Abigail Thaw

Last updated

Abigail J. Thaw
Born (1965-10-01) 1 October 1965 (age 58)
London, England
OccupationActress
Spouse
​
(m. 1986)​
Children2
Parent(s) Sally Alexander (mother)
John Thaw (father)
Sheila Hancock (stepmother)

Abigail J. Thaw (born 1 October 1965 [1] ) is an English actress known for her role of investigative journalist Dorothea Frazil in detective drama series Endeavour . Thaw has appeared in numerous TV series, such as Casualty , Midsomer Murders , Agatha Christie's Poirot and Black Mirror , as well as many stage productions.

Contents

Early life

Abigail Thaw was born in London to actor John Thaw and his first wife, Sally Alexander, an academic/feminist activist who taught modern history at Goldsmiths College. Her parents divorced in 1968. On her mother's side she has a half-brother (Daniel), and on her father's side she has an elder stepsister (Melanie Jane) and a half-sister (Joanna). Her stepmother is actress Sheila Hancock.

After her parents' divorce in 1968, Abigail was brought up in Pimlico by her mother and her mother's new partner, Gareth Stedman Jones. Her father also kept in regular contact. Abigail attended Pimlico Comprehensive. Her mother was involved in the flour-bombing of the 1970 Miss World contest, the story of which is the subject of the 2020 film Misbehaviour . [2]

After school she spent a year in Italy, where she was in a car accident. Returning to England, she decided to attend RADA, where she met her future husband, actor Nigel Whitmey.

Career

Abigail Thaw began her career working in rep at Cheltenham, York, and Salisbury, then performed with the RSC and the Royal Exchange Theatre and Library in Manchester, Chichester, The Tricycle, The Gate, Theatre503, The Orange Tree, Battersea Arts Centre, New End, The Finborough, Birmingham, Theatr Clwyd, Watford and extensive touring in Whipping It Up, Ladies in Lavender and Entertaining Angels . She played Ms Capulet in Tom Morris' Juliet and her Romeo at the Bristol Old Vic, and acted in Cymbeline with Mark Rylance at The Globe Theatre and Brooklyn Academy of Music. She also spent a year working with Mike Alfred's company, "Method and Madness", performing in Private Lives , Jude the Obscure and Flesh and Blood. She was nominated for the Best Actress Off West End award in 2011 for The Firewatchers at the Old Red Lion. In early 2015, she participated in the world premiere of Michael Hastings' The Cutting of the Cloth.

Thaw has also worked in television since 1990, including in The Bill , Casualty , Pie in the Sky , Peak Practice , Spywatch , Big Bad World , Vanity Fair , Love Soup and Trust . In 2009 she appeared in the Midsomer Murders episode “Small Mercies” as Annabel Johnson; and the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode “The Clocks”. She also performed in the 2016 BBC comedy series I Want My Wife Back .

She played a newspaper editor in the ITV1 2011 Christmas special edition of the Inspector Morse prequel, Endeavour , a role she continued in Series 1, and in subsequent series. [3]

In 2014, Thaw appeared as a shaman in The Inbetweeners 2 .

Personal life

Thaw met Nigel Whitmey at RADA in the mid-1980s, and they married in 1986. In 1997 she gave birth to a daughter, Molly-Mae Whitmey, and in 2003 to her second daughter, Talia. The family live in Muswell Hill, North London.[ citation needed ]Her daughter Molly had a cameo as the younger version of her grandmother Sally Alexander in the Endeavour episode "Oracle" (series 7, episode 1, broadcast February 1, 2020). [4]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000TrustCarolineTV film
2005 The Stepfather DS SullivanTV film
2009Tales of the Fourth DimensionAnn HathawayDirect-to-Video
2014 The Inbetweeners 2 Shaman
2015Caring for the Recently DeceasedDr. JamesShort film
NipplejesusJulietteShort film
2017The Penny DroppedThe BeingShort film

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1990 The Bill BerneEpisode: "Sufficient Evidence"
1995 Pie in the Sky DS Lorna PurvisEpisode: "Brown Bread"
1996 Spywatch Vivienne BellingRecurring role, 6 episodes
1997 Casualty Aileen O'DonnellEpisode: "Tall Tales"
1998 Vanity Fair Jane OsborneMini-series, 3 episodes
1999 The Bill Officer DunsmoreEpisode: "Follow Through"
Big Bad WorldAliceEpisode: "Be Nice to Posh People"
2000 Peak Practice Pam LloydEpisode: "For Love of the Child"
2003 Doctors Lois CampbellEpisode: "Points of View"
2006 Casualty Karen WhitearEpisode: "Heads Together"
2008 Love Soup PhillipaEpisode: "Dream Twister"
2009 Midsomer Murders Annabel JohnsonEpisode: "Small Mercies"
Agatha Christie's Poirot Rachel WaterhouseEpisode: "The Clocks"
2011 Doctors Dr. Andrea WellerEpisode: "Lord Letherbridge"
2012-2023 Endeavour Dorothea FrazilSeries regular, 25 episodes
2013 Black Mirror JulietEpisode: "The Waldo Moment"
2016 I Want My Wife Back AbbieSeries regular, 6 episodes
2017 Doctors Elizabeth BriscoeEpisode: "Field Fever"
2018 Casualty Emma MabbittEpisode: "Episode #32.36"
2020HouseboundAnnabel MonroeRecurring role, 3 episodes
2021 The Nevers Mrs. HundleyEpisode: "True"
2022 Miss Scarlet and the Duke Mrs. HerbertEpisode: "Arabella"
2023 Sister Boniface Mysteries Dinah MorganEpisode: "Don't Try This at Home"

Theatre credits

YearTitleRoleVenueNotes
2000 Cymbeline Arvirargus Shakespeare's Globe, London
Making It UpRuth Manchester Library Theatre, Manchester
Rough Crossing Natasha Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury and Watford Palace Theatre, Watford
2001 Macbeth Lady Macbeth Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury
2003The Road to the SeaHarriet Orange Tree Theatre, London
2004 The Arab-Israeli Cookbook Hala Gate Theatre, London
2005 Tricycle Theatre, London
2006 Entertaining Angels Jo Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester
2007 Whipping It Up Delia Ambassadors Theatre, London and UK Tour
2008 Absent Friends Diana Watford Palace Theatre, Watford
2009 My Mother Said I Never Should Margaret Bradley Watford Palace Theatre, Watford
2010 Juliet and her Romeo Miss Capulet Old Vic, Bristol
2011The FirewatchersCatherine The Old Red Lion, London
Sold Hilary Theatre503, London
2012 Ladies in Lavender Olga Danilof Royal & Derngate, Northampton and UK Tour
2015 The Cutting of the Cloth Iris Southwark Playhouse, London
2017 Julius Caesar Trebonius Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
2018The Strange Death of John DoeCarter Hampstead Theatre, London
2022 Sheila's Island Denise Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford and UK Tour

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References

  1. ↑ "Abigail Thaw". btvguide.net. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  2. ↑ Cochrane, Kira (1 March 2003). "Children of the revolution". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  3. ↑ "Endeavour's Abigail Thaw: 'My dad would have approved'" by James Hibbs at www.radiotimes.com
  4. ↑ "It's a family affair: John Thaw's daughter Abigail stars in Endeavour's new series 7 with daughter Molly playing her mother Sally..." Ox In A Box. 4 February 2020.
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