Claire Skinner

Acting

Claire Skinner

Born

1964-10-07 (62)

Place of birth

Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

73 titles

Claire Skinner is a British stage, film and television actress, best known for her role as the hapless mother Sue Brockman in the BBC sitcom "Outnumbered". Her film work includes the Mike Leigh productions "Life Is Sweet" and "Naked", "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Sleepy Hollow".

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 5 titles

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy poster
6.3

Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son's science teacher.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

2025

Boxing Day poster
6.7

Melvin, a British author living in America, returns home to London for Christmas to introduce his American fiancée Lisa to his eccentric British-Caribbean family. Their relationship is put to the test as she discovers the world her fiancé has left behind.

Boxing Day

2021

The Critic poster
5.8

Jimmy Erskine is the most feared theatre critic of the age. He lives as flamboyantly as he writes and takes pleasure in savagely taking down any actor who fails to meet his standards. When the owner of the Daily Chronicle dies, and his son takes over, Jimmy quickly finds himself at odds with his new boss and his position under threat. In an attempt to preserve the power and influence he holds so sacred, Jimmy strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actress, entangling them and the boss in a thrilling but deadly web of desire, blackmail, and betrayal.

The Critic

2024

The Trial poster
5.0

In 2035, a new law holds parents responsible for their children’s crimes. Set in the United Kingdom, Dione and David Sinclair are thrust into a nightmarish legal battle when their teenage daughter, Teah, commits a serious crime.

The Trial

2025

Outnumbered Christmas Special poster
8.0

In a moment of adversity, Sue and Pete gather everyone together and try to celebrate a traditional family Christmas.

Outnumbered Christmas Special

2024

2010s · 8 titles

Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe poster
7.0

It's Christmas Eve, 1938, when Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel as she cycles home. He promises to repay her kindness - all she has to do is make a wish.

Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

2011

Isabel poster
8.0

An estranged couple are brought back together for their daughter’s wedding, but the unavoidable presence of their past reopens old wounds, allowing historic mistakes to be renewed.

Isabel

2019

The Broken Santa poster
NR

The Brockmans hope to get away for the holiday, but Granddad's sudden illness and trip to the worst hospital ever threatens their plans.

The Broken Santa

2011

The Sick Party poster
NR

The Brockmans throw a Christmas party with jubilee bunting for decorations but Pete is not happy. Of the kids only Ben wants to help whilst Sandra gets drunk, tactless Norris from next door reminds former TV weather-man Ray of his nervous breakdown and Pete gets shut in the bathroom with neurotic, flu-ridden Jane when the door handle falls off. As the evening progresses Norris's wife runs off with her Lesbian lover, Jane takes an accidental over-dose and is rushed to hospital whilst Jake brings the police to the house. This will certainly be one party for everybody to remember.

The Sick Party

2012

Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes poster
8.0

Only shown at live events, Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes is made from unseen sketches and outtakes from seminal British TV series Brass Eye.

Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes

2017

No artwork available
NR

Images of female sexuality and the insecurities and attitudes that surround women and ageing. Plus the rather unusual affects certain indigestion tablets can have on one's tongue

Shoot Me!

2012

Eliminate: Archie Cookson poster
4.0

A burnt-out British spy becomes the recipient of tapes implicating senior MI-6 officers in some light treason. Before he even knows what he has, most of his office has already been killed.

Eliminate: Archie Cookson

2011

Outnumbered - Christmas Special 2016 poster
8.0

The Brockman family are on a special mission at Christmas time.

Outnumbered - Christmas Special 2016

2016

2000s · 10 titles

Bridget Jones's Diary poster
6.7

Bridget Jones is an average woman struggling against expectations. As a New Year's resolution, Bridget decides to take control of her life, starting by keeping a diary in which she will always tell the complete truth. Her charming boss takes an interest in her, and she cannot stop running into a rather disagreeable acquaintance whom Bridget cannot help finding quietly attractive.

Bridget Jones's Diary

2001

Strings poster
6.6

The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.

Strings

2004

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

The Trial of Tony Blair poster
6.0

Biting political satire starring Robert Lindsay as a beleaguered Tony Blair, who stubbornly refuses to see the danger he faces from a Special Tribunal on Iraq that has been set up to investigate war crimes

The Trial of Tony Blair

2007

You Can Choose Your Friends poster
6.0

Comedy drama about a family reunion written by and starring Richard Herring. It's Ken and Margaret Snell's 45th wedding anniversary and their children and grandchildren along gather to celebrate. For Ken and Margaret's children, it's a day to revisit childhood arguments and to paper over present-day fractures in their relationships.

You Can Choose Your Friends

2007

No artwork available
6.5

Movie with some of the greatest brittish comedians such as Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese.

The Funny Blokes of British Comedy

2005

Eroica poster
7.5

British filmmaker Simon Cellan Jones directs the BBC drama Eroica, starring Ian Hart as Ludwig van Beethoven. Shot on digital video, this TV film depicts the first performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony, June 9th, 1804, in Vienna, Austria. Prince Lobkowitz (Jack Davenport) has invited friends to listen to Beethoven conduct his new symphony for the first time. Among the aristocratic attendees are Count Dietrichstein (Tim Pigott-Smith), Countess Brunsvik (Claire Skinner), and composer Josef Haydn (Frank Finlay). The actual musical score is performed by the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique, under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner.

Eroica

2003

Class of '76 poster
5.7

Inspector Tom Monroe (Robert Carlyle) investigates the mysterious death of several people that the only thing they have in common is being classmates. In addition, the deaths appear to be related to a mysterious "faceless child."

Class of '76

2005

The Booze Cruise poster
8.0

A group of men from Kent; Clive (Martin Clunes), Rob (Neil Pearson), Dave (Mark Benton), Maurice (Brian Murphy) and Daniel (Ben Whishaw) - go on a booze cruise to France, with mixed success and many mishaps along the way. Events involving their wives and families back home also form a large part of the plot.

The Booze Cruise

2003

The Robbers poster
NR

It's Boxing Day and already Karen is making New Year resolutions - chiefly for others - and the family have been burgled,though selectively,causing Sue to cheat on the insurance claim. Sue and Jake go to collect Grandad from the retirement home where he now lives,only to find he has sloped off to the pub again with Scots mate Mac. Sue ends up asking Mac back for dinner though his thick accent creates a language barrier for Karen. Sue's divorced friend Jane is also invited and though the children fail to appreciate her present for them,a goat donated to Oxfam,Pete feels sorry for her and is glad that the Brockmans have given a Christmas to lonely strangers - until a W.P.C. turns up with another old boy who has gone walkabout.

The Robbers

2009

1990s · 9 titles

Sleepy Hollow poster
7.2

Skeptical young detective Ichabod Crane gets transferred to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, where he is tasked with investigating the decapitations of three people – murders the townsfolk attribute to a legendary specter, The Headless Horseman.

Sleepy Hollow

1999

Naked poster
7.3

An unemployed Brit vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.

Naked

1993

Life Is Sweet poster
7.0

Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, Andy is a cook who forever puts off home remodeling projects, Natalie is a plumber and Nicola is jobless. This film is about how they interact and play out family, conflict and love.

Life Is Sweet

1991

The Return of the Native poster
6.2

Eustacia Vye, an exquisite beauty despairing at her boring life on an English moor, sets up a fateful lovers' triangle when she uses her wiles to entice two men, a dashing suitor and a successful man who made his name abroad and returned to his home on the heath.

The Return of the Native

1994

I.D. poster
6.6

Four policemen go undercover and infiltrate a gang of football hooligans hoping to route out their leaders. For one of the four, the line between 'job' and 'yob' becomes more unclear as time passes . . .

I.D.

1995

You're Dead... poster
6.8

A veteran bank robber and his sidekicks plan a heist that goes awry.

You're Dead...

1999

The Escort poster
5.4

Fleeing from his wife in France to London, 45-year-old Pierre is barely able to support himself. He meets friendly Tom, who offers to help him make ends meet by working as a male escort.

The Escort

1999

Clockwork Mice poster
4.6

When new teacher Steve Drake joins the faculty at a school for special-needs students, his unorthodox instruction methods raise eyebrows. But attitudes begin to change when he makes a connection with a particularly unruly student.

Clockwork Mice

1995

Two Golden Balls poster
4.0

A repressed anti-porn campaigner meets a glamorous American porn actress who changes her outlook on life.

Two Golden Balls

1994

Series credits

Ted Lasso poster
8.4

Ted Lasso, an American football coach, moves to England when he's hired to manage a soccer team—despite having no experience. With cynical players and a doubtful town, will he get them to see the Ted Lasso Way?

Ted Lasso

2020

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

The One Show poster
4.3

A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.

The One Show

2006

Agatha Christie's Marple poster
7.8

The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.

Agatha Christie's Marple

2004

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

Inside No. 9 poster
8.1

An anthology of darkly comic twisted tales, each one taking place behind a door marked 'number 9'.

Inside No. 9

2014

The Chelsea Detective poster
6.3

Detective Inspector Max Arnold lives on a battered houseboat at the end of Cheyne Walk after separating from his art dealer wife Astrid. The son of a local bookshop owner, Max is a far cry from the affluent elite whose crimes he'll help solve along with D.C. Priya Shamsie.

The Chelsea Detective

2022

Inspector Morse poster
7.9

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.

Inspector Morse

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

Moving On poster
7.3

Moving On is a British television series set in contemporary Britain consisting of standalone dramas all sharing the theme of someone going through some kind of change in their life and moving on.

Moving On

2009

Silk poster
7.5

Passionate defence barrister Martha Costello faces challenging cases and surprising clients, which test her faith in the criminal justice system. Gifted colleague Clive Reader is called to the bar with her. They work hard with pupils, Nick Slade and Niamh Cranitch, but ultimately only one can eventually be taken on as a member of chambers.

Silk

2011

Playhouse Presents poster
6.0

Playhouse Presents is a series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1. Each episode is written by a different writer with a different cast.

Playhouse Presents

2012

McDonald & Dodds poster
7.6

Two detectives, DCI McDonald and DS Dodds, who seemingly have nothing in common, are thrown together and forge a rumbustious friendship and entertaining partnership.

McDonald & Dodds

2020

Kingdom poster
7.1

Looks can be deceiving. Peter Kingdom seems to have everything — a man of some standing in the seaside town of Market Shipborough, he dresses well and has all the trappings of success. Why, then, does he wander along the beach and stare out to sea for hours at a time? Despite Peter's thriving legal practice, he must deal with his dysfunctional family (which includes his unstable sister) and his grief over his missing half-brother and law partner, Simon.

Kingdom

2007

Chef poster
7.6

Sharp knives and even sharper tongues! Meet Britain's finest, most short-fused chef, Gareth Balckstock.

Chef

1993

Screen One poster
7.2

Anthology drama series.

Screen One

1989

Bookish poster
6.4

Gabriel Book, proprietor of an antiquarian bookshop, relies on his vast collection to unravel baffling cases. He nurtures a group of lovable yet troubled individuals, providing informal protection and guidance.

Bookish

2025

Murphy's Law poster
7.6

Detective Sergeant Tommy Murphy is a maverick cop with a dark past. After failing a psychiatric assessment, he's given one last chance by his boss and given a dangerous undercover assignment. A loner with little to lose and dealing with everything on his own terms, this time around, however, Murphy has an ally in Detective Inspector Annie Guthrie.

Murphy's Law

2001

Outnumbered poster
7.8

Partly-improvised sitcom looking at the trials and tribulations of bringing up three young children - a regal five-year-old girl with a talent for interrogation, a seven-year-old boy who could fib for Britain and an 11-year-old who is gearing up for his scary first day at secondary school.

Outnumbered

2007

Vanity Fair poster
7.2

In a world where everyone is striving for what is not worth having, no one is more determined to climb to the heights of English society than Becky Sharp.

Vanity Fair

2018

Sense and Sensibility poster
7.5

Sense and Sensibility is a 2008 British television drama, based on Jane Austen's 1811 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies, who said that the aim of the series was to make viewers forget Ang Lee's 1995 film version. As such, this series was more overtly sexual than previous Austen adaptations, and Davies included scenes featuring a seduction and a duel that are suggested in Austen's novel but absent from the feature film. A story of two sisters attempting to find happiness in the tightly structured society of 18th century England. Elinor, disciplined, restrained and very conscious of the manners of the day, represents sense. Outspoken, impetuous, emotional Marianne represents sensibility.

Sense and Sensibility

2008

The Pale Horse poster
5.8

After a list of names is found in the shoe of a dead woman, one of the named people begins investigating and is drawn to the The Pale Horse, the home of a trio of rumored witches living in a small village. Word has it that the witches can do away with wealthy relatives using dark arts.

The Pale Horse

2020

Critical poster
6.9

The Major Trauma Centre is a state-of-the-art unit which treats only the most gravely ill or seriously injured. Whether that patient lives or dies is determined by knife-edge decisions and procedures, but can the diverse team of medical professionals knit together and rise to the challenge? Our team hold a life in their hands but in every case they face the agonisingly real fear that it could slip through their fingers.

Critical

2015

The Lady poster
6.5

Jane Andrews' life changes overnight when she lands a dream job in Buckingham Palace and bonds with the Duchess of York.

The Lady

2026

Brass Eye poster
7.7

Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.

Brass Eye

1997

Brass Eye poster
7.7

Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.

Brass Eye

1997

Brass Eye poster
7.7

Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.

Brass Eye

1997

Murder, They Hope poster
7.1

After their trip to Middlesbrough turned a little more explosive than they thought, Gemma and Terry finally decide to pack up the smouldering remains of their coach tour business and set out on a new adventure as fully-fledged private detectives.

Murder, They Hope

2021

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

Next of Kin poster
6.4

Whip-smart general practitioner Dr. Mona Harcourt lives in London with her political lobbyist husband Guy and her family. When a bomb goes off in London on the same day that her brother, Dr. Kareem Shirani, is abducted in Pakistan, Mona's charmed life is shaken to its core.

Next of Kin

2018

South of the Border poster
10.0

Female private detectives Pearl Parker and Finn Gallagher operate within the bustling multicultural communities of South London.

South of the Border

1988

Trinity poster
5.8

After 900 years of reserving access exclusively to the rich, Bridgeford University has finally opened it's doors to lower-class pupils, a change that is not welcomed by several of the elite. Behind this world of privilege lie dark secrets, secrets that involve the sinister Professor Maltravers and the mysterious Dandelion Club....

Trinity

2009

A Dance to the Music of Time poster
5.9

A Dance to the Music of Time is a four-part adaptation of Anthony Powell's 12-volume novel sequence that aired on Channel 4 in 1997. The series is a sharp, comic portrait of upper-class and bohemian England, spanning almost a century, from the early 1920s to modern times.

A Dance to the Music of Time

1997

Life Begins poster
8.0

Life Begins is a British television drama first broadcast on ITV between February 2004 and October 2006, starring Caroline Quentin and Alexander Armstrong, Anne Reid and Frank Finlay.

Life Begins

2004

Bedtime poster
4.3

Bedtime was a British comedy-drama written and directed by Andy Hamilton and broadcast by the BBC. It ran for three series for a total of fifteen episodes between August 2001 and December 2003. The first two series had six episodes each and the third series had three episodes. Series 1 and 2 were released on DVD.

Bedtime

2001

Kate & Koji poster
6.1

Kate runs an old-fashioned café in a seaside town, and develops a strong, if sometimes volatile, friendship with asylum-seeking African doctor Koji. Although from different worlds, Kate and Koji are similar in ways they do not see for themselves.

Kate & Koji

2020

Second Sight poster
5.7

Maverick cop DCI Ross Tanner finds out that he has a rare disease which is causing him to go blind.

Second Sight

2000

Trevor's World of Sport poster
7.0

Trevor's World of Sport began as a 2003 BBC television sitcom written and directed by Andy Hamilton and starring Neil Pearson as Trevor. Only one television series was made, and Hamilton felt mistreated by the BBC over the scheduling of the show. The first episode attracted an average of 3.4 million viewers, dropping to 2.9 million for the second and third episodes. The subsequent episodes were rescheduled from Friday evenings to Monday nights, despite the Radio Times issues having already been published listing the originally scheduled transmission dates. Hamilton went public with his displeasure over the show's scheduling and vowed never to work for BBC1 again, though he has since changed his mind. A radio version was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004, with subsequent series in 2005 and 2007. The series is set in the world of TS Sports – a sports public relations firm, run by Trevor Heslop and his partner, the lascivious Sammy Dobbs. Trevor is portrayed as an essentially decent, honest man in the corrupt money-obsessed industry of sporting celebrity, who is still deeply in love with his estranged wife Meryl. Andy Hamilton also appears in a minor role within the show, and several actors who have worked in his other comedy shows for television and radio appear. Neil Pearson was in Hamilton's Drop the Dead Donkey, as was Michael Fenton Stevens who plays TS Sports' only regular client, fading celebrity Ralph Renton.

Trevor's World of Sport

2003

The Booze Cruise poster
7.4

The Booze Cruise is a series of three feature length comedy dramas written for British television by Paul Minett and Brian Leveson. The first episode in the series was first shown on ITV in 2003. The three episodes have received mixed reviews, with the Radio Times describing it as "like comedy in 1973" and also "you can see each joke a mile off", but generally liking the show.

The Booze Cruise

2003

Perfect Strangers poster
6.7

Daniel Symon comes face to face with his extended family – a cadre of eccentrics, all of whom hiding their own secrets. At a reunion, patriarch Raymond is presented with a copy of the family tree and is enthralled by the complexity of his family ties.

Perfect Strangers

2001