# Phoebe Nicholls

Phoebe Sarah Nicholls (born 7 April 1957) is an English film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited and as the mother of John Merrick in The Elephant Man.

## Personal life

Nicholls is the daughter of actors Anthony Nicholls and Faith Kent. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Nicholls married director Charles Sturridge on 6 July 1985; they have two sons, Tom and Arthur, and a daughter Matilda. Her grandfather is photojournalist Horace Nicholls.

## Career

As a child actress in several films she was billed as Sarah Nicholls. In her early 20s, she appeared in David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), Richard Loncraine's The Missionary (1982) and as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited (1981). Since then, she has worked almost exclusively in television and theatre. Cast in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's original staging of Whose Life Is It Anyway? in 1978, she later performed in Robert Strura's revival of Three Sisters with Vanessa Redgrave. At the National Theatre she appeared in Stephen Daldry's acclaimed version of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls and in David Hare's Pravda (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins). At the Royal Court Theatre she appeared the Olivier Award-winning production of Terry Johnson's Hysteria. Her supporting performances in the 2008 West End revivals of Noël Coward's The Vortex and Harley Granville Barker's Waste earned her the 2009 Clarence Derwent Award from Equity. She also played the conniving art critic Rivera in the National Theatre production of the Howard Barker drama, Scenes from an Execution.
Nicholls appeared in the BBC film Persuasion (1995), an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. She has made guest appearances on several television mystery series, including Kavanagh QC, Prime Suspect, Midsomer Murders, Lewis, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries ("May and June", 1997), Foyle's War, Second Sight starring Clive Owen, and the 2012 Christmas episode of Downton Abbey, a role she reprised for the 2014 season. She has also appeared in several works directed by her husband, Charles Sturridge, including his 1995 television adaptation of Gulliver's Travels, where she portrayed the Liliputian Empress, the 1997 film Fairy Tale: A True Story and Shackleton in 2002.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1964 | The Pumpkin Eater | Elizabeth | |
| 1965 | Dr. Terror's House of Horrors | Carol Rogers | Segment: "Creeping Vine" |
| 1967 | Our Mother's House | Gerty | |
| 1969 | Women in Love | Winifred Crich | billed as Sarah Nicholls |
| 1980 | The Elephant Man | Merrick's Mother | |
| 1982 | The Missionary | Deborah Fitzbanks | |
| 1983 | Party Party | Rebecca | |
| 1984 | Ordeal by Innocence | Tina Argyle | |
| 1987 | Maurice | Anne Durham | |
| 1997 | FairyTale: A True Story | Polly Wright | |
| 1999 | The Miracle Maker | Old Woman (voice) | |
| 2012 | The Scapegoat | Charlotte | |
| 2016 | Three Women Wait for Death | Miranda | Short |
| 2016 | Starfish | Tom's Mother | |
| 2016 | Chubby Funny | Aunty Jane | |
| 2017 | Transformers: The Last Knight | Aunt Helen | |
| 2017 | Finding Your Feet | Janet | |
| 2019 | Berlin, I Love You | Capucine | |
| 2020 | The Empty Man | Nurse Allerton | |
| 2021 | The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Mrs. Wain | |
| 2023 | Widow Clicquot | Marie-Catherine Clicquot | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1975 | Prometheus: The Life of Balzac | Augustine de Berny | Episode: "Apprenticeship of a Genius" |
| 1977 | Van der Valk | Treesje | Episode: "Gold Plated Delinquents" |
| 1979 | Telford's Change | Jean | Episode: "1.8" |
| 1979 | Bless Me, Father | Nurse Owen | Episodes: "Father Neil's First Miracle", "The Heart of a Curate" |
| 1979 | Secret Orchards | Stella | TV film |
| 1980 | BBC2 Playhouse | Geraldine | Episode: "Hesther for Example" |
| 1980 | Blade on the Feather | Christabel Cavendish | TV film |
| 1981 | Brideshead Revisited | Cordelia Flyte | TV miniseries |
| 1982 | Tales of the Unexpected | Carol | Episode: "A Harmless Vanity" |
| 1983 | Pictures | Babs | Episode: "1.3" |
| 1983 | All for Love | Christine | Episode: "To the Camp and Back" |
| 1984 | Hay Fever | Sorel Bliss | TV film |
| 1985 | Screen Two | Louie Jermy | Episode: "Poppyland" |
| 1987 | Gentry | Susannah | TV film |
| 1990 | Screen Two | Sarah | Episode: "Drowning in the Shallow End" |
| 1991 | 4 Play | Annabel | Episode: "Seduction" |
| 1993 | Heart of Darkness | The Intended | TV film |
| 1995 | Kavanagh QC | Jackie Jarvis | Episode: "Heartland" |
| 1995 | Screen Two | Elizabeth Elliot | Episode: "Persuasion" |
| 1996 | Gulliver's Travels | Empress of Lilliput | Episode: "1.1" |
| 1997 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | May Thrace | Episode: "May and June: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 1999 | Second Sight | Judith Bendrix | TV film |
| 2002 | Shackleton | Emily Shackleton | TV miniseries |
| 2002 | I'm Alan Partridge | Karen Colman | Episode: "Bravealan" |
| 2003 | Midsomer Murders | Laura Smythe-Webster | Episode: "A Tale of Two Hamlets" |
| 2003 | Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness | Shaw | Episode: "Part 2" |
| 2003 | Foyle's War | Amanda Reece | Episode: "The Funk Hole" |
| 2004 | Hawking | Isobel Hawking | TV film |
| 2004 | The Brief | Sally Graydon | Episode: "Children" |
| 2006 | Spooks | Janet Wheeler | Episode: "5.10" |
| 2007 | The Trial of Tony Blair | Cherie Blair | TV film |
| 2007 | Lewis | Caroline Croft | Episode: "Expiation" |
| 2007 | All About Me | Helen Conroy | TV film |
| 2007 | Clapham Junction | Natasha | TV film |
| 2010 | The Road to Coronation Street | Mrs. Simpson | TV film |
| 2012 | Loving Miss Hatto | Mrs. Hatto | TV film |
| 2012–2014 | Downton Abbey | Susan MacClare | Episodes: "A Journey to the Highlands", "5.8" |
| 2013 | New Tricks | Annie Banks | Episode: "The One That Got Away" |
| 2015 | Fortitude | Dr. Allerdyce | 9 episodes |
| 2015 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Mrs. Wintertowne | Episodes: "The Friends of English Magic", "How Is Lady Pole?" |
| 2016 | Doctor Thorne | Countess de Courcy | Episodes: "1.1", "1.2", "1.3" |
| 2017 | Endeavour | Caroline Bryce-Morgan | Episode: "Lazaretto" |
| 2021 | A Very British Scandal | Helen Whigham | Episode #1.1 |
| 2022 | Anatomy of a Scandal | Tuppence Whitehouse | Episode #1.4 |
| 2024 | Eric | Anne Anderson | Miniseries |

## Stage

* 1978: Whose Life Is It Anyway?
* 1981: The Cherry Orchard
* 1983: The Beautiful Part of Myself
* 1984: Pravda
* 1985: The Seagull
* 1991: Three Sisters
* 1993: An Inspector Calls
* 1993: Hysteria
* 1994: Rutherford & Son
* 1997: Dona Rosita the Spinster
* 2005: Three Women and a Piano Tuner
* 2007: The Vortex
* 2008: Waste
* 2009: When the Rain Stops Falling
* 2012: Scenes from an Execution
* 2022: The Southbury Child