Victoria Wicks
Victoria Wicks | |
---|---|
Born |
Beverly Victoria Anne Wicks 18 April 1959 |
Occupation | Actor |
Victoria Wicks (born Beverly Victoria Anne Wicks; 18 April 1959) is a British actress. She is known for her role as Sally Smedley in Channel 4's award winning comedy series Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–98). Her other television roles include Mrs. Gideon in The Mighty Boosh (2004), and the College Director in Skins (2007–08). Her film appearances include The Imitation Game (2014) and High-Rise (2015). She is an Associate of Howard Barker's theatre company, The Wrestling School.
Biography
Early life, background and education
Wicks was born Beverly Victoria Anne Wicks in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England to Brian and Judith Wicks. Wicks’s mother, Judith Bates, born 1933, was the second child of the writer H.E. Bates. Wicks is the niece of Jonathan Bates, the award-winning Sound Editor who died in 2008, and the television producer, Richard Bates, who produced the television adaptation of The Darling Buds of May. Wicks is a director of Evensford Productions Ltd, the company set up in 1955 to protect and promote H.E. Bates's work.[1][2]
In 1984 Wicks married Peter Williams (divorced 2004); they have one daughter, Madelaine Rose, born 1985.
Wicks trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama where she was awarded the Pernod and Bisquit Award for the most promising graduate.
Career
Her first job was as Acting Assistant Stage Manager at Northampton Rep for a year, before going to Bristol Old Vic, Regent’s Park and then the RSC. In 1986 Wicks was in Andy Hamilton’s black comedy Tickets for the Titanic, and then went on to play Sally Smedley in all six series of Drop the Dead Donkey.[3] The Mighty Boosh, is an award-winning radio, television and stage show created by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. Mrs Gideon was the Head of Reptiles at the Zooniverse in Series 1. Wicks also played Harriet Lawes, the Head of College in series 1, 2 and 3 of Skins.
Wicks joined the 'Wrestling School‘ in 1996. The company was formed in 1988 for the sole purpose of performing the work of the dramatist Howard Barker. Since joining the company Wicks has appeared in 9 plays by Barker, performing in London, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Adelaide and also in Rouen, Grenoble, Le Mans and Paris for the co-production of Les Animaux en Paradis, which was performed in French by 4 British and 5 French actors. Wicks is an Associate of the Wrestling School. In 2010 Wicks was invited to the Segal Theatre Center in New York as guest of Theatre Minima to celebrate a day-long event on the work of Howard Barker.[4]
Wicks played the hgh priestess of the Sybillines in The Fires of Pompeii, a 2008 episode of Doctor Who. In 2014, she played Dorothy Clarke in The Imitation Game, and Susannah Marshall in the E4 drama Glue (2014).
Credits
Work for Howard Barker
- Concentration and Dying In The Street - Premiere readings of Screaming in Advance at The Print Room, London
- Smack Me - Premiere reading at The Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London
- Actress With an Unloved Child - Premiere reading at Lewis Festival
- I Saw Myself - Premiere reading Hampstead
- The Fence in Its Thousandth Year - Algeria: London
- Les Animaux en Paradis - Tenna: Théâtre des Deux Rives in Rouen, Paris, Grenoble, Le Mans.
- 13 Objects - Cruel Cup, Kind Saucer, The Ring, Blue Shoe, The Drum: London
- Gertrude the Cry - Gertrude: Elsinore Castle, Denmark and London
- He Stumbled - Turner, The Queen: London.
- The Ecstatic Bible - Mrs Golllancz: Adelaide Theatre Festival, Australia
- Scenes From an Execution - Rivera: Barbican Theatre, London
- Ursula; Fear of the Estuary - Mother Placida: London, Birmingham, Copenhagen
- Uncle Vanya - Helena: London, Berlin, Stockholm
- The Love of a Good Man - Mrs. Toynbee: BBC Radio Drama
- A House of Correction - Lyndsey: BBC Radio Drama
- Knowledge and a Girl - The Queen: BBC Radio Drama
- The Swing at Night - Klatura: Marionette Theatre for PuppetBarge
Television
- Glue - Susannah Marshall - E4
- Wizards v Aliens - Chancellor Kooth - cbbc
- EastEnders - Sandra Halliday - BBC
- Silent Witness - Lizzie Fraser - BBC
- Crackanory - Head teacher - Series 2, Episode 4 - Dave
- Sherlock - Margaret Patterson - BBC
- At Home with the Georgians - Margaret Lady Stanley. - BBC
- Collision - Angela Reeves - ITV
- Skins - Head of College - E4
- Doctor Who - High Priestess of The Sybilline - BBC
- Mistresses - Gemma
- Midsomer Murders - Hellen Callaghan - ITV
- Midsomer Murders - Sarah Stone - ITV
- No Signal - You Me ‘n’ Him
- The Mighty Boosh - Mrs. Gideon - BBC 3
- Drop the Dead Donkey - Sally Smedley - Ch 4
- Bright Hair About the Bone - Miss Montrose
- M.I. High - Head of MI9
- The Brief - Magistrate
- My Family - Bex's Mother
- Tickets for the Titanic - Arbuthnot (episode: "Pastoral Care")
- Murder Most Horrid - Jocasta
- Paul Merton - Emily
- Prisoner of Zenda - Princess Flavia
- My Little Grey Home in the West - Janet
- The Houseman's Tale - Allison
- Blossom in France - Jacqueline Renaud
- Mud - Miss Palmer
- Casualty - Connolly QC
- Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less - Georgina
- Hold the Dream - Sarah Lowther
- Peak Practice X11 - Judy
- Doctors - Alison Mathews
- Bernard's Watch V - Aunt Rowena
- Snap - Jane
- The Ward - Barbara
- Delta Wave - Olga Crick
- No Worries - Sarah
- Streetwise - Mrs Daniels
- Storyboard - Virginia (episode: "Snakes & Ladders")
- Gems - Elinor
- Two of Us - Jackie
- Rumpole of the Bailey - Amanda Gleason
- Grange Hill - Doctor Burton
Film
- High Rise - Miriam
- The Imitation Game - Dorothy Clarke
- The Brother - Vendor
- Stick With Me Kid - Christina
- What A Girl Wants - Henry’s Secretary
- Ping Pong - Maggie
- Strike It Rich - Jane Truefit
Theatre
- Quartermaine's Terms by Simon Gray - Melanie
- A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde - Mrs Arbuthnot
- As You Like It by William Shakespeare - Rosalind
- Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward - Elvira
- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare - Olivia
- Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - Portia
- Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas - Amy Spettigue
- Chinamen by Michael Frayn - Jo, Bee, and Alex
- A Midsummer Night's dream by William Shakespeare - Helena
- As You Like It by William Shakespeare - Hymen
- The Country Wife by William Wycherley - Mistress Squeamish
Radio
- Anything Legal
- The Cask of Amontillado
- Get Together
- The Cabaret of Dr Caligari
- The Cleverest Man at Oxford
- Riding to Jerusalem
- Albert's Extra Parliamentary Activities
- The Secret Parts
References
- ↑ "Estates - H. E. Bates".
- ↑ Comdevelopment Ltd. "Beverly Wicks".
- ↑ "TELEVISION VIEW; The News From Britain, Sort Of". 23 July 1995.
- ↑ "Playwright Howard Barker (UK) at the Segal Center", City University of New York, May 2010
External links
- Victoria Wicks at the Internet Movie Database
- BBC Comedy Guide - Victoria Wicks
- Kilpatrick, David. Gertrude--The Cry (review). Theatre Journal - Volume 55, Number 4, December 2003, pp. 704–706. The Johns Hopkins University Press
- Guardian review of the 2002 production of Gertrude—The Cry