 19 episodes:
2007 The Bad Mother's Handbook Karen Cooper TV film
2009 Nan's Christmas Carol Joanie Taylor TV special
2010 Little Crackers Josephine Ford Episode: "My First Nativity"; also director and writer
The One Ronnie Barmaid TV special
2011 The Itch of the Golden Nit Stella (voice) Short film
This is Jinsy Roopina Crale Episode: "Beardboy"
2011–2013 The Office Nellie Bertram 34 episodes:
2012 Playhouse Presents Eva Braun / Édith Piaf Episode: "Psychobitches"
2013 The Smiths Jenny Smith Unaired pilot for Everybody Loves Raymond remake
2013–2014 Big School Sarah Postern Main role, 12 episodes
2014–2015 Catherine Tate's Nan Joanie Taylor Lead role, 3 episodes; also writer and executive producer
2015 Michael McIntyre's Easter Night at the Coliseum TV special
Crackanory Storyteller Episode: "The Catchment Area"
2016 Billionaire Boy Sapphire Diamond TV film
Do Not Disturb Anna Wilson TV film
Drunk History Mary Wilson / Elsie Wright 2 episodes
Michael McIntyre's Big Show Joanie Taylor Episode: "Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show"
2017 The Adventures of Puss in Boots Hecate (voice) 2 episodes
2017–2021 DuckTales Magica De Spell (voice) 9 episodes
2018 Leading Lady Parts Boss Short film
2020 The Big Night In Lauren Cooper TV special
2021–2022 The Brilliant World of Tom Gates Rita Gates (voice) 42 episodes
2022 Hard Cell Various characters Lead role, 6 episodes; also director, writer and executive producer
2023 Queen of Oz Princess Georgiana Lead role, 6 episodes; also writer and executive producer
TBA Americons TBA Main role; also writer

Presenting and game show credits

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2009 Doctor Who at the Proms Guest presenter Сut-down version of the Royal Albert Hall concert
The Sunday Night Project Presenter / Guest 2 episodes
Genius Judge 1 episode
Never Mind the Buzzcocks Guest / Presenter 2 episodes
2010
Sidekick Stories Narrator (voice) Documentary
The Unbelievable Truth Guest (voice) Radio game show; 2 episodes
2011 Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties Presenter Documentary
2016 Shakespeare Live! From the RSC Presenter Live broadcast theatrical event
Duck Quacks Don't Echo Guest 1 episode
2016–2017, 2019 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Contestant 3 episodes
2018 Saving the British Bulldog Presenter Documentary
Laurence Olivier Awards Presenter Сut-down version of the 2018 awards ceremony
2023 Eurovision Song Contest UK Spokesperson Song Contest

Radio and audio dramas

Year Title Role Production Notes Ref.
1999 Quando, Quando, Quando Various characters BBC Radio 4 6 episodes
2000 Hey Hey We're the Monks DSS Officer BBC Radio 2
2001 Six Geese A-laying Various characters BBC Radio 4
2003 A Boy in a Well Mrs. Pickery
2003–2009 Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off Arabella 4 episodes
2007 Down the Line Various characters Episode: "War and Chocolate"
2008 Doctor Who: The Forever Trap Narrator BBC Audio
2009 Doctor Who: The Nemonite Invasion
2010 Bette and Joan and Baby Jane Bette Davis BBC Radio 4
2013 Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor Narrator Big Finish Productions
2015 The Bed-Sitting Room Penelope BBC Radio 4
2016–2019 Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures Donna Noble Big Finish Productions Main role, 6 episodes
2016 The Archers Lisa BBC Radio 4 Episode: "Jury Special"
2017 Treasure Island Mrs. Hawkins Audible
2019 Our Martyred Lady Inquisitor Greyfax Black Library Main role, 4 episodes
2019–2021 Date Night Terri BBC Radio 4 8 episodes
2020 Donna Noble: Kidnapped! Donna Noble Big Finish Productions Lead role, 4 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2019 Anthem Max (voice)
2020 Dash and Blink Narrator (voice) Interactive BBC Bitesize game for learning French, Spanish and Mandarin

Music videos

Year Title Artist Director Ref.
2011 "Happy Now" Take That Tom Harper and Richard Curtis

Theatre

Year Title Role Venue / Company Ref.
1988–1990 Blood Wedding Unknown National Youth Theatre
1994 All My Sons Lydia Lubey Oxford Stage Company
1995 The Way of the World Peg Royal National Theatre
1996 The Prince's Play Barmaid
1999 The Cobbler's Prophecy Zelota Shakespeare's Globe
2000 Lee Mack's New Bits Various characters Edinburgh Festival
2000–2001 A Servant to Two Masters Smeraldina Royal Shakespeare Company
2005 Some Girl(s) Sam Gielgud Theatre
Royal Variety Performance Lauren Cooper Wales Millennium Centre
2006 The Exonerated Sunny Jacobs Riverside Studios
Toccata and Fugue Charlotte American Airlines Theatre
2008 Under the Blue Sky Michelle Duke of York's Theatre
2010–2011 Season's Greetings Belinda Bunker Royal National Theatre
2011 Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice Wyndham's Theatre
Sixty-Six Books God Bush Theatre
2013 The Garden of Ms Harriet Figg Harriet Figg Old Vic Theatre
2014–2015 Assassins Sara Jane Moore Menier Chocolate Factory
2015 The Vote Kirsty Henderson Donmar Warehouse
2016 Miss Atomic Bomb Myrna Ranapapadophilou St. James Theatre
2016–2019 The Catherine Tate Show Live Various characters Various venues across the UK, Australia and New Zealand
2023–2024 The Enfield Haunting Peggy Hodgson Ambassadors Theatre

Discography

Year Title Album Ref.
2011 "Sigh No More (Bonus Track)" (with David Tennant) Much Ado About Nothing
"We Go Together (Bonus Track)" (with David Tennant)
2013 "In These Shoes? (Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire 2010)" A Concert for Kirsty MacColl (Live)
2014 "It's Love (The Wedding Song)" (with Martin Clunes and other cast members of Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?!) Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
"Empire State Medley" (with Martin Clunes and other cast members of Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?!)

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2000 Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Comedy Show (shared with Lee Mack and Dan Antopolski) Lee Mack's New Bits Nominated
2004 Rockie Awards Best Comedy The Catherine Tate Show Won
British Comedy Awards Best Comedy Newcomer Won
Best TV Comedy Actress Nominated
2005 Nominated
Best TV Comedy Nominated
People's Choice Award Won
International Emmy Awards Best Performance by an Actress Nominated
British Academy Television Craft Awards Best New Writer (shared with Derren Litten) Nominated
British Academy Television Awards Best Comedy Programme (shared with Geoffrey Perkins and Gordon Anderson) Nominated
Women in Film and Television Awards Creative Originality Award Won
Variety Club Showbiz Awards Comedy Award Won
Rose d'Or Best Comedy Nominated
RTS Programme Awards Network Newcomer – On Screen Won
2006 Comedy Performance Won
Entertainment Won
Broadcast Awards Best Comedy Programme Won
British Comedy Awards Best TV Comedy Actress Won
British Academy Television Awards Best Comedy Performance Nominated
Best Comedy Programme Nominated
Rose d'Or Best Female Comedy Performance Nominated
Best Comedy Nominated
National Television Awards Most Popular Comedy Programme Nominated
2007 Won
RTS Programme Awards Comedy Performance Nominated
British Comedy Awards Best TV Comedy Actress Nominated
British Academy Television Awards Best Comedy Programme (shared with Perkins, Anderson and Aschlin Ditta) Nominated
Glamour Awards Funny Woman Won
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards UK Funniest Person Nominated
2008 Favourite Funny Person Nominated
Favourite Female TV Star Doctor Who Nominated
National Television Awards Outstanding Drama Performance Nominated
TV Quick Awards Best Actress Won
SFX Awards Best TV Actress Won
2009 Constellation Awards Best Female Performance in a Science Fiction Television Episode Won
Airlock Alpha Portal Awards Best Actress – Television Won
2011 British Academy Television Awards Best Comedy Programme (shared with Sophie Clarke-Jervoise and Izzy Mant) Little Crackers Nominated
Channel of the Year Awards Producer or Director Debut Nominated
BroadwayWorld UK Awards Best Leading Actress in a Play Much Ado About Nothing Won
2012 WhatsOnStage Awards Theatre Event of the Year (shared with David Tennant) Won
Best Supporting Actress in a Play Season's Greetings Won
2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (shared with cast) The Office Nominated
2015 British Academy Television Awards Best Female Performance in a Comedy Programme Catherine Tate's Nan Nominated
FilmQuest Awards Best Supporting Actress SuperBob Nominated
2022 National Film Awards Best Screenplay (shared with Brett Goldstein) The Nan Movie Nominated
2023 Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series Doctor Who Nominated

This page was last updated at 2023-11-04 22:21 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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