Career
Sharp's screen debut was in Alan Clarke's Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1986), [1] playing Bob's wife, Michelle. Further film appearances included supporting roles in The Rachel Papers (1989), [4] and Stephen Poliakoff's Close My Eyes , with Clive Owen and Alan Rickman. Sharp starred in Mike Leigh's Naked (1993), [1] and the Jimmy McGovern-penned Priest (1994). She made appearances in Prime Suspect 4: The Lost Child (1995), and The Full Monty (1997). [1]
She was offered lead roles in Common As Muck (1997), followed by Playing the Field (1998–2002), [4] a drama about a female football team which ran for five series. Sharp had supporting parts in Great Expectations (1999), [4] as Mrs Joe, and in Nature Boy (2000), [4] as Martha Tyler, before landing the role of Trudy Graham in Paul Abbott's BAFTA-award-winning Clocking Off (2000–2003), [1] Russell T. Davies then cast her opposite Alan Davies in Bob & Rose , [1] which resulted in a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress nomination in 2002. [5]
Further film roles in From Hell , starring Johnny Depp, and Cheeky (1993), which was directed by Naked co-star David Thewlis, preceded another television drama written by Russell T. Davies. She starred in The Second Coming (2003). [1]
Sharp again worked with Mike Leigh in Vera Drake (2004), [2] which was followed by the television drama Planespotting, [2] The same year, she played the clairvoyant lead role of Alison Mundy opposite Andrew Lincoln's sceptical Robert Bridge in ITV's supernatural drama series Afterlife . [2]
After a ten-year break from stagework, in October 2005 Sharp returned to the theatre as Emma in Sam Shepard's The God of Hell at the Donmar Warehouse. [2] In 2008, she starred in the three-part Lucy Gannon-penned drama The Children . [4] Later in 2008, she worked with Russell T. Davies for a third time when she played Sky Silvestry in the Doctor Who episode "Midnight". [1] Davies later tipped Sharp to become the first woman to play the Doctor. [6]
In early 2009 Sharp played Petronella van Daan in the BBC's new version of The Diary of Anne Frank . [4] She subsequently played Paddy Considine's wife in Channel 4's acclaimed drama series Red Riding . [1] Sharp starred in a 2009 revival of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Vaudeville Theatre with Marc Warren and Diana Vickers, [7] which ran from October to the following January. Between 2011 and 2016, Sharp co-starred as Janet Scott in ITV1's crime drama series Scott & Bailey . In May 2012 she starred in the Sky1 comedy series Starlings as Jan Starling. [8]
In 2015, Sharp played the part of Mary, the daughter of Petunia Howe, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name. [9]
She appeared in several episodes of the Netflix original Fate: The Winx Saga as Rosalind but was replaced in this role with Miranda Richardson after the first season.
In 2021 she took the lead role in Kae Tempest’s Philoctetes at the National Theatre.
In 2022 she narrated the police comedy This Cop Life.
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