Sarah Lancashire

Acting

Sarah Lancashire

Born

1964-10-10 (62)

Place of birth

Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

62 titles

Sarah Lancashire is an English actress whose career began in 1986. Lancashire's first acting roles were in local theatre, with small guest roles in television dramas and sitcoms. After coming to public attention with roles in popular programmes including Coronation Street (1991-1996, 2000), Where the Heart Is (1997–1999) and Clocking Off (2000), Lancashire signed a two-year golden handcuffs contract with the ITV network, appearing exclusively in ITV1 programming for the next two years. Lancashire has continued to work extensively across a variety of television drama genres, including guest appearances, regular roles in returning series and with featured roles in standalone miniseries' and te…

Known for

Coronation Street poster
5.3

The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.

Coronation Street

1960

Doctor Who poster
7.6

The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.

Doctor Who

2005

Skins poster
8.1

Irreverent comedy drama which follows the messy lives, loves, delirious highs and inevitable lows of a group of raucous teenage friends in Bristol.

Skins

2007

The Bill poster
6.8

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

The Bill

1984

Going Live! poster
8.0

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.

Going Live!

1987

Lark Rise to Candleford poster
8.4

Set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town, Candleford, the series chronicles the daily lives of farm-workers, craftsmen and gentry at the end of the 19th Century. Lark Rise to Candleford is a love letter to a vanished corner of rural England and a heart-warming drama series teeming with wit, wisdom and romance.

Lark Rise to Candleford

2008

Film credits

2010s · 6 titles

Yesterday poster
6.7

A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate reality where the group was forgotten.

Yesterday

2019

The Dresser poster
6.2

One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeares King Lear. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager Sir who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser Norman must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time and if he does will he be able to perform that night? The Dresser is a wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty as Sir reflects on his lifelong accomplishments and seeks to reconcile his turbulent friendships with those in his employ before the final curtain.

The Dresser

2015

Dad's Army poster
5.0

A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.

Dad's Army

2016

The First Film poster
6.2

Leeds born filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson's thirty three year quest to prove that the worlds film industry started in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1888.

The First Film

2015

Christmas at St Paul's poster
NR

For the first time in its history, St Paul's has granted the BBC privileged access to film behind the scenes in the countdown to Christmas and on the big day itself.

Christmas at St Paul's

2018

Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen poster
NR

With 2015 marking the 100th anniversary of the first British policewoman being given the power of arrest, this film takes us through the remarkable history of 100 years of Britain's female police force. It explores the individual careers and ambitions of women police officers who, through their bravery and guile, were determined to succeed in a profession that never wanted them. It is a story about ingenuity and determination as well as law and order. A Fair Cop is a hidden history of our society, depicting a battle of the sexes that masked a battle for power.

Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen

2015

2000s · 13 titles

And When Did You Last See Your Father? poster
6.5

The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.

And When Did You Last See Your Father?

2007

Angel Cake poster
6.0

A cakemaker and her dysfunctional family live on a grimy estate. When Elaine's rock buns come out of the oven resembling the Virgin Mary, potentially miraculous consequences follow for her family and friends. Her arthritic mother Millie is suddenly able to move freely, her irresponsible son Todd falls in love, and both she and her husband Ed are offered the chance of other relationships. But miracles are not all they seem.

Angel Cake

2006

My Fragile Heart poster
8.0

Trina Lavery returns home to Stoke after 20 years, to look after her ill mother. She learns that Bernard Cleve is also living in Stoke. Bernard was accused of killing Trinas best friend many years ago but was never convicted. Another girl is killed and Bernard is again a suspect. Trina thinks he is innocent but places herself in danger in trying to prove it.

My Fragile Heart

2000

Sons & Lovers poster
6.0

Filmmaker Stephen Whittaker adapts author D.H. Lawrence's simmering tale of sex, love, and family. In the years leading up to World War I, the problems faced by many families were uncannily similar to the issues that mankind would still be struggling with nearly a century later. Human relationships remain as fragile as ever, and the only constant in life seems to be a humbling sense of uncertainty. Sarah Lancashire stars in a drama detailing the anguish of first love, and the awkward confusion of first sex.

Sons & Lovers

2003

Birthday Girl poster
7.0

A woman decides to celebrate her recovery from leukaemia by throwing a party. But before the big night, she discovers that the illness has returned. She decides to postpone telling everyone until the aprty is over, but during the evening she discovers that she is not the only one with a secret.

Birthday Girl

2002

No artwork available
NR

Twenty years ago, Britain went to war - with itself. In March 1984, Mrs Thatcher's government announced plans to close 20 coal mines, with the loss of 20,000 jobs. The Miners' leader, Arthur Scargill, led his workers out on strike. What followed was the ultimate left verses right showdown, a colossal battle for the political heart of a nation, with an epoch-making, era-defining moment of social significance unparalleled since World War II. This feature length documentary tells the story of the year-long struggle that split friends, families and the country apart, led to shocking scenes of violence, and made many fear that George Orwell's nightmare vision of a police state was becoming a reality. After this war, Britain would never be the same again.

Strike: When Britain Went to War

2003

Gentlemen's Relish poster
5.0

The career of the once successful classical portraitist, Kingdom Swann, has hit bad times. When a leading gallery rejects his work, he seems at the point of giving up. It is only the support of his housekeeper, Violet Askey, that keeps him going and it is she who encourages him to switch to photography. Soon Swann has developed a healthy (and respectable) business with portraits of naked women in classical and exotic settings. However, the nature of Swann's new work is open to misinterpretation and he finds himself at the centre of a scandal involving the misuse of his pictures by a SOHO pornographer, and the focus of a campaign by suffragettes against the expoitation of women. At the same time, he loses the support of the loyal Violet, who leaps to the wrong conclusion about Swann's relationship with one of his models. When Violet then becomes involved in the suffragette and amti-pornography movements, it seems all may be lost for Swann - both professionally...and personally.

Gentlemen's Relish

2001

Sex, the City and Me poster
5.8

Fast-paced and powerful drama set in the high-octane world of the City of London.

Sex, the City and Me

2007

Amazing Gracie poster
NR

Documentary about singer and comic actress Gracie Fields, arguably the greatest female entertainer Britain has ever produced.

Amazing Gracie

2004

Cherished poster
8.0

A drama based on the true story of Angela Cannings, who was wrongly convicted of killing two of her children, on the basis of "expert witness" evidence about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Cot Death Syndrome) which has since been discredited.

Cherished

2005

Seeing Red poster
10.0

Coral Atkins, a British soap star of the 1970s, becomes deeply affected by the plight of children from troubled homes. Against considerable odds, Coral harnesses her celebrity to launch a crusade to establish her own home to care for the children. Based on the memoirs of Coral Atkins.

Seeing Red

2000

Back Home poster
7.5

The war in Europe is over, but the one at home has only just begun. The Second World War is ending and throughout Britain, evacuees are returning home to their families - but not the families they remember. Like so many other women, Peggy’s life has been transformed by the war. Living and working with good friends, she is happier than she has been for years. Yet Peggy’s life is not the only one changed by the war. Her daughter, Rusty, has just returned from the U.S., where she has been living as an evacuee for the last five years. After so long abroad, her home in England has become unrecognizable. Just as Peggy begins to restore normal family bonds, her husband returns from the war, damaged and desperate to make everything as it was before. Adapted from the novel by Michelle Magorian, author of Goodnight, Mister Tom, Back Home is the story of a family who struggle to make sense of their new lives in a world irrevocably altered by the far-reaching effects of war.

Back Home

2001

In Search of Tony Blair poster
NR

Ten years after he stepped to power as Labour leader, Tony Blair remains a national enigma. His persona as a fresh-faced idealist and man of the people has been shattered, most significantly by the war on Iraq. Now many are struggling to understand what remains behind the faltering smile.

In Search of Tony Blair

2004

Series credits

Coronation Street poster
5.3

The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.

Coronation Street

1960

Coronation Street poster
5.3

The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.

Coronation Street

1960

Doctor Who poster
7.6

The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.

Doctor Who

2005

Skins poster
8.1

Irreverent comedy drama which follows the messy lives, loves, delirious highs and inevitable lows of a group of raucous teenage friends in Bristol.

Skins

2007

The Bill poster
6.8

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

The Bill

1984

Going Live! poster
8.0

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.

Going Live!

1987

Lark Rise to Candleford poster
8.4

Set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town, Candleford, the series chronicles the daily lives of farm-workers, craftsmen and gentry at the end of the 19th Century. Lark Rise to Candleford is a love letter to a vanished corner of rural England and a heart-warming drama series teeming with wit, wisdom and romance.

Lark Rise to Candleford

2008

Inspector George Gently poster
7.9

Crime drama set in the 1960s about an old-school detective trying to come to terms with a time when the lines between the police and criminals have become blurred.

Inspector George Gently

2008

Happy Valley poster
8.0

Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.

Happy Valley

2014

Black Doves poster
7.0

When a spy posing as a politician's wife learns her lover has been murdered, an old assassin friend joins her on a quest for truth — and vengeance.

Black Doves

2024

Julia poster
7.3

Through Julia Child’s life and her singular joie de vivre, the series explores a pivotal time in American history – the emergence of public television as a new social institution, feminism and the women's movement, the nature of celebrity and America's cultural evolution.

Julia

2022

Murder Most Horrid poster
6.9

Comedienne Dawn French tackles dark, tongue-in-cheek thrillers as her various characters embark on a different mystery every episode. In one way or another, she is involved with murder — either committing the crime or even getting bumped off herself!

Murder Most Horrid

1991

Parkinson poster
7.0

The final incarnation of Michael Parkinson's iconic talk show featuring an array of celebrities from every sphere.

Parkinson

2004

Where the Heart Is poster
7.7

In the small, fictional Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite is an engaging story of life, love, family and people’s ever-changing fortunes in rural England. Set against the rugged landscape of Yorkshire, it follows the busy professional and family lives of District Nurses, as they bring nursing and emotional care to young and old alike. The first four series concentrates on the lives of district health nurses Peggy Snow and Ruth Goddard. The story expands to focus on the lives of more Skelthwhaite residents, particularly those related to the nurses as well as those employed in a local toilet tissue factory.

Where the Heart Is

1997

School of Roars poster
6.0

Class is in session for mini-monsters Wufflebump, Meepa, Icklewoo, Wingston and Yummble, who learn quirky lessons from their teacher Miss Grizzlesniff.

School of Roars

2017

Dramarama poster
7.2

Dramarama is the name of a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The series was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS, however production responsibilities were divided amongst most of the regional ITV franchise holders. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer. Dramarama was largely a place for new talent to prove themselves and was a launching pad for the likes of Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney, David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was one of Dennis Spooner's last credits. One of Dramarama's episodes, "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest", gained so much popularity that it was turned in to its own series the following year. It starred Lee Ross and was based around a large foster home. The episode "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night" was developed by Granada into the TV series Children's Ward. It was also repeated for the first time since its original broadcast on 5 January 2013, during CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend. The Series 7 episode "Back To Front" – notable for featuring a mirror image of the Yorkshire Television logo card at the end – was repeated on 6 January 2013, again as part of CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend.

Dramarama

1983

Rose and Maloney poster
6.4

Investigators Rose Linden and Marion Maloney, of the Criminal Justice Review Agency, take on claims of miscarriages of justice, assessing whether there are grounds to reopen old cases.

Rose and Maloney

2002

Watching poster
8.2

A young couple from Merseyside and their off again/on again relationship.

Watching

1987

The Paradise poster
7.3

An intoxicating love story set in England's first department store in the 1870s. The Paradise revolves around the lives of the people who live and work in the store, each bound in their own way by the power of the world they live in, and the pasts that follow them there. A love story, mystery, and social comedy all in one.

The Paradise

2012

Upstairs Downstairs poster
7.4

Set in 1936, the show takes viewers, old and new, back to the lavish world of Belgravia, London. A new set of occupants reside at 165 Eaton Place and viewers see how external and internal influences of the tumultuous pre-war period shape and mould the lives of this wealthy family and their servants.‬

Upstairs Downstairs

2010

Last Tango in Halifax poster
7.1

Celia and Alan are both widowed and in their seventies. When their respective grandsons put their details on Facebook, they rediscover a passionate relationship that started over sixty years ago.

Last Tango in Halifax

2012

Clocking Off poster
7.6

Clocking Off is a British television drama series broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced by Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott. Effectively an anthology programme that followed the lives of a group of workers at a Manchester textile factory, with each episode focusing on the private life of a different character. How much do you know about the person working next to you? From the outside, life at Mackintosh Textiles appears to run smoothly, but in a community with so many secrets to hide, things are far from straightforward. In six powerful, self-contained dramas, everyday life is fractured by tumultuous marriages, snatched passions, disappearing spouses, and gang harassment.

Clocking Off

2000

Wuthering Heights poster
7.1

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

2009

Oliver Twist poster
6.6

An orphan endures a harsh life in a workhouse before fleeing to London, where he falls in with a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin, and eventually finds a better life, exposing the cruelties of poverty and child labor in Victorian England.

Oliver Twist

2007

Alan Bennett's Talking Heads poster
7.6

Widely celebrated as Alan Bennett's masterpieces, his multi-award-winning Talking Heads return to BBC One. Filmed during lockdown under social distancing guidelines, a new generation of Britain's finest actors star in 10 of Bennett's classic scripts, alongside two brand new Talking Heads penned by the acclaimed writer last year.

Alan Bennett's Talking Heads

2020

Kiri poster
6.1

A drama dealing with the abduction and murder of a young black girl, soon to be adopted by her white foster family, and the trail of lies, blame, guilt and notoriety which follow.

Kiri

2018

Five Daughters poster
6.4

The stories of five young women who were tragically murdered in Ipswich in 2006.

Five Daughters

2010

The Glass poster
10.0

Jim Proctor, a middle-aged tycoon, decides to hand over his glass-making company to his young nephew Paul Duggan.

The Glass

2001

MotherFatherSon poster
6.8

Max is a charismatic self-made American businessman with media outlets in London and around the world. When the self-destructive lifestyle of his 30 year-old son, Caden, spirals out of control, the devastating consequences threaten the future of the family, its empire, and a country on the brink of change.

MotherFatherSon

2019

The Rotters' Club poster
8.0

Friends Ben Trotter, Doug Anderton and Philip Chase deal with teenage angst, their parents' complex lives, and the political and social turmoil of the 1970s, including a tragic IRA pub bombing that affects Ben's family.

The Rotters' Club

2005

The Accident poster
6.2

Tragedy strikes the welsh town of Glyngolau when an accident on a construction site kills a group of trespassing children. Grief quickly turns to anger and the families cry for justice. But as the gears of justice slowly turn, challenging truths begin to emerge. It falls to the Council Leader’s wife, Polly, to hold the community together, all the while also caring for a daughter – the only survivor of the collapse. And as those in charge fail to deliver closure for the town, it’s up to her to lead them on the march for justice, no matter what the cost.

The Accident

2019

No artwork available
7.0

About Face is a series of twelve unconnected half-hour sitcoms all starring Maureen Lipman in the lead role. Each episode featured a guest cast of well known actors and actresses. The episodes were written by Richard Harris, Geoffrey Perkins, Chips Hardy & John Henderson, Astrid Ronning, John Wells, Paul Smith & Terry Kyan, Jack Rosenthal, Carol Bunyan and Ian Hislop & Nick Newman. It was made for the ITV network by Central Independent Television.

About Face

1989

The Cry poster
6.0

Psychological thriller about a woman child-protection officer tramautized by her stillbirth who befriends a woman in hospital and then becomes convinced that the daughter is being abused.

The Cry

2002

No artwork available
NR

A courtroom drama series where members of the public are the jury, who give their verdict on the cases.

Verdict

1998

No artwork available
7.5

Comedy about a group of barristers who never let justice get in the way of making pots of money.

Chambers

2000

No artwork available
6.0

Bloomin' Marvellous is a 1997 BBC comedy series starring Clive Mantle, Sarah Lancashire, and Kathryn Hunt. Written by playwright John Godber, it is described as "a comedy about a couple who decide to start a family." The series was panned by most critics, and Mantle sarcastically remarked that "I've seen murderers and rapists get a better press than we did." However, several critics, such as Brian Viner of The Mail on Sunday, said that Bloomin' Marvellous had "charm, top-notch acting and a reasonable sprinkling of laughs, none of which are certainties in television comedy - especially the laughs."

Bloomin' Marvellous

1997

No artwork available
5.0

A cakemaker and her dysfunctional family live on a grimy estate. When Elaine's rock buns come out of the oven resembling the Virgin Mary, potentially miraculous consequences follow for her family and friends. Her arthritic mother Millie is suddenly able to move freely, her irresponsible son Todd falls in love, and both she and her husband Ed are offered the chance of other relationships. But miracles are not all they seem.

Angel Cake

2006

All the Small Things poster
10.0

Uplifting drama series from the writer of Cutting It about family and community, played out with rousing choruses, joyous harmonies and booming basslines.

All the Small Things

2009

Edwardian Britain in Colour poster
10.0

Series bringing black-and-white films of the era back to vivid life.

Edwardian Britain in Colour

2019

No artwork available
NR

The six-part Tuesday afternoon children's series starred actor Paul Bradley as an eccentric titular character.

Bradley

1989