Julia Davis

1998–2000: Career beginnings

Davis decided to become a comedian after a long illness.^[1] Davis also cites Julie Walters as giving her the confidence to pursue a career in comedy.^[9]

Davis started a comedy double-act The Sisters of Percy with her friend Jane Roth at a local theatre group in Bath.^[2] It grew into an improv troupe with Welsh radio DJ (now actor and comedian) Rob Brydon and comedian and actress Ruth Jones.^[2][10]

As a result of sending sketches to the BBC,^[8] in 1988, Davis secured her first comedy commission for Five Squeezy Pieces, from BBC Radio 4.^[11] The series was an all-female sketch comedy show, with Meera Syal, Arabella Weir, Maria McErlane, and Claire Calman.^{[6][12][13][2]}

Davis first appeared on television in the BBC sketch show Comedy Nation (1998).^[1] Whilst recording Five Squeezy Pieces, Arabella Weir introduced Davis to Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan who placed her as a regular cast member in the television sketch show Big Train (1998) with Chris Morris.^[12][14][15] Chris Morris then cast her for his 1997–1999 radio series Blue Jam, its successor March–April 2000 TV show Jam, and Brass Eye.^[2] Davis went on to appear in many comedy television shows including I'm Alan Partridge, I Am Not an Animal, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, Ideal and Nathan Barley.^[16][17]

In 1998, after she asked her agent to send a tape of various characters to Steve Coogan, he invited her to write for and participate in his shows during his 1998 national tour.^[2][7]

Human Remains (2000)

In November 2000, Human Remains, a dark comedy television series produced by Steve Coogan's production company Baby Cow.^[1] It was co-written by and co-starring Rob Brydon and Davis, debuted on BBC Two.^{[citation needed]} It was produced by Alison MacPhail.^[18] The series consisted of six fake documentaries (across six episodes),^[18] where Brydon and Davis played six different couples talking to camera about their unusual relationships.^[15] The scripts were mostly written through improvisation.^[7]

Nighty Night (2004–2005)

Henry Normal from Baby Cow suggested to Davis that she write something on her own, and write a half-hour pilot.^[7][18] In 2004 and 2005, Davis wrote and starred in two series of the BBC Three dark comedy Nighty Night. The show is centred on her character of peroxide "blonde" sociopathic beauty therapist Jill Tyrell.^[1] The show came out of a lot of improvisation work between Davis and Jane Stannis.^[7]

The character of Jill was inspired by a mixture of things, including: the character Beverly from Human Remains;^[18] and Davis' job in the Finance department of Bath University.^[7] She said that "Most of Jill is an amalgam of women I've seen or worked with in the West Country".^[6] Ruth Jones' character, Linda, was also a development of one of her characters in Human Remains.^[18] The character of Don was originally offered to Colin Firth, who did not respond to the offer.

The show was produced by Alison MacPhail, who had also produced Human Remains.^[18] The first series took three years to write. Davis' approach to writing is to writing scenes, rather than an overarching story. Jill's costume was created by Claire Finlay.

Davis was nominated for a best actress BAFTA, and a British Comedy Award, and won a Royal Society of Television award.^[1][8]

Davis was not happy with the second series, saying that "it was too ridiculous".^[3]

2007–2010: Gavin & Stacey and Lizzie & Sarah

From 2007 to 2009, she played Dawn Sutcliffe in Gavin & Stacey, a role which she reprised in 2019 for a Christmas special and in 2024 in the finale. In 2006, she appeared on Little Britain Abroad as a sexy Russian mail-order bride called Ivanka.

In 2009, Davis appeared, in the guise of Steve Coogan's personal assistant Debbie Bidwoden, in the TV film Steve Coogan – The Inside Story.^[19][20]

In 2009, Davis starred in a short film with Richard Ayoade for See Africa Differently, a campaign to showcase the under-reported progress from Africa.^[21]

In 2010, she co-wrote and co-starred in Lizzie and Sarah with Jessica Hynes.^[3] The pilot is about two middle-class housewives, who are treated badly by their husbands, who wreak revenge on all who have crossed them. The pilot aired on 20 March 2010 on BBC Two.^{[citation needed]} It was made by Baby Cow Productions. The pilot received no publicity around its transmission, and, Vice says, the "BBC buried it in a graveyard slot".^[3] It was considered even darker than Davis's previous work,^[22] and, despite a Facebook campaign, the BBC did not commission a series.^[23] Davis was disappointed it was not given a series.^[3] In 2010, Julia Davis and Jessica Hynes performed as their characters from Lizzie and Sarah for the "Angina Monologues", a British comedy show featuring Victoria Wood about women's heart disease.^[24][25]

2011–2015: Psychobitches, Morning Has Broken

Davis starred in productions such as: the BBC's For the Love of God; The Alan Clark Diaries; Fear of Fanny, in which she played the original celebrity chef Fanny Cradock; and Persuasion, an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.^[26]

In December 2011, Davis appeared in "Fifteen Million Merits", an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror, as Judge Charity on the fictional talent show Hot Shot.^[27]

On 22 December 2011, she appeared as Anne Yeaman in the Christmas special and finale of the BBC Three comedy How Not to Live Your Life.^[28]

On 26 August 2012, Davis appeared in the pilot episode of Bad Sugar on Channel 4.^{[citation needed]} A full series was set to air in 2013, but was cancelled due to availability of the cast and writers.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, Davis played various characters in BBC sketch show It's Kevin and in Psychobitches on Sky Arts.^{[citation needed]} She appeared in the Inside No. 9 episode "The Understudy" (Series 1; Episode 5) as a stage manager.^[29]

In 2014, Davis starred as an eccentric mother alongside Al Roberts (Stath Lets Flats) in the comedy short film The Bird, co-directed by Ben Target and Joe Parham.^[30]

In 2014, Davis co-wrote (with Nick Mohammed) and starred in a pilot for Channel 4 called Morning Has Broken, about a self-centred daytime TV host.^[31] It was inspired by daytime TV, particularly Lorraine Kelly's presenting.^[32] The pilot starred, alongside Davis and Mohammed: Georgie Glen, Seb Cardinal (Cardinal Burns), Jamie Demetriou and Asim Chaudhry.^[31] A full series of Morning Has Broken was commissioned but was not made. It was meant to star David Schwimmer as a US producer, alongside Davis.^[32]

In 2015, Davis and Marc Wootton created and starred in BBC Radio 4 comedy series Couples, about couples in therapy.

Hunderby (2012, 2015)

Davis created, wrote and starred in Hunderby, which aired for two series on Sky Atlantic in 2012 and 2015.^{[citation needed]} Davis described the show as "Downton Abbey meets Geordie Shore".^[32] The series is a black comedy set in the 1830s.^[33]

The work was scripted, not improvised.^[34] When talking about Hunderby and Sally4Ever, Alex Macqueen said that, for Davis, "if you're not on the verge of corpsing, it's not good enough".^[34]

For Hunderby, Davis won the BAFTA TV Craft Award for Writing – Comedy.^[35] The series was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy at the 2013 BAFTA TV Awards,^{[citation needed]} and won the awards for Best New Comedy and Best Sitcom at the 2012 British Comedy Awards,^[36] and Davis was nominated for Best Female Performance in a Comedy Programme.^[37]

Camping (2016)

It was reported in 2015 that Davis had been commissioned for a new series, Robin's Test, which was later renamed Camping.^[38] In 2016, Davis created, wrote and directed the series for Sky Atlantic.^[3][39] She also starred in it as shallow nymphomaniac, Fay.^[40] This was her first series as a director,^[33] with her only previous directing credit being an episode of Sky's "Little Crackers" in 2010.^[39]

The series is a dark comedy about a group of couples who go camping for someone's 50th birthday, and, Davis says, "One guy unexpectedly arrives with his new girlfriend, which messes up the whole holiday and it descends into a nightmare by the end."^[33]

At the 2017 BAFTA TV Awards, Camping was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy^[41] and Davis for Best Comedy Writer.^[40] In 2017, Davis was featured in the Paul Thomas Anderson film Phantom Thread as Lady Baltimore.^[42]

In 2018, the series was adapted for American audiences to create a series of the same name by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner.^[40][43] It was originally released on HBO in America, and subsequently on Sky Atlantic in the UK. However, it did not receive good reviews either in the US or UK.^[44] The Guardian said that, whilst some of the performances were good, "The reworking deviates from the darkness and dread that made the original black comedy so perfect".^[44]

Sally4Ever (2018)

In 2018, Davis wrote, directed and starred in the comedy television series Sally4Ever on Sky Atlantic and HBO.^{[citation needed]} It came out of a short film she was writing with her and Catherine Shepherd, who went on to play Sally in the series.^[45] Davis plays the character of Emma, who is having a lesbian affair with a woman called Sally, who is having a midlife crisis. At the 2019 BAFTA awards it won the award for Best Scripted Comedy and Davis was nominated for Best Female Performance in a Comedy Programme.^[46] She also appeared in the film Fighting with My Family.^[47]

Dear Joan and Jericha (2018–2025)

Davis launched the podcast comedy Dear Joan And Jericha with comedian Vicki Pepperdine^[48] in 2018. The series has 29 episodes as of March 2025.^[49]

Davis and Pepperdine published a book on the back of the podcast, Why He Turns Away: Dos and Don'ts From Dating to Death.^[50]

2021–Present

Davis played socialite Maureen, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, in BBC One historical drama A Very British Scandal, which premiered on BBC One on Boxing Day 2021.^[51]

In 2022, Davis appeared in two episodes of The Outlaws, as Rita.^[52]

Film

Television

Radio