Sally Phillips

Sally Phillips is an English actor, writer, comedian, producer and director. She is an executive producer at Captain Dolly. 

She is best known for her work in TV sitcoms such as I’m Alan Partridge, Jam and Jerusalem, Miranda and Veep; films such as the Bridget Jones trilogy and tv comedy shows like Taskmaster and QI.

She began her comedy career in the Oxford Revue and had 9 Edinburgh Fringe runs with comedians Simon Munnery, Stewart Lee and Arthur Smith, notably playing Ophelia in Smith’s revisioning of Hamlet. She was also writing and performing comedy for BBC Radio; Her first comedy drama ‘Protesting Too Much’ starred John Fortune and Eleanor Bron and aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.

Smack the Pony was a ground-breaking female-led sketch show that Sally developed and co-wrote with Doon Mackichan, Fiona Allen, Sarah Alexander and Darren Boyd, produced by Caroline Leddy and Victoria Pile. It aired between 1998 and 2002 and won many awards, among them two international Emmys.

Sally’s television roles since then include Green Wing, Friday Night Dinner, Breeders, and Jerk and Pennyworth, with her most recent credits including Channel 4’s Big Mood and BBC’s We Might Regret This.

Sally loves movies and has a long list of credits. Notable roles include Shazzer in the three (soon to be four) Bridget Jones movies, Gina in How to Please a Woman, Liz in Off The Rails, and Mrs Bennett in Pride Prejudice and Zombies, to name a few. She also provided voices for the animated film Ferdinand (1998).

She is an occasional presenter, hosting The One Show from time to time, and My Life At Christmas for the BBC in 2023. During Lockdown she co-presented BBC One’s Sunday Morning Live with Sean Fletcher.

Sally has three neurodivergent children. Two like their privacy, but Olly who has Down syndrome and Autism is becoming a self-advocate for people with Down syndrome. In 2016 Sally and Olly made a documentary A World Without Down's Syndrome? with director Clare Richards for (BBC2) which won the Radio Times Readers Award and Sanford St Martin award for the Best single documentary.

She is proud to be a joint patron of the Down syndrome Association with her son Olly, as well as patron of The Brentford Penguins, Brentford FC’s Down Syndrome Team and Josephine and Jack a charity that provides sex and relationship advice and education to adults with learning disabilities.

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