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'Catherine Tate' (born 'Catherine Ford' 12 May 1968)^[1] is an English comedienne and actress best known for her BBC Two sketch comedy series, ''The Catherine Tate Show''. Following its success, Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of ''Doctor Who'' and is now set to reprise the role to become the Doctor's companion throughout series four in 2008.^[2] She has won numerous awards for her work on ''The Catherine Tate Show'' and has been nominated for an Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards.

Contents

Television

''The Catherine Tate Show''

''Doctor Who''

Film and theatre

Background and personal life

Awards and nominations

Won

Nominated

Filmography

References

External links

Television

Tate began her acting career with roles in serial dramas such as ''The Bill''^[3] and ''Casualty''.^[4] Tate started stand-up comedy in 1996^[5] and has appeared in comedy series such as ''The Harry Hill Show'', ''Barking'' and ''That Peter Kay Thing'' and soon after she became involved with Lee Mack's Perrier-nominated ''New Bits'' show at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2000. In 2001, she returned to the festival with her own sell-out one-woman show which was followed by roles in ''Big Train'', ''Attention Scum'' and ''TVGoHome''. After being spotted at Edinburgh, she was offered a role in the comedy ''Wild West'' with Dawn French. She was then given her own programme, which she co-wrote with Derren Litten, entitled ''The Catherine Tate Show''.^[6]
After the first series of ''The Catherine Tate Show'' became a success, in March 2005 she made an appearance during the BBC's Comic Relief as the character of Lauren Cooper from ''The Catherine Tate Show'', alongside boy-band McFly, which gained Tate 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 Eastender characters Peggy Mitchell, Little Mo Mitchell and Stacey Slater, and Tate again appeared as Lauren. The sketch saw her arrive in Walford in search of revenge on Stacey, who had apparently stolen her boyfriend. After arguing with Peggy, Lauren eventually left The Queen Victoria pub after uttering some famous lines from the soap, including "Hello Princess" and "Rickaay!", along with her usual catchphrase, "Am I Bovvered?", and making various references to cockney culture, such as asking Peggy whether she knew Chas & Dave.^[7]
Also at that time, Tate was a guest star at the 77th ''Royal Variety Performance'' and once again appeared 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?".^[8] She also commented during the sketch that Prince Phillip had fallen asleep: "she is bing, but the old fella next to her is asleep!". He then reportedly complained to the show's executive producer saying he had been insulted.
At the end of 2005 she appeared in the award-winning BBC television adaptation of ''Bleak House''. She has been commissioned to write a TV drama for the BBC's forthcoming ''Decades'' project.^[9] She also had a role in the television adaptation of the novel ''The Bad Mother's Handbook'', where she co-starred with Anne Reid.
On March 16, 2007, Tate appeared on Comic Relief as some of her well-known characters from ''The Catherine Tate Show''. She performed Lauren Cooper in sketches with David Tennant who acted as Lauren's teacher, and the then current British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who saw Lauren while she was on work experience at 10 Downing Street.^[10] Tate also appeared as Elaine Figgis (who had met actor Daniel Craig on the internet), as Geordie Georgie with Lenny Henry, and Joannie "Nan" Taylor in an episode of ''Deal or No Deal'', hosted by Noel Edmonds.^[11]

''The Catherine Tate Show''

Tate co-wrote and starred in her eponymous comedy sketch programme, which has run for three series and debuted in 2004. Two of its well-known characters are teenager Lauren Cooper and Joannie "Nan" Taylor, the cockney grandmother.
Despite speculation that the third series would be the last, Tate and the BBC have not ruled out further series or episodes. In an interview on ''The Paul O'Grady Show'' on December 18 2006 Tate indicated that a fourth series was unlikely but hoped to film a one-off special episode in 2007. This has now been confirmed and the episode will air at Christmas.^[12] She has also indicated that she would be happy to take the show on a live tour.^[13]
Tate has been nominated for and won several awards for her work on the show. In 2004, Tate won a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Newcomer for her work on the first series of ''The Catherine Tate Show'' and on December 13 2006, Tate won a British Comedy Award for Best British Comedy Actress, for her work in the second series. She has also been nominated for four BAFTA Awards, including Best Comedy Performance.^[14] Upon Tate not winning a BAFTA for a third year, she reportedly accused the BAFTA panel of being out of touch with the views of the British public.^[15]

''Doctor Who''

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In 2006, Tate appeared in ''Doctor Who'' as Donna Noble, a woman in a wedding dress who suddenly appeared in the TARDIS at the end of the episode "Doomsday". She then played a major role as Donna in the following episode, the Christmas special entitled "The Runaway Bride". On her appearance in the series, Tate commented, "I was holding out for a summer season at Wigan rep but as a summer job, this'll do."^[16]
It was announced on July 4, 2007 that Tate would be returning to ''Doctor Who'' to reprise the role of Donna as the Doctor's companion throughout the fourth series, due to be shown as a 13-week run in spring 2008.^[17] 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." She has now started filming for the new series.^[18]

Film and theatre

Tate had roles in three films in 2006. These included: ''Starter for Ten'', ''Sixty Six'' and ''Scenes of a Sexual Nature''. She appears in the forthcoming films ''Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution'', in which she plays the title character, and ''Love and Other Disasters''.
In 2001 she played Smeraldina in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of ''A Servant to Two Masters''. In 2005, Tate played a role in the West End play ''Some Girl(s)'', alongside ''Friends'' star David Schwimmer, Sara Powell, Lesley Manville and Saffron Burrows.^[19] 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 the actor, whom she described as "a very funny, personable man, and easy to get along with".^[20]

Background and personal life

Tate was born in Bloomsbury, London and brought up in the Brunswick Centre. Her mother, Josephine, was a florist. Tate's character of Margaret, who shrieks at the slightest of disturbances, is said to be largely based on Josephine. Tate never knew her father as he left very early on in Tate's life, consequently, Tate was brought up in a female dominant environment, being cared for by her mother, grandmother and her godparents. As a child, Tate suffered from an obsessive-compulsive disorder which centred around word association. An example of her disorder is: Tate was not able to leave a jumper on the floor or it might have brought misfortune to her mother whose name began with J like jumper.
Tate attended St Joseph's, Macklin Street, Holborn, a local Catholic primary school. She then attended Notre Dame High School, Southwark, a south London convent secondary school for girls that was run by nuns. By the time Tate was a teenager, she knew she wanted to follow a professional acting career, and was subsequently sent to a boys Catholic school at sixteen which had the necessary facilities for drama that Notre Dame High School could not offer. Tate left school before sitting her A-Levels as she already knew that she wanted to study drama and that it was not necessary to have qualifications to study the subject. Tate 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. Until the age of 26, Tate lived in Holborn and Bloomsbury.
Tate's partner is stage manager Twig Clark. They have one daughter called Erin (born 2003) whom Tate was pregnant with during the filming of the first series of ''The Catherine Tate Show''. Following an emergency Caesarean section to deliver Erin, Tate suffered from postnatal depression which she only recovered from after the filming of the second series. During this difficult period, Clark gave up his work to care for Erin so that Tate could concentrate on her own work. She also suffers from occasional panic attacks. The family currently have a home in Fulham, London.

Awards and nominations

(All for her work on ''The Catherine Tate Show'')

Won

★ 2004: British Comedy Award — Best Comedy Newcomer

★ 2006: RTS Television Award — Best Comedy Performance

★ 2006: British Comedy Award — Best TV Comedy Actress

Nominated

★ 2004: British Comedy Award — Best TV Comedy Actress

★ 2005: Emmy — Best Performance by an Actress^[21]

★ 2005: British Comedy Award — Best TV Comedy Actress

★ 2005: BAFTA TV Award — Best New Writer

★ 2005: BAFTA TV Award — Comedy Programme or Series Award

★ 2006: BAFTA TV Award — Best Comedy Performance

★ 2007: BAFTA TV Award — Best Comedy Programme

Filmography

★ ''The Bill'' (1993) — WDC Palmer

★ ''Milner'' (1994) — Jesson's P.A.

★ ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1994) — Young woman

★ ''That Peter Kay Thing'' (2000)

★ ''Attention Scum'' (2001)

★ ''Big Train'' (1998 - 2002) — various roles

★ ''Wild West'' (2004) — Angela Phillips

★ ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007) — various characters

★ ''Bleak House'' (2005) — Mrs Chadband

★ ''Love and Other Disasters'' (2006) — Talullah Wentworth

★ ''Starter for Ten'' (2006) — Julie Jackson

★ ''Sixty Six'' (2006) — Aunt Lila

★ ''Scenes of a Sexual Nature'' (2006) — Sara

★ ''Doctor Who'' (2006, 2008) — Donna Noble

★ ''The Bad Mother's Handbook'' (2007) — Karen Cooper

★ ''Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution'' (2007) — Dorothy Ratcliffe

References

1. "Catherine Tate: The shy star". ''The Independent''. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
2. "Tate to be Doctor's companion". BBC News. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
3. "'I'm a lazy control freak". ''The Guardian''. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
4. "Catherine the Great". ''The Guardian''. Retrieved July 4 2007.
5. "The Guardian profile: Catherine Tate". ''The Guardian''. Retrieved July 18 2007.
6. "Catherine Tate profile". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
7. "Catherine Tate appears in Walford". BBC News. Retrieved February 18, 2007.
8. "Tate asks if Queen is 'bovvered'". BBC News. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
9. "Decades — 30 landmark films for BBC TWO". BBC Press Office.
10. "Catherine Tate hails Blair's comic skills". ''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
11. "Catherine Tate DVD 'sets record'". BBC News. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
12. "Catherine Tate takes foul-mouthed Nan back in time". ''Mail On Sunday''. Retrieved July 8 2007.
13. "Catherine Tate to go on tour?". ITV.com. Retrieved July 4 2007.
14. "High ratings for Catherine Tate". BBC News. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
15. " Catherine Tate angry over BAFTA snub". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
16. "Tate to guest star in ''Doctor Who''". BBC News. Retrieved June 14, 2006
17. "Donna says "I do!"". BBC News. Retrieved July 4 2007.
18. "That bovvered bride tracks down the Time Lord". ''Daily Mail''. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
19. "''Friends'' star makes West End debut". BBC News. Retrieved July 4 2007.
20. "Catherine Tate denies Schwimmer feud". Digital Spy. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
21. "Emmy Nominations". iemmys.tv. Retrieved July 4 2007.

External links

★ Catherine Tate at bbc.co.uk/comedy

★ ''The Catherine Tate Show'' at bbc.co.uk/comedy

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