This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
Katherine Parkinson’s breakout role was in The IT Crowd, which earned her two BAFTA nominations and one win.
She’s gone on to appear in Humans, Inside No. 9 and Defending the Guilty.
She’s nominated for her performance as the lovelorn wife turned adorable adulteress, Lizzie, in Rivals.
You won a BAFTA for Female Comedy Performance in 2014. How was that night?
I was pregnant and I had a cold so my abiding memory is feeling awful. Not that being pregnant isn’t great, but it meant I couldn’t have any medication for the cold. And it was bittersweet anyway because The IT Crowd was ending. Whereas we start filming the second series of Rivals the day after the BAFTAs – so that feels like riding a wave.
Lizzie is described as the moral heart of the show, yet she embarks on an affair…
Good people have affairs, too. And in her case, her husband is an absolute penis.
Rivals looks like fun to make. Is it?
It is, and I have just read the first episode of the new series and it’s terrific. Dominic Treadwell-Collins [Rivals’ showrunner] leads with such integrity, joy and class and he sets the tone. The show is about how the TV world doesn’t have to be full of arseholes – we’re in a fun industry that’s supposed to bring joy to people – Dominic is one of the few who really lives that.
According to research, only 14 per cent of primetime drama is written by women. Do you notice a difference between a script written by a man and one written by a woman?
As an actor, I have found that working with Laura Wade [a co-writer on Rivals] – who is the same age as me and the same gender – there is often a shared sensibility that can be lacking in some scripts written by some men. That we don’t have equal representation in the people telling stories doesn’t make sense to me.
How have you avoided being typecast?
I’d love to say it’s planned, but no. People with a comedic bent are often drawn to extreme characters who vividly differ from each other. The times I’ve struggled were playing an everyday person, because I don’t think I know how to be normal in real life.
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