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Sara Powell (born 23 June 1968) is a British-Jamaican stage, screen and voice-over actress and audiobook narrator. Her regular television roles include crown prosecutor Rachel Barker in the BBC's police procedural drama HolbyBlue (2007–2008), driver Sally Reid in ITV's firefighting drama London's Burning (1993–1994) and psychologist Cass in Channel 4's sitcom Damned (2016–2018).
Sara Powell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 June 1968 |
| Education | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Children | 2[1] |
She also played historical figure Mary Seacole in the thirteenth series of the BBC One long-running science fiction series Doctor Who (2021), as well as a number of other characters in its spin-off audio dramas, produced by Big Finish Productions.
Powell was born on 23 June 1968[2] in Jamaica.[3] She loved acting from a very young age, making up little shows together with her brother and forcing her father and any guests at home to watch them.[3] Sara studied Commerce (B.Com) at Birmingham University from 1986 to 1989. She studied acting at London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.[4][5]
Television
Powell's television debut happened in 1992, in an episode of the BAFTA-winning BBC police drama Between the Lines. From 1993 to 1994, she appeared in her first regular role in both the sixth and seventh series of the ITV firefighting drama London's Burning, playing Sally Reid, the watch's first female driver.[3] In 2007, she joined the main cast of the BBC police procedural drama HolbyBlue (2007–2008), playing senior crown prosecutor Rachel Barker throughout the first and second series.[6]
From 2016 to 2018, Powell appeared as psychologist Cass in both series of the Channel 4 sitcom Damned (2016–2018), starring comedians Jo Brand, Alan Davies and Kevin Eldon. Her other television highlights include the ITV crime dramas The Ice Cream Girls (2013), Little Boy Blue (2017) and Unforgotten (2018), comedy thriller You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015), medical drama The Family Man (2006),[7] situation comedy Ghosts (2021) and the film My Zinc Bed (2008), starring Uma Thurman.[8]
"She's just such an inspirational character. I mean, I can't tell you how exciting and what a privilege it is to be able to represent her."
— Powell on portraying Mary Seacole[9]
In 2021, she played historical figure Mary Seacole in the episode "War of the Sontarans" of the BBC's long-running science fiction series Doctor Who, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker.[10][11][12] Fans of the classic Doctor Who series, broadcast from 1963 to 1989, may also be familiar with Powell's voice, as she has portrayed more than ten other characters in several Doctor Who audio drama spin-offs from Big Finish Productions, featuring the First, Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors.[13]
Stage work
Since 1995, she has appeared on stage as often as on television, taking part in about thirty productions at the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Bush Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Arcola Theatre, Crucible Theatre, Birmingham Rep and more. Powell played various Shakespearean roles, such as Andromache in Troilus and Cressida (1999), Lady Macduff in Macbeth (2005) and Queen Elizabeth in Richard III (2017).[4] Her other classical credits include playing Cariola in John Webster's revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi (2000–2001) for the Royal Shakespeare Company's touring production, directed by Gale Edwards.[14] In 2005, Powell starred opposite Friends star David Schwimmer in Neil LaBute's original West End production of Some Girl(s) at the Gielgud Theatre.[15][16] The cast also included Catherine Tate, Lesley Manville and Saffron Burrows.[17]
In April 2003, she made her debut as a theatre director with Come Out Eli, a play based on the events of the Hackney siege, Britain's longest police siege.[18][19] It opened at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London only four months after the siege ended. The story was told through recounting interviews taken from eyewitnesses and local residents during the incident.[20] Powell dismissed accusations that the production was exploiting a tragedy, "This [is] not exploitative to me because we are re-telling people's stories. We are not using the stories in any way because we are telling them in the way they told us during the interviews. It is a different method of storytelling to your usual theatre experience. It is technically quite difficult but it does capture the nuances of tone and speech in a very real way."[20]
In 2019, she got a small part in the romantic comedy film Last Christmas, written by Emma Thompson and starring Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke.[21] Three years later, she joined Clarke in her West End debut, Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Jamie Lloyd.[22] It was broadcast in cinemas worldwide as part of the National Theatre Live programme,[23] just like Powell's other theatrical production, The Madness of George III (2018), with Mark Gatiss as the lead.[24] Two more plays starring Powell, Mapping the Edge (2001) and Albert Camus's The Plague (2017), have been broadcast on BBC Radio.[25]
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Golden Years | Tecuichpo | TV film | [22] |
| 1994 | One Night Stand | Anna | Short film | [26] |
| 1996 | The Office | Joan | TV film | [27] |
| 2008 | My Zinc Bed | Maxine | TV film | [22] |
| 2016 | Denial | Jacqueline Thomas | [22] | |
| 2019 | Ruth | Ruth | Short film; lead role | [28] |
| Last Christmas | Casting Director | [29] | ||
| 2023 | The Red Ball | Mother | Short film | [30] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Between the Lines | School Teacher | Episode: "The Chill Factor" |
| 1993–2009 | The Bill | Various | 5 episodes |
| 1993–1994 | London's Burning | Sally Reid | Regular role in series 6–7; 21 episodes |
| 1997 | Casualty | Justine Leonard | 2 episodes |
| 1998 | Vanity Fair | Miss Swartz | 2 episodes |
| 2001–2012 | Doctors | Various | 5 episodes |
| 2002 | Silent Witness | DS Esther Linden | 2 episodes |
| 2005 | Judge John Deed | Kerry Ramsay | Episode: "Lost and Found" |
| 2006 | The Family Man | Jane | Main role; 3 episodes |
| 2007–2008 | HolbyBlue | Rachel Barker | Main role in series 1–2; 16 episodes |
| 2010–2011 | Florrie's Dragons | Splish-Splash (voice) | 52 episodes |
| 2011 | Sadie J | Traci | 2 episodes |
| Law & Order: UK | Annetta Trew | Episode: "Deal" | |
| 2012 | Public Enemies | Dawn Clough | Episode #1.3 |
| Casualty | Kerry Fitzgerald | Episode: "Confidences" | |
| 2013 | The Ice Cream Girls | Fez Gorringe | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | You, Me and the Apocalypse | Naomi | 3 episodes |
| 2016–2018 | Damned | Cass | 8 episodes |
| 2017 | Little Boy Blue | ACC Pat Gallan | 4 episodes |
| Midsomer Murders | Maxine Lockston | Episode: "Crime and Punishment" | |
| 2018 | Silent Witness | Tilly Maddox | 2 episodes |
| Unforgotten | Arbiter | 3 episodes | |
| 2019 | Death in Paradise | Josephine Porter | Episode: "Frappe Death Day" |
| 2021 | Ghosts | Jacqui | Episode: "I Love Lucy" |
| Doctor Who | Mary Seacole | Episode: "War of the Sontarans" | |
| 2022 | Murder in Provence | Cosette Faraud | Episode #1.2 |
| The House Across the Street | Joanne | 4 episodes | |
| 2023 | The Killing Kind | Belinda Grey | 5 episodes |
Audio
Full-cast audio dramas
| Year | Title | Role | Production | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Blake's 7 | Dr Cara Petrus | Big Finish Productions | Episode: "Drones" |
| The Early Adventures | Audrey Newman | Episode: "An Ordinary Life" | ||
| 2015 | Pathfinder Legends | Deka-An-Keret / Zizzira | Episode: "Shifting Sands" | |
| 2016 | The Diary of River Song | The PA | Episode: "World Enough and Time" | |
| 2016–2017 | The Prisoner | Number 9 / Number 90 | Series 1–2 | |
| 2017 | Blake's 7 | Rokon | Episode: "Liberation" | |
| 2018 | The Early Adventures | Jacklyn Karna | Episode: "The Dalek Occupation of Winter" | |
| The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures | Contessa | Episode: "Vanguard" | ||
| 2021 | The Fourth Doctor Adventures | Emma Fremantle | Episode: "The World Traders" | |
| Torchwood | Mo Simister | Episode: "The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough" | ||
| Jenny: The Doctor's Daughter | Andros Fax / Bar Person | Episode: "Inside the Maldovarium" | ||
| 2022 | Peladon | Queen Minaris | Episode: "The Death of Peladon" | |
| The War Master | Blythe / Confederation Official | 2 episodes | ||
| 2023 | The Fourth Doctor Adventures | Moira Tenaka | Episode: "The Wizard of Time" |
Audiobook narration
- The Cellar (2015) by Minette Walters[31]
- When I Was Invisible (2016) by Dorothy Koomson[32]
- All Men Want to Know (2020) by Nina Bouraoui, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins[33]
- Bernard and the Cloth Monkey (2021) by Judith Bryan[34]
- The Sex Lives of African Women (2021) by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah[35]
- Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (2021) by Simon Schama[36]
- Assassin's Orbit (2021) by John Appel[37]
- Sankofa (2021) by Chibundu Onuzo[38]
- Island Songs (2021) by Alex Wheatle[39]
- What Is History, Now? (2021) by Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb[40]
- In Every Mirror She's Black (2021) by Lola Akinmade Åkerström[41]
- Evelyn Dove: Britain's Black Cabaret Queen (2022) by Stephen Bourne[42]
- The Wordhord (2022) by Hana Videen[43]
- Blood to Poison (2022) by Mary Watson[44]
- The Blunder (2022) by Mutt-Lon, translated by Amy B. Reid[45]
- The Racial Code: Tales of Resistance and Survival (2022) by Nicola Rollock[46]
Video games
- The Secret World (2012)
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014)
- Dragon Age: Inquisition – Trespasser (2015)
- Red Solstice 2: Survivors (2021)
- Dying Light 2: Stay Human (2022)
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