Daisy Aitkens

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Daisy Aitkens
Born (1986-03-25) 25 March 1986 (age 38)
Sydney, Australia
OccupationActress / Screenwriter / Director
Years active1971 to present
Known for Fear, Stress & Anger
Watson and Oliver
Family Michael Aitkens (father)

Daisy Aitkens (born 25 March 1986) is an English actress, screenwriter and director best known for her role as Lucy Chadwick in the television series Fear, Stress & Anger , and sketch characters in Watson and Oliver . She wrote and directed the 2017 film You, Me and Him .

Contents

Early life

Aitkens was born in Sydney, Australia to British writer and actor Michael Aitkens, and grew up in London. She studied drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), and while acting became her focus, she was really excited by the idea of becoming a writer. [1]

Career

Acting

After graduating, and throughout her 20s, Aitkens acted in about 15 television commercials, as well as television guest roles such as Casualty , Wire in the Blood , The Bill and EastEnders , while trying to establish herself as a writer.

In 2007, Aitkens starred on short-lived sitcom Fear, Stress & Anger for six episodes, alongside Doctor Who alumni (and real life father and daughter) Peter Davison and Georgia Tennant. Her father Michael Aitkens was the creator of the series and it was loosely based on his life with his own family. Aitkens played Lucy Chadwick, the role based on her own real-life sister, while Tennant played Chloe Chadwick, the role based on Aitkens. [2]

From 2012–2013, Aitkens appeared as various characters on the sketch show Watson & Oliver . She has also appeared in several feature films, including Colin (2008), Nightshooters (2018), School of the Damned (2019) and Dune Drifter (2020) as well as film shorts.

As an actor, she has also toured with Alan Ayckbourn’s theatre company, [3] on a 2011 production of Communicating Doors .

Writing / directing

A script (written in partnership with an actor alumnus from LAMDA) secured Aitkens her first job in a writer’s room. After writing on the sitcoms My Family and Shelfstackers, she wrote and directed the short film, 96 Ways to Say I Love You (2014) and The Exit (2016), before directing and writing her debut feature film, You, Me and Him (starring Lucy Punch, Faye Marsay and David Tennant) in 2017. [4]

Aitkens has also written for numerous publications and websites including The Times, Stylebible, Save the Cat, and Huffington Post. [5]

Personal life

Together with producer husband Neil Andrews, [6] Aitkens has two daughters Elodie and Ada. Prior to having her children, she was diagnosed with Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) at the age of 21, and later found out she had an irregular shaped uterus, resulting in three miscarriages. [7]

Filmography

As actor

Television

YearTitleRoleType
2001Life As We Know ItAnneTV series, 1 episode
2006 Casualty LauraTV series, 1 episode
2007 Fear, Stress and Anger Lucy ChadwickTV series, 6 episodes
2007 Wire in the Blood Sara LloydTV series, 1 episode
2005–2007 The Bill Lisa Holland / Joss GreenTV series, 2 episodes
2008–2012 Doctors Jenny Whitaker / Jocasta Pennington / Laura GeraldTV series, 3 episodes
2013 East Enders SophieTV series, 1 episode
2013–2013 Watson and Oliver Various charactersTV series, 10 episodes
2013 The Crazy Ones MaidTV series, 1 episode

Film

YearTitleRoleType
2005The Cross of Joshua HomeShort film [8]
2008 Colin Linda (Colin's sister)Feature film
2011ShowreelGirl on StreetFeature film
2013ManorexicJenniferShort film
2013MagpieEmilyFeature film
2014Meeting Mr. ReichKateShort film
2018NightshootersGabiFeature film
2019School of the DamnedMurphyFeature film
2020 Dune Drifter YarenFeature film

Theatre

YearTitleRoleType
2011 Communicating Doors Jessica Stephen Joseph Theatre, North Yorkshire, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Theatre Royal, Bath, Theatre Royal, Brighton, Gate Theatre, Durham, Oxford Playhouse, Richmond Theatre, London [9]
2005 The Woman in Black Frinton Theatre
2005 Relatively Speaking Frinton Theatre
2005In Two MindsFrinton Theatre
2005Life Time ThreeFrinton Theatre
2005 The Man of Destiny Frinton Theatre
2005 The Real Inspector Hound Frinton Theatre
2005 The Sneeze Frinton Theatre
Lettice and Lovage Frinton Theatre
GhostsFrinton Theatre
Family CirclesFrinton Theatre
The Importance of Being Earnest Frinton Theatre
Dead of NightFrinton Theatre
Private Lives Frinton Theatre
Pains of YouthGate Theatre, Durham

[10]

As writer / director

Television

YearTitleRoleType
2010ShelfstackersWriterTV series, 2 episodes
2009–2010 My Family Writer / Script AssociateTV series, 5 episodes
2018Peel and JonesWriterTV pilot

Film

YearTitleRoleType
201596 Ways to Say I Love YouWriter / DirectorShort film
2016The ExitWriter / DirectorShort film
2017 You, Me and Him Writer / DirectorFeature film [11]
2018A Quiet LifeWriterFeature film
TBAMemoirs of a StalkerWriterIn development

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References

  1. "Daisy Aitkens". www.directorsnow.com.
  2. "Fear, Stress & Anger: Peter Davison and Georgia Tennant's lost sitcom". www.radiotimes.com. 27 September 2023.
  3. "5 Ways Save the Cat!® Saved Me During the Writing (and Making) of My First Feature". www.savethecat.com. 16 June 2017.
  4. "Daisy Aitkens". www.directorsnow.com.
  5. "Daisy Aitkens". Baby Lifeline.
  6. "Neil Andrews". www.neilandrews.uk.
  7. "Eastenders star's traumatic-birth". www.mirror.co.uk. 30 September 2023.
  8. "Fear, Stress and Anger". www.bbc.co.uk. 1 February 2007.
  9. "Communicating Doors". Theatricalia.
  10. "Fear, Stress and Anger". www.bbc.co.uk. 1 February 2007.
  11. Kay, Jeremy. "AFM: DDI boards David Tennant rom-com 'You, Me And Him'". www.screendaily.com. Retrieved 1 November 2016.